"And I will spread My net over him, and he shall be caught in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there." "And I will spread My net over him." Our Sages say, as we explained, let us read the language of Rashi: he had a tunnel from his house all the way to the plains of Jericho, and he went out through the tunnel. What did the Holy One do? He brought a certain deer before the army of the Chaldeans, and it ran ahead of them along the roof of the tunnel, and they pursued it. When Tzidkiyahu came out of the tunnel in the plains of Jericho, they saw him coming out and caught him. This is something for which there is no other explanation than to say that Hashem spread a net for him. For truly, such timing, that they are precisely chasing a deer and they arrive precisely at the entrance of the tunnel and precisely then he comes out, this is timing that without any doubt expresses the spreading of a net that the Holy One spread for Tzidkiyahu for his negligence, as we saw from the deeds of the people. And about this He says, "and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it." In fact this verse contains within it a paradox, for if he comes to the land of the Chaldeans, how can you say "he shall not see it"? You can say about the people who spread an evil report about the land, "I have sworn, says Hashem, that they shall not see it." What does that mean? They would die in the wilderness, they would not see the land. In contrast, those who entered the land, they inherit it and they also see it. But how is it possible that I will inherit the land and not see it? I will be exiled to Babylon and not see it? This is a paradox. Our Sages say that it was still not understood, but in practice, in the end, Nevuchadnetzar explained it to him. For what they did to him was that they blinded him. And through blinding him, it was fulfilled here that "I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans," and on the other hand "he shall not see it." He was both brought there and did not see it. And why? For there we saw at Rivlah in the land of Chamat, it is written that he spoke judgments with him, it is written that he saw him eating a live rabbit and went and told about it, and following this he spoke judgments with him and blinded his eyes and killed his sons. Yes, all this: he killed his sons before his eyes and after that he blinded his eyes. Afterwards he brought him to Babylon, as brought in Sefer Melachim, in Sefer Yirmiyahu, as we learned; whoever wishes may hear it in the lessons there.
The Malbim says: "and I will spread My net over him." The Malbim says this is the second metaphor about covering the face and about the fact that, so to speak, he will not see. I will spread the net over him and then he will not see, he will not suddenly understand how he fell like ripe fruit into the hands of the enemies. To understand Tzidkiyahu's moves, as a defense one can say that Tzidkiyahu essentially could not fight against the people dwelling in Zion. Since the agenda of the people dwelling in Zion, their way of life and their outlook, was that there would be no exile and not to listen to the prophets who only frighten. So consequently anyone who would say the opposite, we saw that he placed himself in a dangerous situation. Yirmiyahu himself several times already stood a step before death. And since this is so, if Tzidkiyahu had tried to resist or had tried to express some opinion that in any way expresses that we are about to be exiled and we must agree to exile willingly and that this is God's will, most likely he would not have remained a single moment in his kingship. They would carry out a coup and would say, we need a king who, instead of strengthening us, tells us to go into exile? Is that a king? Instead of standing in the breach, what are you saying? Let us take off the crown and what, hand over our hands there, so that they exile us? It emerges, then, that it is very plausible that Tzidkiyahu, even if he had wanted to influence, was not capable of influencing, of bringing the people to a state where they would be willing on their own to go into exile. Especially since there were many people who made a very, very serious impression of prophets, of those who speak and know what they are saying. They had a great talent to express themselves in those very expressions in which the prophets expressed themselves. They would sometimes also say things that came true, because they would take parts of the words of the prophets which are words of truth and use them, and when the things came about he would say, look, I said this. And through this they would acquire for themselves a name of true prophets. And they would wear a robe for the sake of deceit, that is, they also had a set that very much broadcast a prophet. And we saw that Tzidkiyah ben Kenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, "with these you shall gore Aram." Also all the pyrotechnic tools, meaning all the aids, they too, these too they used. As we...
A boiling pot and various other things: "Take you a brick, engrave it a city" and so on, all these things that the prophets used, they did exactly the same thing, so that in fact it was very, very hard to distinguish between the original brand and the substitute, between the cheap Chinese imitation. And therefore you understand why the people strayed after the false prophets, especially since it was unpleasant, as we said several times, to hear the words of the prophets who all the time only come and threaten and say it will be bad, it will be terrible, there will be exile, it will be dreadful. It was much more pleasant to hear the words of the false prophets who always stroked their ego and reassured, and do not worry and nothing will happen and we tell you a prophecy from Hashem, from Hashem you can be calm and it will be good and we have the Beit HaMikdash and various other stories of this sort. And therefore it was very not easy for Tzidkiyahu to act in this frame of mind, to influence when this is the atmosphere.
The Malbim explains: it is written here "and I will spread My net over him, and he shall be caught in My snare (metzudati)." The Malbim says: "metzudati" sometimes comes from the root "matzad," "matzad" like a rocky fortress, and "metzudati" like "exalted in the stronghold (metzudah)"; "metzudah" means a place that is strong, a fortress in which one can hide. In contrast, there is the possibility that "metzudati" expresses "my net," my snare, one spreads a net (metzudah) to catch fish, and then "metzudati" is from the root "tzud," not from the root "matzad," that is, a fortress, but from the root of catching (tzeidah), yes, as one catches fish. And then here the Malbim says that both things are actually correct: first, the prison where they would imprison the kings was built in a fortress, a fortified place from which it would not be possible to get out; and second, it is also from the language of "metzudah," "I spread My net and he was caught in My snare (metzudati)," and the meaning is also from the language of a net, that is, a net where they will trap him. So both things here can be explained in the sense of "metzudati," both in the aspect of a stronghold, meaning a fortified place, and in the aspect of a net where they will trap him.
"And all that are about him to help him, and all his troops, I will scatter to every wind, and I will draw out the sword after them." "And all that are about him to help him": these are those who were around him, those who came to help Tzidkiyahu, those who assisted him so that he would not fall to the Chaldeans and who wanted, on the contrary, to fight against them, that he not make peace with them, that he not be willing to surrender. They were transgressing the words of the prophet, for the prophet explicitly told him: if you will go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then your soul shall live; if you surrender yourself, you will have life, you will have survival; if not, then the opposite. He told them: put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live. If you do so, the prophet promises them, you will have life. But there was, as we said earlier, his "helpers," there were many around who helped Tzidkiyahu to hold the opposite, to grasp the other approach that says: what do you mean, and why in the world should we surrender, and you have a kingdom here in hand, and you should go and throw yourself down like a man who goes and surrenders to the king of Babylon, and especially to whom, to the enemy? I should go and throw myself down before the enemy?
"And all his troops (agapav) I will scatter to every wind." What is "and all his troops"? There are several explanations for this. One explanation: "agapav" is the men of his army, as it is written there regarding the exile, it is written there regarding what will be in the future, it is written "you and all your troops (agapecha)" concerning the war of Gog. So "all his troops" means all the men of his army, his forces, as Targum Yonatan says, that the meaning is his armies. Rashi says "agapav" means his officers. The Radak brings in the name of his father that "agapav" is as if with the letter aleph missing, so it is as if it is written here "gapav." What is "gapav"? "Gapav" is wings. What then is "agapav"? He says the armies are called wings, like "and the spreading of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land," since the armies were like a wing that would fly like this and conquer in such a manner, like two spread wings, that they move in such a formation of troops that spread out and conquer, so it was like wings. Therefore they also use this expression, the army spread its wings. Therefore, too, the emblem of the nations was many times the image of an eagle or a vulture spreading its wings, which is an expression of spreading wings, of the power of conquest. So about this He says to him, "and all his troops I will scatter to every wind," your armies which are spread out like wings, I will scatter them to every wind.
For some of them, it is written that they went to Egypt; it is written "and all his army was scattered from him." They are Yochanan ben Kareach, the officers of the armies who were exiled to Egypt, and there the sword of Nevuchadnetzar reached them, when Nevuchadnetzar afterwards came to Egypt to destroy it. So He says: come and see, I will scatter them to every wind, but this will not help them, this will not constitute a rescue for them, for "I will draw out the sword after them": in those very places to which I scatter them, Nevuchadnetzar will come to pursue them there in Egypt, the sword of the enemy will reach you there. And that is what happened, that afterwards they were killed by the sword in the lands to which they had scattered.
"And they shall know that I am Hashem, when I shall scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the lands." And then, when the prophecy is fulfilled, they will know that I am Hashem. And then the Radak says: they will recount to one another, among the nations to which they came, all the abominations they did, and then through this they will understand that all this came upon them as a punishment, as Hashem spoke through the prophets. They will know that I am Hashem, for Hashem foresaw all this in advance and warned you, and you did not listen to these commands.
And in this there will also be two benefits. The first benefit, the Malbim says, is that they themselves will recognize that I am Hashem. And the second benefit: "But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may recount all their abominations among the nations to which they came, and they shall know that I am Hashem." The second benefit: I will leave from them a few men, even from the wicked who were in exile, even those who did not recognize Hashem, like those who went to Egypt and went to burn incense to the queen of heaven, so that they will recount their abominations to the nations, and then the nations, pay attention, will understand that truly all that happened to us happened to us justly and by judgment, and then they will know that I am Hashem, that I am Hashem, that there is a Judge who judges all the earth. So it emerges, then, that the benefit here is twofold: first, for those who will be here and will be awakened through this; and second, for those wicked ones who were not awakened, but in any case they will recount the abominations that they did, so at the very least the nations will understand that what happened here happened by justice.
The Malbim explains that we see an expression of "when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the lands," and we already saw above that the Malbim explained this matter, and here he elaborates further. The Malbim says: "to disperse" (zoreh) is to scatter things that are not connected together; in contrast, "to shatter" (nefetz) is with things that are connected, "like a potter's vessel you shall shatter them," a vessel is connected and then I shatter it. We always describe the exile: to the nations. The nations, we said, are the near ones, and the lands are the distant ones. "To the nations" they were shattered (nefotzu); here he was whole like a vessel that bursts, he scattered to the near lands, and afterwards, from there, like we have things that are not connected and then you disperse and scatter them with greater dispersion, and from there he says they were shattered to, and there he says "and I will disperse them among the lands." Why? Like a man who winnows the wheat to the wind in order to separate the chaff from it, for they are already shattered among the nations, I do not need to shatter them; shattering is something whole that you shatter, a whole vessel that you burst; but after they are already among the nations, from here one need only disperse them to the lands, and therefore this will be the second stage.
"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, you shall eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with anxiety." The Holy One conveys a prophecy to Yechezkel, and He says to him, "you shall eat your bread with quaking (ra'ash)." What is "with quaking"? The Radak says: with quaking of the body and with trembling; the meaning is you shall eat it with trembling, like "and the king was agitated," that is "with quaking you shall eat," "and drink your water with trembling and with anxiety." The Malbim explains here that the expression in the form of this eating and drinking is like someone who is afraid, he is in fear, he is trembling because of the coming of the enemy: "you shall eat your bread with quaking and drink your water with trembling and with anxiety."
Why will this thing constitute a sign? "And you shall say to the people of the land: Thus says Hashem Elokim to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, concerning the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with desolation, that her land may be desolate of all its fullness, because of the violence of all who dwell in it." He tells them: this will be a sign to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that in the time of the siege they will eat their bread with anxiety, and this thing will be the cause and will bring about that their land will be desolate; their land will be desolate, from their water in desolation they will drink, that her land may be desolate of all its fullness. The Radak explains what is "that her land may be desolate of all its fullness": the meaning is, of the people that filled it, of the possessions that were full in it; that her land may be desolate of its fullness, their land will be desolate of all this. And why? The Malbim explains: if they had not had a siege, they would not have fought against Nevuchadnetzar, they would have made peace with him, as the prophet then said and warned them, to make peace with Nevuchadnetzar. If they had listened to him, to it, he would not have destroyed their land. But since they did not listen to the word of the prophet, they decided to fight. Since you fought, Nevuchadnetzar came, made a siege, and also destroyed the land. And He tells you: all this because of what iniquity? "Because of the violence of all who dwell in it," because of the violence, the meaning being: because of the iniquity of the violence of its inhabitants. Because of the violence, says Hashem, this iniquity is in them, so I placed in their hearts that they should fight with Nevuchadnetzar, so that through this their land would be destroyed, and in this there would be for them a punishment for the violence they did in the past.
"And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and you shall know that I am Hashem." "And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste": the meaning is that there will be in this a further damage to them, that through this the inhabited cities, meaning the settled cities, shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate, and consequently through this "you shall know that I am Hashem." So there is here, first, a punishment for the past, "because of the violence of all who dwell in it"; second, there is in them, there is here something that will awaken them regarding the future, that they will repent: behold, see that there is here some statement from Hashem, "and you shall know that I am Hashem," and then through this they will take note and believe in Providence and in reward and punishment.
"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, what is this proverb that you have concerning the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?" The Malbim explains that the Holy One speaks to the prophet and tells him two statements, two utterances. The first utterance: the Holy One says to him, in response to what they were saying, the prophet says all sorts of things, these things will not come about at all, you have nothing to worry about, it is like the words of the astrologers, they say, and as the days go by you see it has no force. That is one thing. The second thing: they would say, and you know what, and even if it comes about, it is still a vision for a set time, still long years off, after us the flood, in short you have nothing to worry about, it is not something that is about to happen tomorrow or the next day. These two things those people were accustomed to say in order to reassure, in order to create complacency, in order to remove worry: you have nothing to worry about, do not, do not be troubled. That is what He says here: "Son of man, what is this proverb that you have concerning the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails."
They would take a proverb and an example from what was, from what all sorts of astrologers and various forecasters of the heavens would say, and indeed the words of those astrologers did not always come true, since the futures they were foreseeing, the Malbim says, there are those that were things based on all sorts of observations of the stars, of the heavenly bodies, and they would see that a certain star stands opposite another star and this says that the abundance that descends from them, the influence, will be such and such. This is to this day something that all sorts of people who deal with astrology deal with. And they would also say things that are for a long time. Now it is very possible that over time things change, that is, what you see, you see now a certain reality, but this reality will not necessarily remain that way always, since it could be that tomorrow another star will enter the picture, it can create a different influence from the influence that you saw by the stars a certain time ago. And that is what He says: "the days are prolonged," there are certain futures that can change through the prolonging of days. Furthermore He says to him: they forecast futures by what power? By virtue of the arrangement, with natural causes, that is, this star influences that star which creates such an influence, and consequently all these are natural causes. And He says, when one of the causes changes, consequently everything changes further on, for if I hang one thing on another, for example, I say that there will be heavy rains, and afterwards I say that this will cause floods, and afterwards I say that this will cause the collapse of bridges and the collapse of fortifications, and afterwards, now if for example a neighborhood had changed, then everything changed here, so there are no floods and there is not, that is, you hang things on nature, and the moment one thing in nature changes, then all the reactions set in motion by the primary cause are also nullified. He tells him: they hang things on nature, and when one of the causes changes, then through this the vision will be lost and will not come. And that is what is written, "the days are prolonged and every vision fails": first, the prolonging of days can create a change in the heavenly arrangements, that is one thing; second, "every vision fails," since one of the natural causes can change, and consequently this too creates a consequence that the vision, what those forecasters of the heavens, those astrologers and the like foresaw for them, these things did not come about.
About this Hashem says to them: "Son of man, what is this proverb that you have concerning the land of Israel, saying," for this proverb does not fit you. What is this proverb that you have? You, the house of Israel, are not under the constellation, you are not dependent on the heavenly bodies, you are under the Providence of Hashem. And especially concerning the land of Israel, for the land of Israel itself is not under the arrangement, "a land which the eyes of Hashem your God are upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year," the land of Israel has particular Providence. So you, the people of Israel, are not under the stars, nor is the land of Israel under the stars. So then, what is this proverb, how do you at all liken and compare the people of Israel in the land of Israel to what those forecasters and heaven-diviners say?
"Therefore say to them: Thus says Hashem Elokim: I will make this proverb cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days draw near, and the fulfillment of every vision." The Holy One says to them: I will make this proverb cease, the meaning being they will no longer use this proverb which they said. What actually is the proverb, that we are like the heaven-diviners, the prophet is like a heaven-diviner and, given the length of time and the possibility of natural changes, the things will not come about? He says: tell them this proverb will be made to cease, they will no longer use this proverb, even according to their approach that this matter depends on the arrangements of the stars, and they will no longer use it as a proverb, also in Israel, that they will see that even though perhaps regarding what the nations foresee, what the astrologers foresee about the nations, it may be that this is correct, but this is not correct regarding Israel; Israel is not under the arrangement. And I once told you that there was a certain man who came to a certain astrologer, and he tried to foresee all sorts of things and check, and everything he told him, he told him that he was not right in what he saw, he saw about him all sorts of things according to the position of the stars and so on. He clarified with him again the hour of birth and everything; everything was given precisely. In the end he asked him: tell me, are you Jewish? He says to him, yes. He says to him, ah, so why did you not say so from the start? He says to him: when it concerns Jews, I do not gamble, thus he says to him, regarding you. A gentile is under the arrangement, a Jew is above the constellation. So he says: if so, first, do not use this proverb even according to your approach that the matter depends on the arrangements of the stars, and especially in Israel, for Israel is not under the arrangement.
Now he explains, in response to what He says, "I will make this proverb cease," He says: "say to them, The days draw near." What is the meaning of this? For it is very near, it is not what you foresee, not that in rare times things will change; He says here, I am speaking to you about near things, "and the fulfillment of every vision." So even if it were dependent on the arrangement, it will come, for here it is about something immediate, not about something that over the years will be nullified. And in response to what He said to them, "they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel," that regarding the people of Israel it is certainly not relevant to speak of influences of this sort, He said to them: "For there shall be no more any vain vision nor smooth-tongued divination within the house of Israel."
There shall be no more vision through the stars, for through the stars it is a vain vision, it is a vision in which there is no truth, "nor smooth-tongued divination": the meaning is there will no longer be divination through all sorts of these sages of the constellations who speak smoothly. That is "smooth-tongued divination," the meaning being they have all sorts of vain divinations, as we will see further on, they tell you all sorts of things according to their divinations, and one smooths it over with his tongue in order to persuade you and to flatter the people. We will see further on that their aim was to flatter the people, since the people would hear the words of the prophets, the true prophets, and the words did not please their ears, for the words speak about the fact that one must bow the head before Nevuchadnetzar and that he is a messenger of the supreme Providence and that there needs to be exile, and all these things did not please their ears. To repent is not something they want, and therefore they would accept the words of the prophets, the false prophets, who had a smooth divination, as we said, they would divine divinations for them and tell them things which they would speak to them smoothly, yes, this would smooth it over for them, giving them a feeling that everything they do is fine. One can say "smooth-tongued divination," in today's terms they had a "glatt divination": everything you do is glatt, no problem, everything is smooth, it is fine, feel good, we have a wonderful nation, we have wonderful youth, we have everything good and beautiful, love and joy, in short everything, continue as you are.
"For I am Hashem; I will speak, and the word that I speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and will perform it, says Hashem Elokim." "For I am Hashem, I will speak," says Hashem, they will know that prophecy is only from Hashem, prophecy is from a personal Providence that is not dependent on time, not dependent on nature. The Holy One speaks, He is not at all dependent on the heavenly bodies, not dependent on the arrangement, not dependent on anything. The Malbim says: there is a difference between the astrologer and one who speaks in the name of Hashem, foreseeing with the spirit of God. The astrologer depends on the orders of the arrangement, he tells you a certain star opposite another star creates such and such an influence, this says that a certain country influenced by this star will have there war, will have there blood, and they know what they are talking about. We spoke more than once that they had knowledge of astrology, it is not like today, a horoscope in the newspaper, rather it is about real knowledge, like Pharaoh says, "See that evil (ra'ah) is before your faces," an angel whose name is Ra'ah, and he saw correctly, he saw blood in the wilderness, and he saw correctly, he saw the leader of Israel harmed by water, and he saw correctly, the waters of Merivah; only all these, his interpretations were not correct, but in any case we should understand that they knew what they were seeing. What they saw, they saw according to the orders of the arrangement, developments according to the stars: a certain star opposite another star is war, a certain star opposite another star is fertility, is abundance, is blessing, and so on in this manner. It could very well be, as we said, that the forecaster did not take into account a few more things, a few more things, that what you say is now correct, this is correct, but the moment now here another star enters the horizon of a certain star, then consequently this creates a change in everything you saw. Why? Because, for example, let us say for the matter, another star that enters the horizon of a certain star indicates altogether a different country, this means the strengthening of another country, and if there is a strengthening of another country, then let us say country A has a war against B; now there is here a strengthening of a third country that he did not take into account, which is C, and C has a war against A. So he saw that A is stronger, so he says presumably this means that in the war A will overcome B, but he did not notice that another star entered the arrangement, which is C, which is stronger than A and has a war with A. So presumably now it will enter the arrangement, it will strike A, and consequently B will be saved. So he made a calculation, A is stronger than B, but he did not finish the calculation, for he did not see that in the arrangement there is another star that also creates an influence, and this star is a third country that is against the first country, and consequently the second country will be saved. This is only an example to understand how, in the knowledge of the stars, you cannot always calculate all the calculations precisely, since a person cannot always see additional causes, as the Malbim says: another cause and another situation is hidden from his eyes, and accordingly the matter changes. Or the forecaster did not aim at the time well, many times the forecaster thinks the things are in the coming two years while it is speaking about the coming decade, not the coming two years, and various other things of this sort. So the forecaster too does not necessarily know how to be precise about time. This is what happened also with Pharaoh, Moshe, the drawn one of Israel is judged by water, this happened much later, and he thought it is happening now, "every son born you shall cast into the river," but it is not now at all; the one judged by water was at the waters of Merivah, much later. Behold you see that the forecaster too can err regarding time, he does not receive dates, he sees influences of stars, the star does not reveal to him exactly in so many hours it will be; they have all sorts of estimates, but in any case this too is a common error. He tells you, know this. But the prophecy of Hashem is not so; when Hashem speaks to bring some evil, He does not say that this thing will come from the aspect of the constellation, from the aspect of the heavenly bodies, from the aspect of nature, no, it comes by the decree of God. So even if everything will prove the opposite, it is the decree of God that it will be so, and the Holy One overturns the arrangements of nature and there is none besides Him, and consequently the Holy One is not influenced by all those factors. And then it could be, listen, it could be things will change; no, things will not change, the word of our God stands forever. A further thing: the decree of Hashem is the act that in fact brings the thing into reality. When Hashem speaks to the prophet and tells him that at a certain time a certain evil will come, this itself, this speech, this statement, is itself the act that brings the evil; it is not dependent on anything else, and there is no change with the Holy One. So consequently this evil will surely come. That is what He says to them: "For I am Hashem, I will speak the word that I speak." I speak to the prophet and I inform him of what I have spoken. What is "I have spoken"? I have decreed, He said "and it was," what I decreed I speak to this prophet. "And I, Hashem, will speak to the prophet the word that I speak," the meaning being the decree that I have decreed, that at a certain time it will be such and such, and the very speech that I spoke, this will be the act. And that is what He says, "the word that I speak, and it shall come to pass," the Holy One says, what I speak, the word that I speak, and I will perform it, this itself is the act, it is not dependent on anything else additional; the speech is the act. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," the world was created with ten utterances, Hashem said "let there be light" and there was light, Hashem does not need to wait for something to happen, the speech itself is the act, as we said, He said "and it was." So consequently He says to them: no, no need to worry about the prolonging of time, since there is nothing that delays the Holy One, there is nothing that you would say, no new factors entered the picture here; there is nothing in the picture, there is only the Master of the world. And although sometimes the Holy One prolongs His anger and the Holy One does not exact payment immediately, and that is perhaps so that they will repent there, perhaps the decree will not need to come in such a harsh form as it was decreed, but He says to them: for you it is different. He says "for I have spoken the word and I will perform it, says Hashem Elokim." Why? "For in your days, O rebellious house," He says to them, you are the rebellious house, there is no hope that you will repent. "Meri" (rebellious) is from the language of "mamrim" (defiant), you were defiant against Hashem, the measure is filled, and consequently Hashem says, "I will speak the word and perform it," the speech itself will be the act, since here there is no longer any reason to prolong the time in order that you repent, for you are the rebellious house, so the thing will come immediately.
"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying:" Now another utterance comes to him, to the prophet, and this is in response to what they were saying, that the word of the prophet who comes in the name of Hashem, and the word of Hashem does not return empty. So they say: behold, see, that the Holy One sometimes says a thing, decrees a decree, and it does not come immediately, as we see that most of the harsh predictions of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash and the troubles, the prophets spoke about these things over decades and perhaps even hundreds of years, so you see that the things do not come immediately, and if they do not come immediately, then there is room here for the people to emerge with a kind of feeling that there is nothing to worry about, this is not going to happen. He says to them: "Son of man, behold, the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days, and he prophesies of far-off times." The vision is what the prophet sees in the prophetic vision. The prophecy (nevuah), in contrast, the Malbim says, is what the prophet is sent to say to the people. "Nevuah" is from the language of "niv sefatayim" (the utterance of the lips), yes, "niv" is from the language of speech. So the vision is what he sees; "niv" is what he brings out of his mouth, what he speaks; "niv sefatayim" is from the language of "the fruit (tenuvat) of the lips," yes, what the lips produce. So he says, the vision is what the prophet sees in prophecy, and the prophecy is what he is sent to say to the people. So they say, the vision is for many days, and also what he prophesies in his mission to the people, this speaks of far-off times, it does not speak of near times.
The Malbim explains what is the difference between "days" (yamim) and "times" (itim). The Malbim says: "days" describes the span of time; in contrast, "time" (et) is a point within time, the time has not yet come, the "et" is a certain point within time. The vision is what he sees in the prophetic vision. So they say that what will happen over many days, pay attention, he sees in the vision. And by the way, this is an interesting matter, for this is also said regarding the autistic ones, that when they see something, they see about something that will be, many times the things are correct, but they translate it incorrectly, for he thinks it is tomorrow, but he does not know that it is about another 20 years, another 50 years. So this is what they say, "the vision that he sees is for many days." This is truly how it would happen in the prophetic vision, for what actually happens in the vision, the Holy One shows the prophet something, something that will happen. Now understand that in the vision, things that happen over years, processes of years, happen in an instant. For how long is the vision? The vision is years. The prophet now is asleep, usually most prophecies were in sleep, the prophet now is asleep, he dreams, he receives a prophecy, and this prophecy which he receives is such a prophecy that actually includes within it a long time. As the holy Ari said to Rabbi Avraham HaLevi, when he bent down to hear what he was muttering in his midday sleep, he heard him speaking words of Torah, so he said to him: even if I had lived 80 years I would not have managed to teach you what I taught you in that half-hour when he was resting at midday rest. That is, we understand that in the vision one can see a long time in a brief moment. This is what they would say, "the vision that he sees is for many days," he sees many days over a brief time. But know, it will not happen as he thinks, it is not in an instant, it is thing after thing after thing. What does he see, that we will fall into the hand of Nevuchadnetzar, and he sees it immediately, but they did not die during the siege, correct, but the siege will be three years. What does he see, that there will be famine, correct, but the famine will be after so much time, and until there is a war, and until there is a fall, all this is a long time. But for him in the vision he saw everything in an instant. So this is what they would reassure themselves with, they would say the vision will be for many days, and the prophecy, what the prophet is sent to announce to the people, this is at one time, he announces this to them in one moment. They say this is of far-off times, "et" is a time, this will come at a far-off time, it will not come immediately.
He tells you, know this, but the prophecy of Hashem is not so. "Therefore say to them: Thus says Hashem Elokim: None of My words shall be prolonged any more; the word that I speak shall be performed, says Hashem Elokim." "None of My words shall be prolonged any more," even though until now sometimes the decree would be prolonged and the exacting was not immediate, perhaps they will repent. Hashem says to them: all this is true until now, until the verdict was not sealed, and the aim is that Hashem always spoke the evil not in order to do it; the evil constitutes a threat so that they will repent. And that is what He says, "the word that I speak shall be performed, says Hashem." The Holy One says: always that I speak a word, it is not in order to do it, it is so that they will repent and I will not do it. But now "none of My words shall be prolonged any more, the word that I speak shall be performed," now I will speak a word and it will truly be done, not as a threat so that they will repent, but in practice the thing will come and be fulfilled. I will not wait for them to repent there. Why? Because the verdict has already been sealed. So in such a situation, "the word that I speak shall be performed," the word that I spoke will be done immediately.