"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, the house of Israel has become to Me as dross; all of them are copper and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace, they have become the dross of silver." Now He speaks to him another prophecy: son of man, the house of Israel has become to Me as dross, all of them. The Malbim says that we already saw in Sefer Yeshaya chapter 48, "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction." The Malbim explains there that one who refines in order to remove the dross does so in a furnace. There they used to refine silver. One who refines silver leaves nothing behind. He extracts all the dross, and all that remains is the pure and refined silver. But in contrast, there is one who refines dross in a furnace of affliction. What does this mean? A furnace that has no silver in it, this is a furnace of affliction, as opposed to a furnace that has silver in it, which is a rich furnace. In the furnace that has no silver but only dross, there he does not throw out all the dross entirely. For if he did, what would remain? So what does he do? He separates the worst dross and leaves the dross that is, relatively speaking, still of some value. This is the meaning of refining the dross in a furnace of affliction. A place where there is no silver but only poverty, there they refine the dross. Refining the dross means separating out the harsh dross and leaving the less harsh dross. You define it: they take out the harsher refuse and leave the less harsh refuse. And this is a parable.
Here the prophet comes to tell us: when the Holy One, blessed be He, refines a generation that has in it righteous and wicked, that is a furnace of silver. That is a generation that also has righteous people in it, that is silver. What does Hashem do? He destroys the wicked and leaves the righteous. That is, He keeps the silver and throws out the dross entirely, so that the silver will be completely refined and purified. But what happens if none of them are righteous? What happens if all of them are a furnace of affliction? So what does Hashem do? He sifts out the relatively righteous. What does this mean? Those who are dross but less harsh, these He sifts out and leaves, and He separates from them the harsher dross. For those who are less harsh dross are considered as silver relative to the harsher dross, the harsher refuse. And this is what He says here: since the house of Israel has become to Me as dross, all of them dross, there is no silver here. All of them are of the category of dross. Only that among these dross there are harsher ones and less harsh ones. There are several kinds among them: there is copper, there is tin, there is iron, there is lead. Hashem says: by placing them in the furnace in order to refine them, through this the dross became silver. Through this, what was dross is now considered relatively as silver. As we said before, when everything is dross, then they take out the less harsh dross and it is relatively considered as silver as opposed to the harsher dross, the harsher refuse.
And what does He mean to hint at here? He means to speak of the refining and sifting that occurred at the time of the exile of Yechonya. When Yechonya was exiled, the good ones were exiled from among them. This was the exile of the craftsmen and the smiths. Chazal say that these were the sages, these were the great ones in Torah, and they were exiled first. For a number of reasons that we discussed in the past, we will not now enter into explaining why. They were exiled first to Bavel, and they were of the category of silver as opposed to the dross that remained in Yerushalayim. And regarding the craftsmen and the smiths, Chazal say that these were the great sages, for when they speak, all become as deaf. As it were, a mute cannot open his mouth, he has nothing to say after they speak. And when they close a matter, no one can open it. That is to say, if one of them tells you the matter ends in a draw, there is no obvious ruling, no one can now come and say, no, I have a proof. After he has closed it, it is closed. There is no possibility now to come after he establishes the halacha and say to me, it appears otherwise. After the sages of the Talmud established a matter, Abaye, Rava, Rav Ashi, after they ruled the halacha, all the sages of all the generations cannot now come and say, well, though Rav Ashi said so in the Talmud, but now it appears to us in light of it that there is more, we have discovered new mishnayot, we have discovered, I do not know, a new Torah will go forth from me, and we now have a different halacha. No. All the forces in the world may come and they will not change a single letter of the Talmud. They will not change the Talmud. What was ruled for us in the Talmud, that is the halacha, and that is the thing we do without any change. So this is silver. This is the category of silver, those who were exiled first, the craftsmen and the smiths, who were the good ones and who were exiled, as we said, to Bavel.
Shortly we will see who here are the dross, who is copper, tin, iron and lead in that same reality. Therefore, thus said Hashem Elokim: because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Yerushalayim. He says: because you have all become dross, as we said, those who remained here are of the category of dross, therefore I gather you in order to send you into exile, and through this He sifts out from among them the relatively good ones, as we said. Those who, relative to those who remained here, will be good. And they will have a remnant and a survival in exile, as it is written, "Hashem showed me two baskets of figs" in Yirmiya 24, which in fact showed him that this was done in order to preserve them. For by virtue of the sages descending to Bavel, by virtue of this Torah multiplied there, and Israel had a place where they were attached to Hashem, blessed be He. And the exile of Yechonya was like the good figs, whom He sends to Bavel, that they will be for us a remnant and a survival. And He separates them from the bad figs, and these are those who remained here, yes, this is the lowly of the people who remained here in the land. "As they gather silver and copper and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow fire upon it to melt it, so will I gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will let you rest and melt you."
"As they gather silver and copper." What is silver? Have we not already said that the silver went out? Have we not already said that only dross remained here? But we explained that when all are dross, then Hashem relates to the less severe dross as silver. For relatively it is silver as opposed to the harsher dross. And then He says: I will see to it that the refiner blows fire upon it to melt it. "To blow" means as in to breathe upon. The refiner, in order to kindle the fire so as to refine, would use a bellows, and the bellows would kindle the fire and strengthen it. And this was in order to melt. He blows deliberately in order to melt, to melt down and separate the dross from the silver. What does this mean? How does the refiner melt? It is known that every metal melts at a different temperature. And by melting it at a certain temperature, then a certain portion comes out and melts. At another temperature, then another portion melts. And so in stages until it is completely purified and cleaned. So too He says here: I will gather, even though it will be in My anger and in My fury, which is a fire that destroys the dross, Hashem says, in any case it will be with providence. Of this He says, "and I will let you rest and melt you." That the melting and separating of the silver by itself, all of it will be through the providence of Hashem. "And I will let you rest and melt you." This means that what the Holy One, blessed be He, says He will do, it is in order to separate from you and in order to give you a name and a remnant.
The Malbim says that there is a difference in the Holy Tongue between "to gather" (lekabetz), "to collect" (le'esof), and "to assemble" (likhnos). One who gathers, gathers something scattered. One who collects, means specifically to collect into one place, as he explained in Yeshaya. And one who assembles, assembles into a guarded place from which they will not go out, like one who assembles sheep into a fold, "He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap," who keeps them in one place so they will not go out. So He says: Hashem will assemble them so that they will remain within the furnace. It is written here also "in My anger and in My fury," and it also writes "My wrath" (evra). What is the difference between them? This too the Malbim already explained in several places. "Af" (anger) is external. "Af," first of all, "a fire is kindled in My af." Fire is something visible, and it kindles in the af, it is recognizable, one sees it. "Chema" (fury) is internal, "and his fury burned within him." It burns inward. And both of these, says the Malbim, are in the wake of sin. In contrast, "evra," wrath, this already passes over. It is a crossing over. "Evra" is already more. When through anger and fury the wrath goes out even to one upon whom, as it were, it was not fitting to be angry, this is already called the category of "evra." Like the category in which the Holy One, blessed be He, destroys righteous and wicked. This is the category of "evra," since the wrath passes beyond what was needed and fitting, this is the category of "evra." And of this He says here, "and you will be melted." You will have, as it were, a melting from yourselves. Why? Because once permission was given to the destroyer, he no longer distinguishes between righteous and wicked. "And I will assemble you and blow upon you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within it." "And I will assemble you," after I separate the silver, which is in fact the exile of Yechonya whom I will take out of Yerushalayim, then I will bring you in. The bringing in, the Malbim explains, in contrast to gathering, is to bring something into a place so that it remains there. This is the meaning of bringing in. So the rest of the people remained assembled, as it were, within the furnace, for Yerushalayim is in fact the furnace in the parable we saw earlier. They do not go out to Bavel. Those who went out to Bavel were the more praiseworthy ones, they were of the category of silver. Those who remained are the worse dross. "And I will blow upon you with the fire of My wrath." The Malbim always explains that "evra" is when the wrath passes beyond what is deserved. That is, a general fury that spreads even to the good and to those who are not good. And it will be a category of "evra" that spreads over the entire people, not distinguishing between righteous and wicked. And it will not be only in anger and fury against the sinners alone, but wrath, a general destruction. "And you will be melted within it." And here too we notice that He does not attribute the melting to Hashem, but rather they will be melted, as it were, of themselves within it, which comes to give us a parable of the loss that will occur at the time of the exile of Tzidkiyahu.
"As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so will you be melted in its midst, and you will know that I am Hashem, that I have poured out My fury upon you." In any case, you will be completely melted within it, like silver melted in a furnace. Silver, as is known, is a soft metal, it melts faster than iron. He says: and with all this, this too was in order to refine them, so that they would return to the good, so that they would be purified like silver. That is to say, I want to explain here the difficulty somewhat according to the Malbim's explanation. For the silver has already been exiled. The silver is the more praiseworthy ones. Those who remained in Yerushalayim are the worse refuse that remained in the furnace. So how does He call them "as silver is melted in the midst of a furnace"? This is no longer silver. The silver has already been exiled to Bavel. There remained the lead and the tin and the worse metals. Therefore He says this is by way of comparison. Like silver melted in a furnace. For silver melted in a furnace melts more easily since it is softer. And there is also an expression here to say that you will be purified more, like the purification of silver. Through this refining that I will refine you, and you will know that I am Hashem, that I am the One who punishes, I am the One who watches over, and through this it comes out that thus you will be able to come to praise, you will be like silver. Therefore it is "as silver is melted in the midst of a furnace." Through your internalizing the message, and you will know that I am Hashem, that I have poured out My fury upon you, and consequently by virtue of this you will be awakened to repentance.
"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, say to her, you are a land that is not cleansed, not rained upon on the day of indignation." Now He will explain to him who those four kinds of dross are that we mentioned above, which are copper and tin and iron and lead, against whom the matter refers. Son of man, say to her: you are a land that is not cleansed. What I said, that the house of Israel became to Me as dross, a category of dross, this is: you are a land that is not cleansed. As it were, this is an expression that you are not pure. He describes here the corruption that was done in the land like the corruption that was done at the time of the flood. They too corrupted their way like in the time of the generation of the flood. Only that in the time of the generation of the flood there was still some purification. For in the time of the generation of the flood the rain came down and purified the land. And then all the impurity and filth that were upon the land were purified. As we explained more than once, whoever pays attention to what happened in the generation of the flood, the Kli Yakar also mentions this and others, what happened in the generation of the flood was in fact a kind of kashering by immersion. For truly, if one wanted to think of an easier way to bring about annihilation, it is much easier to spread some poisonous gas, and through this all the people would die. Why did the whole land need to be destroyed? This is a very complex matter, to bring a flood over the whole earth, to flood everything so that all the mountains would be covered in water. Surely this is a much more complex affair. And especially since if one wanted to protect the animals, then it would have been possible to bring a gas that destroys, kills people but does not kill animals. There are kinds of poisons that animals are not harmed by but people are. So certainly the hand of Hashem is not too short to perform such an action. Well, regarding the animals one can say, and this Chazal say, "all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth," including the animals. The corruption of human beings was cast also upon the animals, so they too had to be destroyed. But this still does not explain why specifically a flood was needed. The explanation is that the land was defiled. "All flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth," when a person corrupts, he corrupts the world along with him, as the Mesilat Yesharim says. It comes out, then, that the impurity took hold everywhere. In order to succeed in cleaning the land, it had to be immersed. Or kashered by immersion. And therefore, notice, this was in exactly the manner of kashering by immersion. How does one kasher by immersion? First hot water and afterwards cold water. So it was in the flood. There came, there were hot waters that rose from the earth, and afterwards cold waters that were from the heavens. Now, since complete purity was needed, if even a part is outside the mikveh, then it is impure. Therefore the waters had to cover the tops of the mountains, so that there would be complete immersion. And since all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth, that is to say, they also corrupted in the land, therefore it also had to be that three handbreadths, the depth of the plow, would be dissolved. The soil was dissolved three handbreadths, the depth of the plow. Complete purity was needed here. And He says, then, it comes out that although in the generation of the flood we saw great corruption there, then all the impurity and filth that were on the face of the earth were wiped away, like one who washes a soiled thing with water so that it is purified of its impurity and filth. So there was purity here, there was purification here. After the flood the land was cleansed, water purifies all impurity. But in contrast, here He says: you are a land that is not cleansed. You are not purified after the destruction. And why? Because it was not rained upon on the day of indignation. On the day that Hashem was indignant against you, no rain came down to purify the land. The destruction was by fire, the destruction was not by water. And so, no rain came down to purify after the destruction. From here Chazal learn that in the Land of Israel there was no flood. A land not rained upon on the day of indignation. And according to this they ask: if so, why was Noach's ark needed? Why should Noach not enter the Land of Israel? Would it not be simpler, for in this he would have protection, he would take with him all the animals to the Land of Israel and thus they would be saved from the flood? So in fact it is brought that although no flood came down in the Land of Israel, the flood entered it from other lands. Thus they explain. So it comes out, then, that although here no rain came down and here the fountains of the great deep were not split open, but by virtue of the other lands it entered. This is what is written, "not rained upon on the day of indignation," meaning no rain came down upon it on the day of indignation, but it did enter.
"A conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing prey; they have devoured souls, they take wealth and precious things, they have multiplied her widows within her." Now He describes the four kinds of dross. The copper is the conspiracy of her false prophets. The false prophets engaged in divination, in sorcery, they were like a roaring lion to tear prey. When the lion roars, he eats. He has prey. Where do we see this? "Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?" So if he roars, it is a sign that he has prey. So too, when they would prophesy, they would roar and tear prey. What prey? The lion, when he tears prey, tears flesh. He tears a body. But here "they have devoured souls." They did not tear body and flesh, the prophets tore souls. They devoured the spiritual soul, in short they caused them to sin in their souls. The prophets, the false prophets, by drawing them in with their smooth speech and by giving them, telling them all kinds of things pleasant to the ear, through this they drew them in and through this they tore their souls, they caused them to sin in their souls. So "they have devoured souls." And also "they take wealth and precious things." They took from them the thing that is their strength, their power, their preciousness, their honor. "And they have multiplied her widows within her." In the wake of this, they multiplied her widows within her. For in the wake of the calming words of the false prophets, the enemies came and struck here in the land. The women were left widows. So who is it that in the end multiplied the widows? You, the false prophets. So the false prophets, they multiplied her widows within her.
Until here He speaks about the copper, which is the false prophets. Now He will speak about the kohanim, about the tin. "Her kohanim have done violence to My Torah and have profaned My holy things; between the holy and the profane they have not distinguished, and between the impure and the pure they have not made known, and from My Sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, and I am profaned among them." The kohanim are the tin. And why are they the tin? The Malbim says, because Hashem set them apart from the congregation of Israel. "And Aharon was set apart to sanctify him as holy of holies." And consequently the kohanim are of the category of tin, for tin (bdil) is set apart (muvdal). And what was the role of the kohanim? Their role was to teach Israel Torah. For "the lips of a kohen preserve knowledge, and Torah they seek from his mouth." And they did violence to My Torah, as we saw above, for they did not teach the Torah. Second, the role of the kohanim is to guard the Mikdash and its holy things. And they profaned, "and they have profaned My holy things." Between the holy and the profane they did not distinguish, they were not careful regarding impurity and purity. "From My Sabbaths they have hidden their eyes," they did not warn against the desecration of Shabbat, for the desecration of Shabbat is weighed against the entire Torah. The Radak explains, "from My Sabbaths they have hidden their eyes," that they saw from them that they were carrying a burden on the day of Shabbat, as it is written in Yirmiya, and the kohanim, as we said, are the bearers of the Torah, they should have protested to them, and they did not protest. They hid their eyes, as if they did not see.
"Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, in order to make unjust gain." "Her princes in her midst," here He speaks now about the category of iron. For the category of iron, as is known, is the strong metal with which one kills souls. So "her princes" are the princes who were within her, they were like wolves. The Malbim says, there is a difference between the lion and the wolf. The lion tears prey only when he is hungry. But in contrast, the wolf tears prey even when he is not hungry. With the aim of shedding blood. Therefore He says, "like wolves tearing prey, to shed blood." Like wolves that tear prey not only when they are hungry, but with the aim of shedding blood. Or in order to destroy souls, in order to make unjust gain. In order to rob the money of the murdered one, they would go to destroy souls, murderers, through making unjust gain. The Malbim brings in the name of Rabbeinu Yona that "chamas" in Arabic means to remove something from its place. As we say "they did violence to Torah" (chamsu Torah), yes, thus he says this is the expression of chamas. And this is how he explains what we saw earlier, "her kohanim have done violence to My Torah."
"And her prophets have plastered for them with tafel, seeing falsehood and divining for them lies, saying, thus said Hashem Elokim, when Hashem has not spoken." Now He turns to the prophets. He says, it was not enough that they did not rebuke the kohanim and the princes, they even helped them, those false prophets, in that they prophesy falsehood in the name of Hashem. And this is "they have plastered with tafel." What is "they have plastered with tafel"? Rashi explains, they are like one who plasters a building with plaster. When the purpose of the plaster is in fact to preserve the building from the rains. But if the plaster has no straw in it, then the plaster dissolves when the rains come, it crumbles. And this is what He says, "they have plastered with tafel." They plastered the building with plaster that is of no use. When rains come it dissolves. And "tafel," Rashi explains, anything that is lacking repair is called tafel. "Can that which is tafel be eaten without salt?" Yes, the meaning is a thing that is lacking correction. So this is the meaning of "they have plastered for them with tafel." Those prophets, as it were, strengthened the building with something of no use. They strengthened the building with something that the first rain would crumble. And then they would see for them falsehood and divine for them lies. They see for them all kinds of false visions, about how everything is good and will be well, and about how the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash are destined to return, and about how the exiles too Hashem will return. And as we said more than once, they would say to them, the prophets of truth only tell you things to frighten you. We tell you things that will be good for you. And it is always much more pleasant and comfortable to hear how good we are, than to hear how much we need to fix. Yes, this is really the tool of the media. They plaster for them with tafel: we have a wonderful nation, we are a successful nation, we have wonderful youth, he even knows how to light candles, and in short everything is beautiful, everything is wonderful, everything is good. There is no need, what, are there problems? A red line? No, don't worry, we will lower the bar, it will be fine, many more will pass. In everything, in every matter where there is a problem, like with the Kinneret, we will lower the bar and then it is fine. The Kinneret is still fine, it is still fine. Wait, but, yes, but the red line has already dropped, it is fine. And so on, this is the way to deal with all the problems, and then do not make noise, everything is wonderful, everything is good, excellent. They see falsehood, they divine for them lies. They say, thus said Hashem Elokim, when Hashem has not spoken. Hashem said nothing, and all their words, words of falsehood, they say in the name of Hashem.
"The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy, and the stranger they have oppressed without justice." Now He turns to speak about the lead. The lead is the worst metal of all, this is the people of the land. They practiced oppression, they both oppressed and robbed, they also wronged the poor and needy, and all this was without justice. That is to say, since there was no justice in the land, then each man did what was right in his own eyes, and the people of the land did whatever rose upon their spirit. The difference between oppression and robbery, the Malbim already explained in several places, is that oppression is one who withholds the wages of a hired laborer. Which is relatively lighter than robbery. And therefore, always when one wants to speak of a bad thing, one begins with the less bad and goes on adding. And therefore here He says, "they have practiced oppression and committed robbery." There was oppression here, which is to oppress the wages of a hired laborer, to withhold his wages, and besides this he also went and robbed, which is even more severe.
"And I sought from among them a man who would build up a wall and stand in the breach before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." Hashem says, I sought, as it were, silver among all the dross. As we saw until now, lead and tin and iron, all dross. I searched for silver. I searched for a man who would build up a wall, one who would repair the breaches, one who would repair the generation. Or who at least would stand in the breach before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it. That at least his merits would protect the generation, that Hashem would not destroy the generation, that the destroyer would not come to strike. "But I found none. And I poured out My indignation upon them, with the fire of My wrath I consumed them; I have placed their way upon their own head, says Hashem Elokim." "And I poured out My indignation upon them," this is the punishment. And the punishment here is in two respects. First, "with the fire of My wrath I consumed them." First, the wrath, as we said, is punishing without distinguishing between good and bad, a punishment that passes beyond what is deserved. Second, "I have placed their way upon their own head." This is a punishment with full providence, each man according to his deeds. So there are here the two aspects. First, each one paid the price for what he deserved. Beyond that, there was also a general punishment that passes beyond what is deserved, and this is when the destroyer goes out to strike, he does not distinguish between righteous and wicked.