Sefer Yirmiyahu chapter 7. "The word that came to Yirmiyahu from Hashem, saying: Stand in the gate of Hashem's House and proclaim there this word, and say: Hear the word of Hashem, all Yehudah who come through these gates to bow before Hashem." The Radak notes: pay attention, here it is written "The word that came to Yirmiyahu." In the earlier passages we did not see this expression; it always says "So said Hashem." The Radak explains that since this prophecy took place at the gate of Hashem's House, "Stand in the gate of Hashem's House," therefore he says "The word that came to Yirmiyahu from Hashem, saying," meaning that even the standing at the gate of Hashem's House was also from Hashem, saying. From Hashem, saying: say, stand in the gate of Hashem's House. One might have understood that the prophecy was given from Hashem and Yirmiyahu sought a central place to deliver it. It tells you: no, even standing in the gate of Hashem's House was itself a command from Hashem.
And what does the Holy One tell him: stand in the gate of Hashem's House, meaning the gate of the Temple. We are speaking here, says the Radak, of the eastern gate, which is the most distinguished of the gates. "And proclaim there this word, and say: Hear the word of Hashem, all Yehudah who come through these gates." "Who come through these gates": it is written that there were seven gates in the Courtyard. Three in the north, three gates in the south, and one in the east. He tells him: stand in the gate of Hashem's House, because he wishes here to deliver a special prophecy, says the Malbim, to the people who come through the gate to offer sacrifices. And soon we will see that the prophecy relates to the Temple. He tells them: hear the word of Hashem, you who come through these gates and think, what are you coming there for? To bow before Hashem. You think that the bowing is the main thing, that this is what Hashem asks.
"So said Hashem, Master of Legions, God of Israel: Improve your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place." "So said Hashem, Master of Legions, God of Israel, improve your ways and your deeds." Coming to the Courtyard, says the Malbim, the prophet tells them: this is not the act that the Holy One requests. This is not the good act that Hashem demands. The good deeds are the condition for coming to the Courtyard. That is to say, do not relate to the mere offering of the sacrifice and coming to Hashem's House as the desired goal. That is not the goal. The goal is improving the way, the goal is correcting the deeds. Therefore he tells them: improve your ways, first improve your deeds, and then "I will let you dwell in this place." Then I will settle you in this place. And the meaning of this is: if you want to be close to God, in the sense of "I will let you dwell in this place," that the Holy One will rest His Shechinah here in this place, then first improve your ways and your deeds. And then "I will let you dwell," the Radak asks: but they already dwell there? The Radak explains that the meaning is: I will maintain you in your dwelling in this place and you will not be exiled from it. That is to say, the prophet here speaks all the time about the fact that they are about to be exiled. But if you improve your ways and your deeds, there is still a chance that I will yet settle you in this place, meaning you will remain here permanently and will not be exiled.
"Do not trust in the words of falsehood, saying: The Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are these." The doubling and tripling here is a matter for all the commentators to address. The prophet says: do not trust in the word of falsehood. The false prophets tell you: the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are these. What does this mean? First let us read the Targum Yonatan. I will translate it. Do not rely on the words of the false prophets who say: before the Temple of Hashem you serve, before the Temple of Hashem you sacrifice, before the Temple of Hashem you bow, three times a year you appear before Him. That is the Targum. The Radak notes: it is written here "Do not trust in the words of falsehood." Trust is expressed with the word "el" (to) and with the word "al" (upon). And he says: you trust in the words of falsehood. And there is a verse "behold you trust upon." The Malbim asks: what was the trust based on? The false prophets tell them: the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are these. That is, the false prophets say: you have nothing to worry about, you have the Temple of Hashem. The meaning is: the Temple exists and this Temple is the place of the Shechinah, so you have nothing to fear that the House will be destroyed. The Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem. The Malbim explains that you think that because it is the Temple of Hashem and it was built for Hashem's name, and through this the Holy One will necessarily dwell in His House, and if so, what is there to worry about? The Holy One will not abandon us, would He destroy the Temple? He tells them: no, "the Temple of Hashem are these," your good ways, your upright conduct, the Temple of Hashem are these, they are the Temple of Hashem. "And they shall make Me a Sanctuary and I will dwell among them." Among them, literally. Do you know what the Temple of Hashem is? When you walk in the way of Hashem and the Holy One rests His Shechinah upon you, that is the Temple of Hashem. Do not say the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, because what Hashem says is "the Temple of Hashem are these," I want that they themselves shall be the Temple of Hashem. The people themselves, by improving their deeds and correcting their ways, shall be worthy themselves of the resting of the Shechinah.
Another explanation the Radak gives is that the people would say to the prophet, to Yirmiyahu, they would tell him: because of our terrible deeds this city will not be destroyed. The Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are these. He brings an explanation in the name of his father, who explains that the tripling written here, three times "the Temple of Hashem," corresponds to the Ulam, the Heichal and the Devir, these are the three sanctified places in the Temple. And corresponding to this, says the Radak's father, there is also a verse that says "Land, land, land." What is the contrast? You say: the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, Hashem will not destroy, it is a holy place. Hashem says: land, land, land, this place is considered before Me like land. After you have defiled it, after you have with your corrupt conduct turned it into a place without holiness, then it is already like mere land. Land, land, land, that is Hashem's answer to what they claimed, the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are these, since you disgrace the sanctuaries. As these matters appear in Sefer Yechezkel, these are harsh and terrible things about what they were doing inside the Temple, and the Holy One takes the prophet on a tour there and he sees there the images that they were making inside the Temple and the drawings that they were engraving on its walls, horrifying things. So He tells them: do you think that this place still has the distinction of being the Temple of Hashem? This place is considered land, land, land, it is like mere land without any distinction or advantage beyond the mere fact that it was built for Hashem's name, since the Holy One no longer rests His Shechinah in a place where you commit such grave sins.
"For if you truly improve your ways and your deeds; if you truly execute justice between a man and his fellow; you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow; and you do not shed innocent blood in this place; and you do not follow other gods to your own harm; then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from everlasting to everlasting." The prophet tells them: "for if you truly improve your ways and your deeds," what is really the request? What is the demand? You shall improve your ways and your deeds, how? "If you truly execute justice between a man and his fellow." If you execute justice between a man and his fellow, so that there will not be among you matters of theft, oppression, fraud and verbal wronging. And then "I will let you dwell in this place," through your good deeds themselves, you yourselves will be the Temple of Hashem. As we explained, the Shechinah will rest in you, "I will let you dwell in this place" is like "I will dwell with you." The Holy One says: I will be together with you, I will be among you. And through this He promises them that you will dwell here in the land that I gave you from everlasting to everlasting. Through this you will have here a permanent existence and there will not be the exile that the prophet constantly warns about, that the prophet constantly speaks about, there will not be the exile.
In the middle He mentions, for I skipped a verse, "you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not follow other gods to your own harm." The Malbim says this is a parenthetical statement. That is, He tells them: if you will walk in the way of Hashem, execute justice between a man and his fellow, then certainly and all the more so you will not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow, for these are sins, and all the more so you will not shed innocent blood, and even more so you will not follow other gods, meaning you will not follow idolatry. For if you do these things, then surely this contradicts what I said at the beginning. Rather, surely I speak of truly improving your ways, that you do good deeds, and then through this the Holy One says: I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from everlasting to everlasting.
There is actually a difficulty for the Malbim here, and I will explain the difficulty. The Malbim himself in the section of explaining the words explains that the order here is very puzzling. For we know that always when the verse expresses several things it always goes from the light to the severe. We have discussed this several times. When we want to tell about someone something, I do not say that this person was accused of murder and also received a parking ticket. Rather, I begin with the parking ticket and I say: and besides that his construction was also halted, and besides that he was once caught stealing, and beyond that he was also accused of murder. It will always go this way and not the reverse way. And how then is it possible that He says here "for if you truly improve your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice between a man and his fellow," here it speaks of high levels, you will already be righteous. "You do not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow," here suddenly it begins to descend. You will not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow. Now it descends further, "and you do not shed innocent blood in this place," already it speaks of murder. And afterwards it speaks, "and you do not follow other gods to your own harm," meaning it already speaks of idolatry. Here suddenly it began to reverse the order. And this matter is seemingly not according to the correct and proper order as is accepted. The Malbim says, the Malbim has a book called Ayelet HaShachar, and this book is a book of rules in the grammar of Scripture. And he says that sometimes, there in rule 201, sometimes the order is reversed according to the causes and their effects. The meaning is according to the causes and the effects that those causes brought about. For example, it is written "you shall not steal and you shall not deny." You shall not steal, and through not stealing you shall not deny. For denying is more severe than stealing. In Yehoshua, "that you shall not come among these nations, and in the name of their gods you shall not mention nor swear." That is, that you shall not come among these nations, you shall not come among the nations, and through this, no more severe, also in the name of their gods you shall not mention. And through mentioning the name of their gods you might also come to swear, which is even more severe. And then he says: so too here will be the explanation for us. So too what is written here, that at the beginning He said "truly improve your ways and your deeds," He says as if in a parenthetical statement, "you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow," as if it need not be said that certainly you will not oppress the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and even more so shed innocent blood, and even more so worship other gods, which certainly need not be said, but rather walk in the upright way and then "I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers." The Gra explains, "in the land that I gave to your fathers from everlasting to everlasting," he says the meaning is that I gave it to you from the days of Avraham, I gave it to you forever, on condition that you walk in the way of Hashem. But if you stray from the way of Hashem, then regarding this there is no promise that the land will be yours forever, but rather, as the prophet always announces, God forbid they will be exiled from it.
"Behold, you trust in the words of falsehood that are of no avail." "Behold, you trust in the words of falsehood," the Malbim says: sometimes a person trusts in falsehood for the sake of benefit. He gains something. So, then I say, even though it is falsehood, at least he trusted in the benefit that would come to him from the falsehood. But to trust in falsehood that also has no benefit, what is the point? What did you gain by this? That is to say, for example, a person is promised that if he goes and does such and such a sin he will receive such and such. They told him: go steal and then he will give you such and such. Fine, so at least he says: I am going to sin but I get something out of it. I will have benefit from it. But when a person is told: go steal and he trusts in a falsehood based on what? And he has no promise, of no avail, so what did you gain from it? So you have neither benefit, that you could say, fine I stole, at least I have money, you have no benefit and also it is a false thing, so you remained with nothing. About this he says "behold, you trust in the words of falsehood that are of no avail," you see that there is no benefit in those things and nevertheless you continue to trust in those words of falsehood. The explanation is: what is really the plain meaning of these matters? For they were not people of weak intellect. What then is the plain meaning? The plain meaning is that when a person trusts in words of falsehood it is because through this he understands that he can continue to do as he pleases. For if I accept the words of the prophet I must improve my ways. I must stop the pursuit of desires, of physicality, of pleasures; idolatry was a kind of desire. It was something that people ran to. So if I listen to the words of the prophet then I must stop the crooked way. Since this is so, he trusts in words of falsehood even though it is of no avail. Why? So that he will not have to change his ways.
The prophet tells them: "Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer incense to the Baal, and follow other gods that you did not know? And then you come and stand before Me in this House upon which My name is called, and you say: We are saved, in order to do all these abominations!" The Malbim says: the prophet rebukes them, do you think that you will persist in your sins, steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer incense to the Baal, follow other gods that you did not know, and then you come and stand before Me in this House, and you will arrive here at the Temple upon which My name is called and you will say: we are saved, no punishment will reach us, no trouble will befall us. And you think, first, that whoever comes to My House is like a city of refuge, that I will shelter whoever comes to My House. And second, you think that I will not destroy the House, and why? Because My name is called upon it, in this House upon which My name is called, would Hashem destroy the House upon which His name is called? And even more than that He says: you do not come to this House in order to repent, but rather in order to return and do evil. So it turns out, if so, that My House, says the Holy One, is not a place for drawing close, but rather a place that gives you backing to continue committing sins. For if you had come here in order to repent, there is reason to leave the Temple, for the Temple is still a place that in some way still causes people awakening. But if you arrive at this House to receive a tailwind for your corruption, for your evil deeds, you say: I was in the Temple, I already offered a sacrifice, everything is arranged, it is fine. Like a person who goes to a priest, once someone went to a priest, after finishing his confession, he tells him: 100 shekels. He tells him: I only have a 200 bill. He tells him: never mind, let it be for next week too. Keep committing sins, you now have an open account for the whole week, you have already confessed in advance also for what you are going to transgress. You are all set. What do you come here for? Do you think I need tax? You pay me tax, offer a sacrifice, and this causes you to continue, you rely on the merit of the House to continue doing all the abominations, until you say that not only do I obtain through the House forgiveness for the past, but you also for the future, that is what is written here "in order to do all these abominations." You feel that through having been in the Temple you received credit to continue committing sins. You permit yourselves to continue in your corruption. What are you talking about? I was just in the Temple, I even offered a sacrifice. What are you talking about? What complaints does he have against me? I put everything in order, he thinks as if he comes to the Holy One to silence someone and, with infinite distinction, like casting off, as it is written regarding the Satan, there is such an aspect of the scapegoat to Azazel, to stop up his mouth. Do you think that this is how you come to the Holy One? I was already in the Temple so I am all set, I can continue committing sins. About this the prophet rebukes them, that these things are exceedingly grave.
"Has this House upon which My name is called become a den of robbers in your eyes? I too, behold, I have seen, says Hashem." A den of robbers, says the Malbim, you regard My House as a den of robbers where they hide in this place so that they will not be caught. And through the House you as it were hide your evil deeds. The Radak explains further, he says: the way of robbers, when they do evil, is to gather together outside the city in one of the caves to hide there from people. That is, when the bandits, when the underworld people, all those who go and would rob people, always had some cave, some hut in some grove where they would gather to divide loot, where they gather to plan their schemes. He says: My House has become like a den of robbers. After a person finishes the robbery there is a place, a den of robbers, where they would gather. So as it were this House is a den of robbers that serves to hide the robber from those pursuing him. So too there are sins, these sins cause you to be pursued. No, no, I fled, I ran to the Temple. I have a den of robbers to hide there from the law. He says: this House was in your eyes like a den of robbers. If you see someone bowing in this House, you say: listen, this is a righteous man, he came to the Temple, I saw how he swayed there, I tell you the door posts trembled. Truly his prayer shook worlds. But his abominations are hidden from your eyes. The Holy One says: even though this is hidden from your eyes, but behold I truly see, I know hidden things, so from Me who can hide? That is what He says here, "has this House upon which My name is called become a den of robbers in your eyes? I too, behold, I have seen, says Hashem." Those whom you in your eyes think came in order to pray, that they are righteous, this is only to deceive the eyes. The Holy One says: but My eyes he does not deceive. "Behold I have seen, says Hashem." For "can a man hide himself in secret places and I will not see him?" So you think that I do not see his evil deeds? What is not revealed to your eyes is revealed to My eyes. And if so, says the Holy One, if you think that despite all this I will not destroy the House, you are completely mistaken.
"For go now to My place that was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of My people Israel." He tells them: go to My place that was in Shiloh, there I caused My name to dwell at first and I destroyed it, the Sanctuary of Shiloh, because of the evil of My people Israel. And the Radak adds: the Ark was exiled from there, it was with the Philistines. Why did the Holy One not fear for His honor? The Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, surely the Holy One will protect this place. He says: and all the more so this House which is the second, whose permanence is not as great as the first. That is to say, this is an interesting thing, he wishes to argue that in Shiloh there was greater permanence than in this House which He now speaks to them about, the Temple, for seemingly we would say that Shlomo's House is the permanent one. The Holy One says: no, the permanence is not as at first. And that is what He says regarding Shiloh, "I caused My name to dwell." Regarding the Temple He says, "upon which My name is called." That is less than "I caused My name to dwell." Upon which My name is called, My name does not dwell but rather is called upon it. The Shechinah has already departed. In contrast, in Shiloh "I caused My name to dwell." There I caused My name to dwell in it. And nevertheless I destroyed it. So the Holy One says: do you then think that you have an insurance certificate regarding the Temple, that here it will not happen? "And now, because you have done all these deeds, says Hashem, and I spoke to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not listen, and I called to you but you did not answer." Now that your sin is even greater, because you have done all these deeds, you should have learned from Shiloh, and from history you are supposed to draw conclusions, and you did not learn. Second, because you have done all these deeds, stealing and murdering, these things were not there at Shiloh, and for less than that I destroyed it. So for the deeds that you do? "And I spoke, rising early and speaking," and this too was not at Shiloh, for there prophets did not come to rebuke them. And if so, why do you not draw conclusions from what happened there? The Holy One says: since this is so, then the punishment, as we will see in the next verse, will be more severe. The Malbim says: it is written here "and I spoke to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not listen, and I called to you but you did not answer." The Malbim asks: what is the difference between speaking and calling? The Malbim says: speaking is from close, and calling is from afar. Call him, call him, he is there at the edge, call him. In contrast, speaking, I am speaking with you. The Malbim says: if so, at the beginning "and I spoke to you, rising early and speaking," for at the beginning My Shechinah was still there, My Shechinah rested in the House. But following all the terrible deeds you did, the Shechinah drew away. Therefore "and I spoke to you, rising early and speaking, but you did not listen," and now what is the situation? "And I called to you but you did not answer," I already call to you from afar. For My Shechinah is not there, as the Gemara brings that the Shechinah went into several exiles, the Shechinah went into ten exiles, thus it moved from there to the Keruv and from the Keruv to the roof and so on. That is to say, you see that the Shechinah went and drew away. Therefore at a certain stage it is already "and I called to you," I already call to you, for one who calls does so from afar. "Then I will do to the House upon which My name is called, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh." Therefore the Holy One says: since you did not draw the proper conclusions, I will do to the House upon which My name is called, in which you trust. And why, says the Holy One, will I exact punishment from it? Because you trust in it. For this House is the security for you to continue committing sins. Upon it you rely in order to continue corrupting. Something of this sort is brought regarding Moshe Rabbeinu, that Moshe Rabbeinu said "erase me now from Your book that You have written." What is "erase me now from Your book that You have written"? There is a parable, I believe a parable that seems to me appears even in the Midrash, or if not then it is later. The parable says: a parable of a son who each time would cause damage, and his tutor, the king's son, and his tutor, that is his educator, would go to the king and appease the king from his anger. Fine, time after time, at a certain stage when the son had already caused very great damage, the tutor came to the king and told him: my lord the king, you must dismiss me. He tells him: dismiss you, why? He tells him: because your son permits himself to do all that he does because there is someone who will appease his father, there is the tutor. But the moment I am not there, then the son will understand, my lord, there is no longer someone who will now smooth out the difficulties and repair the damage. He will draw from this the correct conclusions. So too Moshe Rabbeinu said: Master of the world, erase me now. Why? What has this to do with You? They rely on me. I am the one who appeases. Therefore they also commit grave sins. If You erase me, then through this they will not permit themselves to corrupt so. Something of this sort is what is written here. The Holy One says: "then I will do to the House upon which My name is called, in which you trust." Why will I destroy the House? Because it is the trouble. It is as it were the cause, you trust in it, the Temple of Hashem, Hashem will not destroy His House. And since this is so, you permit yourselves to corrupt. "And to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers." What is "the place"? That is the entire Land of Israel. For here we speak not only of the House but also of the entire Land of Israel.
"And I will cast you away from before Me, as I cast away all your brothers, all the seed of Ephraim." The Holy One says: and the continuation will be that I will cast you away from before Me, meaning exile, as I exiled the ten tribes. The Radak asks: why did He call them Ephraim? The Radak explains: because the kingdom, when it was first divided in the days of Shlomo, was divided under the head of the tribe of Ephraim, that is, Yeravam ben Nevat was from the tribe of Ephraim. Therefore from then on we call the ten tribes Ephraim. "I have surely heard Ephraim moaning," or there is the verse "Is Ephraim a precious son to Me." Why does he express himself about Ephraim with the term Ephraim for the ten tribes? Because the initial kingship was from Ephraim, therefore we attach this name to them permanently. This is, incidentally, very interesting, for to this day we see that even the name of a company that was the first to produce a certain thing sticks to it permanently. To this day everyone calls a communication device a "Pelephone." Pelephone is the name of a company. To this day a refrigerator is called a "Frigidaire." Frigidaire is the name of a company, it is not the name of a refrigerator. That is what the company was called. To this day a store is called "Tambour." Tambour is not the name of the store, it is the name of a company. But since the first company that produced it was called that, or named after it, then consequently one continues to call it that. So too here, the first was from the tribe of Ephraim, and since this is so, forever it continues to be called Ephraim, even though there are here ten tribes and in the meantime there were already kings from other tribes, in any case it is called by the name of the original, initial one.
"And you, do not pray for this people, and do not raise up on their behalf a cry or a prayer, and do not entreat Me, for I will not listen to you." The Holy One says, the Malbim explains: I commanded you to stand in the gate of Hashem's House. There they come to bow, as we saw at the beginning of the chapter, there I commanded you to stand and rebuke them. But I did not command you to pray on their behalf. And even if they wish to pray and you will only be a prayer leader, I will be their prayer leader, He tells you: this too, no. And that is the continuation, "do not pray for this people," that is your prayer, "and do not raise up on their behalf a cry or a prayer" as a prayer leader. Do not be a prayer leader for them either, as is the way that a prayer leader chants and the congregation answers after him. So this too, no, "do not raise up on their behalf a cry or a prayer." And also "do not entreat Me." The Holy One tells him: do not do, do not request that I act in your merit. "For I will not listen to you." The meaning is: I will not listen to you at all. So how can you request and pray on their behalf? I do not listen, as it were, to prayer on their behalf at all. The Malbim explains "do not entreat Me," the definition of entreating is when a person prays on his own behalf. Yes, do not connect this with a striking of "I was struck," yes, struck me. Rather, an entreaty of prayer, this is one of the words for prayer, "pegiah," entreaty. Like "and he encountered the place," yes. "Do not entreat Me," the definition of entreating is when he prays on his own behalf, that he abounds in prayer until as it were the Holy One cannot turn him away empty. He abounds and pleads and implores because of the abundance of the request, that is "do not entreat Me." If he prays on behalf of his fellow, then the meaning is: I pray to the Holy One that in my merit He save my fellow, even if the fellow is not worthy of it. So this is the meaning, do not entreat Me on their behalf, to abound in prayer in your merit for them. "I will not listen to you," the Malbim says: "listen" that is followed by the expression "et" indicates hearing everything only. "I will not listen," it is not written "to you" but rather "you." What does "you" mean? Even the voice I will not hear. As it were, the Holy One says: I will stop up My ears so that I will not hear the voice of your prayer at all.
"Do you not see what they do in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim?" Do you not see, first, what they do. First is the essence of the act, they do exceedingly grave deeds. Second, the quality of the act. It is in public, this makes the whole act far more severe, far more corrupt. So do you not see what they do in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim? It is not individuals but rather they do it in public. And the many, come and see how much they care about bringing merit to the public in all their sins. "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and to pour libations to other gods, in order to provoke Me." It is teamwork, he brings the whole family. The children gather wood. The children go to gather wood, that is, so that all will be occupied with the matter of the mitzvah, in quotation marks. They gather wood. And even work that one person could do, says the Malbim, like the making of the cakes, they would divide it among several, the fathers, the children and the women, so that all will have a part in the act. And all this only in order to provoke Me. What is the making of the cakes? The Malbim explains that the meaning is a form that was directed toward the queen of heaven. "Kavanim," they would make a form and this form is directed, "mekhuvenet" means corresponding to. This is directed corresponding to the sun, this is a form made directed corresponding to the moon, this is a form corresponding to a certain star. They would draw powers from those stars and constellations, and in order to draw power from that form they would make an image of it here on earth. Incidentally, you should know that to this day there are in India all sorts of such people who deal, in general in the Far East, all sorts of such people who deal with forces of impurity, they have what is called a kind of sorcery called voodoo. What do they do? They take a doll of a person, they want to kill someone, they take a doll of a person and stab it. What do they do? The moment he took it and made an image of him, it is directed corresponding to him. And he can kill him even from afar. That is to say, they have powers, forces of impurity, and with sorcery they could perform many actions. So that taking and making a form in the image and likeness of an exalted spiritual thing creates influences whereby that spiritual reality as it were clothes itself in that form, and through this he can strike here. Or perform actions, why would they offer libations to it? What, how does this help? You go and offer a libation to some god in a certain form, what does this give? It is an idol, you made it yourself, now you finished making it. What, how does it help that you go and make sacrifices to it and the like? No, because I esteem and honor the form, this creates influences, for that exalted image which is a spiritual power clothes itself in that form. So this is what they made them, a form and cakes. "Kavanim" is a form directed corresponding to the host of heaven. The host of heaven is the sun. From what root is it "melekhet hashamayim"? From the expression "reigning in the heavens." There are two explanations in this. But one explanation, says the Malbim, is that indeed if we wished to characterize the ruler over all the heavenly bodies, then it is without any doubt that the strongest and greatest of all is the sun. Therefore after the sun the greatest number of people strayed. Sun-worshippers would rise early in the morning, their backs to Hashem's Temple and their faces eastward, and they would bow to the sun. Since the sun is the mighty power, the strong, warming power, life-giving power, so for them it was as it were the god. And certainly greater than the other stars and the moon, and since this is so they saw it as the primary one. So they go and bow and make libations for the sake of whom? For the sake of the host of heaven, meaning the queen of heaven as it were, someone reigns over all the stars and leads them. And the Malbim says that this too was the worship of the Molech. To the sun they would perform the worship of the Molech. And they had a male Molech and a female Molech. As it is written in Amos chapter 5, "the tabernacle of your king and the pedestal of your images." "We made cakes for it to grieve it." So this is the same host of heaven, he speaks of the Molech which is of a female aspect. Another explanation is that "melekhet hashamayim" is like "melakhah" with an alef. Even though it is written here without an alef, but it is "melakhah," for you do not read "malkat," correct? The reading is "melekhet," only it is without an alef. "Melekhet hashamayim" is from the expression "melakhah" (work) or from the expression "malach" (angel) and mission. The meaning is that they would perform work to serve it, or from the expression "malach" and mission, since the angel is sent on the missions of the one who sends him, so this is the meaning that he goes in his name in order to lead the lowly ones. About this the Radak says, another explanation, what is "the children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough"? That is, all this is teamwork in order to bake for the sake of the idolatry. So the children, they send them to gather wood. The fathers, they give them to kindle the fire. Here, first, a proof that children are not allowed to deal with fire. Yes? You have a proof from Scripture. The children they would send only to gather wood, the fire the fathers would kindle. Fine. The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, the women knead dough to make cakes for the host of heaven. Rashi explains that "kavanim" is the mold of the star. And the Radak says that "kavanim" is types of foods that they would prepare and present to the host of heaven. "And we made cakes for it," "the pedestal of your images," all this, he says, "kavanim" is from the expression of a thing they would direct with, as we explained before, toward the host of heaven. Only it may very well be that they would make that bread in a special way so that it would have the matter and intention corresponding to those spiritual matters, corresponding to that sacrifice for whose sake they wished to offer, so they would direct their heart and mind upon them to make them and prepare them well. Like, with infinite distinction, when a woman today bakes challahs then she says "in honor of the holy Shabbat." So these would say "in honor of the idolatry, in honor of the idolatry," like that. All with great devotion they would do, yes? Truly for the sake of Heaven. And this they would do for the host of heaven, as we explained that the meaning is that reign as it were of the exalted spiritual power ruling in the heavens over those idolatries.
"Is it Me they provoke, says Hashem? Is it not themselves, to the shame of their own faces?" "Is it Me they provoke, says Hashem?" The Malbim asks: what does "is it Me they provoke" mean? Do they not provoke the Holy One? Do all these deeds not provoke Hashem? What is "is it Me they provoke"? The Malbim says: Hashem is not acted upon. "Not acted upon" means that nothing acts upon Him. That is the concept of "not acted upon." When I, for example, break the cup, then I say the cup was acted upon by the action I did. Or anything that I do and act upon something else, I say the second thing was acted upon. It is affected by that thing. Not in the sense of "wow, what excitement I had." Not in that sense, but in the sense of being acted upon. So the Holy One is not acted upon. What does this mean? It is impossible to do something and as it were something changes in the Holy One. And as it were something moves in the Holy One. And if so, even though you see that anger appears, then you would say Hashem was acted upon, for through an action that a person did here the matter created an effect upon the Holy One, meaning it created a state of being acted upon, the Holy One was acted upon by him so that He began to be angry. He says: no, know that anger is not expressed in the Holy One. Where is it expressed? In the burning wrath that created an impression and that one was harmed. So tell me where the effect was? In the Holy One or in the sinner? In the sinner, for in Hashem there was no change at all. Only what? Since a change occurred in the sinner, that he committed a sin and the Holy One now, "the horse and its rider He cast into the sea," then what do I say? Hashem was angry with them. Correct? But I express this with the term anger because it is the result. For when I am angry with you and give you a slap, then I say I was angry and you received a slap. Therefore when I see Pharaoh receiving a slap I say Hashem is angry. But this is the language of human beings. In the Holy One as it were no change at all occurred. So why do you call this angry? Because when among us I am angry you receive a slap. Therefore when I see Pharaoh receiving a slap then I say Hashem is angry. But do not think that truly in the Holy One a change occurred, an effect occurred. That is what He says, "is it Me they provoke, says Hashem?" Is a change applicable in Me? "Is it not themselves," for the action, the outcome, is in them. So if so, the anger is expressed only in them, in Hashem there is no impression of that anger. They receive the anger, they are affected by the anger, they are acted upon by the anger, not I. That is what He says, this thing is "to the shame of their own faces," this thing will only cause them shame and cause them harm. The Radak says: for their evil deeds will not harm Me and their good deeds will not benefit Me. We have discussed this several times. Any action that a person performs does nothing to the Holy One. As Elihu said to Iyov, "if you have sinned, what do you effect upon Him? And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?" Or, "what does He take from your hand?" Or if you did a good deed, what did Hashem receive from you? "Your wickedness is for a man like you, and your righteousness for a son of man." The wickedness will harm you, and the righteousness will benefit you. So that is to say, to the Holy One you cannot say I grieved Hashem and did to Him, these are expressions we express because they are according to what we see here in the lower world, so we relate as it were to the reality of the Creator. But truly in the Holy One no change and no effect is applicable. I have said several times a parable that will greatly help us understand this. It is as if someone would tell me that there is a colony of ants, millions of ants in Africa, that I am for them the god. They bow to me, they serve me, they pray to me, all day only to me they pray. It is very moving, correct? I begin to walk with feelings of pride, wow, see how many ants there are who esteem me. It is ridiculous even to think about this, correct? As if what does it matter, ants yes ants no, with one stamp I kill a million. What, as if, who is affected and who thinks about this? Now understand, the relationship between us and the ants is far closer than between the Holy One and us. That is entirely without relation. In contrast, between us and the ants there is still a certain relationship. So how foolish are those who think that if I did a mitzvah Hashem received something from me. I gave Him something. Yes, the Holy One, oh, Master of the world, I did. Fool, you did, if you did, you did for yourself. And if you did not do, you harmed yourself. That is it, like that. Angry at Hashem, he does not affect Him. What a fool, it is like a person angry at his friend, he begins to drill his ship. Fool, you are in your ship, what are you drilling? No, he greatly angered me. He greatly angered you, you give yourself a bullet in the head because he angered you? When a person goes and does something because he is angry at the Holy One, then what does he do? The opposite of Hashem's command, do you think you anger Him? The Holy One says: you act against yourself. What did you do with this? Do mitzvot, it gives Me nothing, do sins, it detracts nothing from Me. It is all only a difference for you. So when a person is angry at someone and goes and acts against, how much foolishness there is in this matter, how much shortsightedness, how much lack of understanding in Hashem's conduct. Therefore "so said Hashem God: behold, My anger and My wrath are poured out upon this place, upon man and upon beast and upon the tree of the field and upon the fruit of the ground, and it shall burn and not be extinguished." Therefore He says: the result of these things will be anger upon them, shame for them, My anger and My wrath are poured out upon this place. Upon whom? Upon those who provoke, against the Holy One. "Poured out" means spilled, from the expression to empty out and to melt down, like "and My wrath and My anger were poured out." And through this this place will be destroyed. All who are in it, man, beast, plant, the fruit of the tree, the fruit of the ground, all will perish. And the fire will be in it permanently for it will not be extinguished. The Malbim explains: when a person is ill then they bring him medicine. From what do they bring medicine? A compound. From what is a compound made? From various roots and herbs and plants. He says: but here the moment the wrath is also upon the plant, it too will rot. So consequently man and beast perish with no medicine. And this is as it were, as it were, what do I care, for the moment man perishes what do I care now about the plant? Will there be plant, will there not be plant? No, for at the beginning of the destruction, that is at the beginning of the illness, the plant can still constitute a cure. But since the plant too perishes, then there will be no cure either, and then it will be a burning that is not extinguished.