Sefer Yirmiyahu, chapter 13. "So said Hashem to me: Go and acquire yourself a linen sash and place it upon your loins, and do not bring it into water." Our chapter describes a command that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives to Yirmiyahu, to go and perform a certain action. This appears often in the books of prophecy, that the Holy One, blessed be He, commands the prophet to perform a certain deed, when the purpose of that deed is to serve as a parable for the message that the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to convey and make known to the prophet, usually concerning Israel, that is, concerning what will happen to them in the future. And as is known, in such places there is generally a dispute as to whether the action is an actual action or whether the entire action too took place within the deed and vision of prophecy. Let us begin. "So said Hashem to me: Go and acquire yourself a linen sash." The Holy One, blessed be He, commands Yirmiyahu to acquire himself a linen sash. A linen sash means a type of belt, and we will presently see the details here. But first let us emphasize and note that according to the Rambam, whom the Radak brings, the great sage and true guide the Rambam, wrote that all of this took place in a dream of prophecy. If you think this refers only to this deed, you are mistaken. The Rambam explains many verses in this way. For example, I bring in the book Mishnat HaChalomot, the Rambam explains that the entire matter of the guests who came to Avraham and the tidings, all of it took place within the vision of prophecy. "And behold, Hashem stood over him, and behold, three men," it was not three men, Hashem stood over him, and in the vision of prophecy He shows him three men, and Avraham sees in the vision of prophecy how he runs and serves before them, and so on and so forth. It is important to emphasize that almost everyone disagrees with the Rambam in this understanding of the verses, and rather they understand the matters according to their plain sense. Here too the commentators understand the matters according to their plain sense: when the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him "Go and acquire yourself a linen sash," then he goes and acquires a linen sash, and when guests come to Avraham, then guests actually came and Avraham actually served them, and so on. So that in fact the Rambam is fairly singular in his approach, in his method of explaining the verses, and therefore we will relate to this verse according to the interpretation of most commentators, who explain that everything here took place in reality. And the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: go and acquire yourself a linen sash.
"Place it upon your loins, and do not bring it into water," plainly meaning: do not wash it. And the Radak already writes that he did not understand and did not know a reason for it. If the intent is do not wash it, He should have said do not wash it. Why does He say "and do not bring it into water"? But let us look at the Malbim, for the Malbim here dwells on every detail and every point, and this point too he explains. The Malbim says that the Holy One, blessed be He, commands him seven things. First, He says to him "Go and acquire," that is, it should not be a going in secret but rather a going that makes an impression, a noticeable going that everyone will see that you are going and acquiring. Second, that it should be an acquisition with money, you will not receive it for free but rather you will pay for it. Third, He says to him "and place it upon your loins," that it should be an item measured to your size, according to the measure of the loins. Third, fourth, He says to him that this item should be a linen sash, not a girdle. And shortly we will understand the difference between a girdle and a sash. Fifth, of linen. And here too we must understand what the linen symbolizes. Linen, as the Malbim explains, comes to symbolize the sign of priesthood, the sign of leadership, it is essentially an important garment, linen garments. And the sixth thing: place it upon your loins. He does not say "and gird it" but rather He says "and place it." The difference is essentially that if it had been written "to gird," to gird means to tighten firmly. And a person cannot tighten firmly on a permanent basis. And since here this sash is meant to be worn permanently, therefore He tells him only "and place it," for you cannot bind it firmly on a permanent basis. Seventh, He tells him not to bring it into water. A linen sash is white in color, and consequently this requires constant washing so that it does not blacken. And Hashem tells him: not only shall you not wash it, but even the preparation for washing, which is soaking in water, even this you shall not do to it.
And what is really the idea in all of this? The Malbim says in verse 11, from verse 11 the analogue will begin to be explained. And here the Malbim already introduces to us and tells us what the analogue really is. The clinging of the sash to Yirmiyahu's loins comes to symbolize that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were attached Israel to Himself. Just as the sash clings to his loins, so the Holy One, blessed be He, says: you are attached to Me, as it were, to the Master of the Universe. Furthermore, just as I command you to acquire the sash for a price, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I acquired you for a price. For Hashem performed signs and wonders, changed the orders of creation, as it were what is called invested, in order to acquire you. It was not, it was not for free that one day I said to you, be a people to Me. No, rather I changed all the orders of creation, signs and wonders, the standing at Mount Sinai, that is, you cost Me dearly. And the price with the Holy One, blessed be He, is because it is difficult in His eyes to change nature. Not difficult for Him, note, difficult in His eyes. Since a change of nature also creates an intervention in free choice, and the Holy One, blessed be He, does not wish to intervene in free choice. And with all this, as it were, Hashem paid a dear price and intervened in free choice and performed miracles, signs and wonders, and changed nature in order to acquire you. And the Holy One, blessed be He, indeed acquired us, as it is written, "acquirer of heaven and earth," Israel is one acquisition. Third, we are like the sash. He tells him: take a sash that will be measured to your size. We are measured to His attributes. What does it mean that we are measured to His attributes? "You shall be holy for I am holy." "And you shall walk in His ways": as He is merciful, so too you be merciful, as He is gracious, so too you be gracious. We are measured to His attributes, just as the sash will be measured to the size of your body.
Furthermore, incidentally, this also comes to hint, says the Malbim, that just as when a person wears a garment, when I raise my hand the shirt raises with the hand. That is to say, automatically my clothing moves according to my movements. So too the intent and purpose was that the Holy One, blessed be He, would be revealed within these garments called the people of Israel. His conduct, His attributes would be revealed and come to expression through the people of Israel. For our purpose here in the world is that through this "I shall be magnified and I shall be sanctified." Our purpose in the world is that through people seeing Israel, through this His blessed Name will be sanctified in the world. And then they will say "they are the people of Hashem and they went out of His land," and so on, there will be a sanctification of Hashem's Name in the world. That is to say, you are in the aspect of a garment: just as I tell you take the sash and clothe it upon your loins, so you are like a garment for the holy Shechinah, through whom His blessed conduct is revealed. Furthermore, they resemble the sash, for after the acquisition, which is like the wearing of the sash, He clothes it upon himself, so too the conduct of Hashem is revealed in the world through the people of Israel. Just as the sash clings upon the loins, the Holy One, blessed be He, is as though attached to them, with individual providence. That is to say, not like the nations, who are supervised through a celestial minister; you, the people of Israel, are attached at the loins, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were adheres to you and watches over you with individual providence. Just as the sash indicates strength, as we will presently explain and the Malbim will explain this when he elaborates on the matter of the sash, why a sash specifically indicates strength. And from the aspect that it is linen, we already said that it indicates splendor, honor, linen is considered a precious item. So too He attached them for the sake of name and splendor, that through the people of Israel the might of the blessed Creator will be recognized, the splendor of the blessed Creator in the providence with which He watches over the people of Israel. All this was destined to come about through these deeds that you, Yirmiyahu, now symbolize; it will come to expression through this.
Just as Hashem commands that it be worn permanently upon his loins, so the Holy One, blessed be He, says: My providence over you is permanent. That is to say, the people of Israel cannot be divorced from the Master of the Universe. They are married to Him forever. And therefore it is written "and I will betroth you to Me forever," "and I will betroth you to Me" within the framework of "forever." It is not "and I will betroth you to Me for a time." What happens if the bride corrupts her ways? Then the Holy One, blessed be He, takes care to take her by force. The Holy One, blessed be He, takes care to bring afflictions so that the bride will return back to her home. But a state of divorce is not applicable. This is indeed what the gentiles claim, what the nations claim, that the Holy One, blessed be He, abandoned us and chose Christianity, abandoned us and chose Islam. This is indeed their claim. But the Holy One, blessed be He, says "and I will betroth you to Me forever," it is eternal. We are like a sash tightened upon the loins of Yirmiyahu, so too we are as though tightened upon the Holy One, blessed be He, upon the holy Shechinah. And the Holy One, blessed be He, says: this sash, by nature its way is to blacken. Since a white item that a person wears, before much time passes, if he does not change his shirt every day or two the shirt blackens, the sash blackens. So too the people of Israel, who are the sash as it were upon the loins of the Holy One, blessed be He, require washing. And what is this washing? "Wash yourself with natron." What is this washing? To be cleansed of the transgressions. For in order to be attached to the Holy One, blessed be He, we must be meritorious. If we are not pure and clean, one cannot connect to the Holy One, blessed be He. And then this washing is done through hearing the words of Torah, the words of rebuke, the words of prophecy, "wash your heart of evil," as we saw earlier. And not only do they not want to be washed, they do not even want to be placed in water. Apparently the water is cold for them. They do not even want to be in the water. This is what the prophet says, that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were says "and place it upon your loins, and do not bring it into water." The people of Israel are upon the loins of Hashem, but they do not even want to come into water. They do not want even the beginning of washing, even a mere soaking. All the more so actual washing, which requires more scrubbing and rubbing and removal of stains, which already demands far more effort, of that there is nothing to speak. Even to be in water they are not willing, that is, they are not willing even to make a beginning of cleansing, which is to hear the words of moral instruction.
The Malbim, in the section explaining the words, explains here several precisions in the language of the verse. First of all, note that He does not say "and acquire a linen sash," He says "and acquire yourself a linen sash." And what does this add? It is as we said, it must be measured to the size of your body. "Yourself" is always like for your pleasure, for your benefit, "send for yourself" according to your view. "Yourself" is always as if for your need, in accordance with you. So too here it means that the sash is fitted to Yirmiyahu's body, and the analogue is that we are as though fitted to the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. We said that here it speaks of a sash. The Malbim says there is a sash, there is a girdle, there is an avnet, there is a chesev, there is a mazach. All these are expressions for a belt. Now let us dwell on the differences between them. The avnet is unique to the priests, as it is written "I shall strengthen him with your avnet," there it speaks of the priest. The chesev is the one unique to the ephod, the belt of the ephod. This was a half-belt, part of which was made from the ephod itself and part was a belt hanging from it, and it was "the work of a craftsman," meaning a skillful item. Therefore it is called the belt of the ephod. Mazach: when a person had long garments and wanted to raise his garments, the mazach was designated for raising the garments, just as the mazach raises the waves of the sea. The girdle includes everything that a person girds around his body, on his heart, below it, down to the legs, as in "gird sackcloth." Note this is an expression of girding but not necessarily a belt, rather anything a person girds. "Gird a weapon of war," "a girdle on the loins." Anything a person girds upon his body is called a girdle. A sash, says the Malbim, is a special girdle used to strengthen his loins, and generally the sash was tied firmly. The sash comes to symbolize strength. "Gird yourselves," "gird yourselves and be shattered." "I girded you though you did not know Me." Alacrity, "and you shall gird your loins." It was always tightened firmly, this comes to express the strength, the might. If he girded the sash over the garments from above, this was called a sash of the loins. If he girded it below, this is called a sash of the flanks. For example, when one needed to run, when a person runs his limbs move and this makes it difficult for him. So they would take and place a kind of special girdle that they would tie upon the abdomen and tighten, and this would tighten the limbs so that he could run without difficulty. Yes, so this is what we saw, "you shall gird your loins." If he girded it below the garments, this is called a sash of the flanks. The sash was worn only by men and only by warriors. In contrast, a girdle we saw that women too would wear, as it is written "instead of a girdle a rope." A linen sash: the linen indicated the stature of the one who wore it, and therefore only princes and priests would wear a linen sash. The angel is called "a man clothed in badim," where badim is linen. Yosef was clothed in garments of shesh, shesh being linen. We learned this, whoever wishes may listen to the disc on Sefer Yehoshua, that linen is called both "garments of shesh" and "bad." What is bad in gematria? Shesh (six). And linen is also called garments of shesh, and therefore in what do we wrap the dead, their shrouds? What are their shrouds? Linen. And why linen? Because the garment of shesh is subject to control, there is no control over it of all seven planets and constellations, and through this it saves whoever is clothed in that garment of shesh, it saves him from the control of a planet or constellation that could harm him. And therefore it is called garments of shesh because it is controlled only by six planets and not by seven planets. Yes, in any case "the man clothed in badim" expresses importance, garments of shesh express importance. So here He wished to tell him: this sash with which you will gird your loins should be an important sash. "And place it," why "and place it" and not "and gird it"? As we explained earlier, to gird is firmly. And since it is designated to be worn permanently, it is not possible to tighten permanently. Therefore He told him it is only for a sign, so place it upon your loins. "And do not bring it into water," as we explained, even the bringing shall not be, not only that he shall not wash it and not rinse it.
"And I acquired the sash according to the word of Hashem and placed it upon my loins." According to all the details that Hashem commanded, so I did, and I fulfilled the command of Hashem. "And the word of Hashem came to me a second time, saying." Once again Hashem speaks with me concerning the sash. "Take the sash which you acquired, which is upon your loins, and arise, go to Perat and hide it there in the cleft of the rock." Hashem tells him: take the sash. This sash, after it reached the state, says the Malbim, that it had already become soiled, for it did not come into water, it was no longer honorable for Yirmiyahu to continue walking with this sash upon his loins. Hashem tells him: go hide it in Perat. Perat means at the bank of the Euphrates River, in the cleft of the rock. What is really the analogue of the matter? The Malbim says: after they did not heed the divine command and the sash became soiled, the people of Israel became soiled with sins and it did not come into water, the people of Israel were not willing to be washed of their sins, were not willing to accept moral instruction, then the people of Israel were no longer worthy that Hashem gird us upon His loins. What is called: we are already soiled, we are a soiled sash. And since this belt is soiled, the Holy One, blessed be He, says one must go and hide it. Where? In Perat. And Perat is essentially the place through which one reaches Egypt, essentially the route through which one comes to Egypt. And where to hide it? In the cleft of the rock. What is really the analogue? The Malbim says this is a figure of speech: "they hid their faces in secret." The meaning is that they had disgrace, they had great shame, and this shame was of such a kind that they needed to hide their faces and conceal themselves from the disgrace they had. And what was the disgrace? As it is written "all were shamed by a people that will not avail them." It was a shame that they turned to Egypt. The very fact that I turn to the aid of another nation is a disgrace, a shame. But you say there is no choice, is it better to die? So there is no choice, I will turn to the aid of another nation. If the other nation helped you, well, then the shame was worthwhile, so to speak, you were saved. But if the appeal did not yield results, then it is a double disgrace. You turned and lowered your honor, and in the end you also did not receive what you sought. This is what he says happened here. This sash was, as it were, like the ruined sash. The sash that you acquired, these two things as we said, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I am bound to them from the aspect of the acquisition, and second from the aspect that they cling upon My loins, for they are acquired to Me as a people, these servants whom I brought out of Egypt. And whom did they go to seek? They went to Perat. Whom did they go to request? Egypt. Instead of coming to Me, of turning to Me, for you are a sash upon the loins of the Master of the Universe, what did you go to seek? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: remove the sash, hide it in the cleft of the rock. That is, this expresses the Euphrates River, this expresses that they abandoned the Holy One, blessed be He, because of their filth, that they were soiled and went and hid themselves. And "to hide (tamon)" says the Malbim differs in the holy tongue from "concealed," "hidden," "stored away." All of these, concealed, hidden and stored away, could be that there is a certain object and I go and hide behind it, I am concealed behind it. In contrast, when I speak of being hidden (tamun), it means I cover myself with something. He covers himself with dust, "they hid themselves in linen." Yes, it always means covering. And here it describes that they hid themselves in the cleft of the rock, meaning that they had such a shame that they hid their faces in the cleft of the rock when they went to request the aid of Egypt, and not only did it not avail them, but Egypt was moreover revealed as a splintered reed for support. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: come and see, this people who were upon My loins at the very highest level, and where are they going now? Where are they now? At the Euphrates River, hidden there in the cleft of the rock, requesting aid from Egypt.
"And I went and hid it in Perat as Hashem commanded me." In Perat means near the Euphrates River. "And it came to pass at the end of many days that Hashem said to me: Arise, go to Perat and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there." "And it came to pass at the end of many days," the Malbim says here this is a parable and figure for what is seen further on in chapter 42, how the people of Israel went to Egypt, and from Egypt Yirmiyahu asks to bring them back. Hashem sends him with a prophecy to bring the people of Israel back from Egypt. But they no longer wanted to listen to him. And this essentially expresses here: you turned to Egypt by way of the Euphrates River, and in the end you were exiled there, and Yirmiyahu will come to bring you out from there, and then what does Yirmiyahu see, as we will see in the next verse. "And I went to Perat and dug and took the sash from the place where I had hidden it, and behold, the sash was ruined, it was fit for nothing." Fit for nothing. The sash was ruined, for understand, this is the Euphrates River, a river, a place of water. In a place of water, if you place a garment there, certainly a garment based on plants, what happens to it? It rots, it becomes ruined. Here the Holy One, blessed be He, says the parable and figure is that the people of Israel, after they went down to Egypt, became ruined; there was no one to speak with, there was no longer anyone to redeem. And even Yirmiyahu, who goes to redeem them, already sees that the people are not willing to listen. And Nebuchadnezzar comes by way of the Euphrates River and strikes Pharaoh, and the people of Israel were lost with him. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, commands him here, to take the sash.
"And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: So said Hashem: Thus will I ruin the pride of Yehudah and the great pride of Yerushalayim." The Holy One, blessed be He, reveals Himself to him in prophecy and tells him: now I will explain to you the analogue. At first He will explain to him the analogue that the sash was ruined, and in the next stage He will explain to him the analogue of the very acquisition of the sash. Now, concerning the very ruining of the sash, He tells him: the sash essentially indicates the pride, the splendor that the people of Israel had. We said it was linen, it was as though a girdle upon His blessed loins. And now they were ruined at the Euphrates River. So too the pride of Yerushalayim and Yehudah, "the pride of Yehudah and the great pride of Yerushalayim," whose pride, pride meaning their greatness, their power, their pride, their grandeur, was great. And now behold, come and see, thus will I ruin the pride of Yehudah, so too they will be ruined like that sash. Ruined with a tet, from the term ruin (hashchata). "This evil people who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and go after other gods to serve them and bow to them, shall be like this sash which is fit for nothing." Now He explains in greater detail. Just as the sash, which we explained was not brought into water and through this became soiled and was no longer fit to wear, so this people refuse to hear My words. "Refuse" is like refuse to hear My words. And just as you went to hide the sash at the Euphrates River, you went a special going to a special place by a distant route, this shows that they will do this thing deliberately, that they walk in the stubbornness of their heart. What does this mean? There is a person who sins out of desire, his evil inclination overpowers him. But one who does not sin out of desire but rather walks in the stubbornness of his heart, there the accusation is far more severe. He does this maliciously, he does this out of the evil of his heart. And furthermore He says "who walk in the stubbornness of their heart and go after other gods to serve them and bow to them, and shall be like this sash which is fit for nothing." Just as you hid it in the cleft of the rock, so too they dug their faces in shame, that they had to, as it is called, hide their faces from the disgrace. And just as the sash was completely ruined, so too it was that they were completely ruined there with the enemies. That is to say, there will be harm here both through the enemies and through themselves. And the Holy One, blessed be He, says: and know, I will not have pity and I will not spare and I will not have mercy to keep them from being destroyed. What is "I will not have pity, I will not spare, I will not have mercy"? Why is one of them not enough? The Malbim says: we dwelt on this in truth when we learned the topic of the blotting out of Amalek, there in the Malbim in the matter of Shaul and Agag, but we will review it here briefly. The Malbim says: mercy (rachamim) is always an expression that comes only in relation to a person. We would never say that he had mercy on an animal or mercy on the table or on a vessel. Mercy always appears in the verse in relation to a person. In contrast, "to have pity (lachmol)" and "to spare (lachus)" are expressions that appear also regarding inanimate objects, also regarding plants. What is the difference between them? The Malbim says: "to spare" is from the aspect of my need for the thing. I spare it because I want to use it. I spare it because I still need it. "And let not your eye spare your vessels." Vessels, I need them, I require them. Therefore He tells them do not spare. In contrast, "to have pity" is from the aspect of the thing itself. That is to say, I do not need it, but as it is called, it pains me to destroy it. Do you hear? Pity, I have pity on it, I have pity on it not from the aspect that I have a need for it. My heart aches to destroy it. That is to say, even something I do not need, but why destroy it? I will put it outside so that someone may benefit from it. But I do not want to destroy it. In contrast, when I say "to spare," it means I spare it, I need it, I still want to use it. And this, incidentally, was the accusation against Shaul, "and Shaul had pity." "And he had pity," says the Malbim, is a matter of thought, of concept, that he says this thing is worthy of pity. Hashem says that it is worthy of destruction and you say that it is worthy of pity? This was the accusation against him. Not from the aspect that I need it, not from the aspect that I will profit from it, but rather that by right it is worthy of pity. By law the thing is worthy of pity, and this was the severe accusation against him, as the Malbim explained there. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says here: I will not have pity, from the aspect that I might think perhaps they are not worthy of destruction, I will not have pity. Furthermore, Hashem says: I will not spare, perhaps you will say there will be benefit from this? Perhaps they will sanctify the Name of Heaven? Perhaps there will be, as it were, benefit to the Holy One, blessed be He? Hashem says: I will not spare, there is no benefit in them at all. And I will not have mercy, mercy is fitting for a person, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: even the mercy fitting for a person, even that I will not have upon them.
"Hear and give ear, do not be haughty, for Hashem has spoken." "Hear and give ear" means do not be arrogant, says the Radak. Do not think that you know wisdom and know moral instruction, that you do not need to hear moral instruction from God. You have your own path of moral instruction, you do not need to hear moral instruction from the prophets. He tells them: no, hear and give ear, do not be haughty. Let there not be in you haughtiness of heart, but on the contrary, listen and incline your ears to the moral instruction of the prophets. The Malbim, in contrast, explains that "hear" speaks of the surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. Here essentially the prophet informs them: you must be surrendered into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. And as long as you humble yourselves before him and do not rebel against him, you will remain in the land. And the moment you raise your head, the moment Tzidkiyahu rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar will exile them all. It emerges, then, that what is written here "hear and give ear and do not be haughty" means do not raise your head, do not lift your head against Nebuchadnezzar to rebel against him, for Hashem has spoken. "Hashem has spoken" means the Holy One, blessed be He, is the One who commanded to crown Nebuchadnezzar here, and since it is so, any action against him is a rebellion against Hashem, since your punishment is to bring Nebuchadnezzar here. The Malbim explains: the order is always giving ear and afterwards hearing. And the reason for this is that giving ear is to listen to the matters, and hearing is to accept them. To accept the matters is called to hear. And here it is written the reverse, "hear and give ear." The Malbim says: since here He wished to tell them, hear and accept the matters, and if not, then at least give ear. Giving ear here is always the initial thing, the minimum. He says: yes, here He told them: ideally, hear, accept the matters. And if you will not fully accept the matters, at least give ear to them. And if you give ear to them, there is a chance that over time these matters will seep in.
"Give honor to Hashem your God before it grows dark and before your feet stumble on the mountains of twilight, and you hope for light and He turns it into the shadow of death and sets it as thick darkness." "Give honor to Hashem your God before it grows dark." The prophet tells them: give honor to Hashem, meaning do not transgress what Nebuchadnezzar makes you swear. "Before it grows dark," before Hashem darkens the lights of providence. The Holy One, blessed be He, is now as though illuminating for us, the Holy One, blessed be He, is now watching over us. So give honor to Hashem your God and fulfill His command. The Malbim says: and accept Nebuchadnezzar upon yourselves before it grows dark, before Hashem darkens the light of providence, and before, "and before your feet stumble on the mountains of twilight." And before you ascend the mountains of twilight, the mountains of twilight, twilight being darkness, meaning before you go to a place of the mountains of darkness. What is the meaning of this? To what is He hinting to them? He hints to them about what they will afterwards do, going to request aid from Pharaoh, since they had hope that from Pharaoh salvation would sprout. And then the Holy One, blessed be He, will turn this hope, "and He turns it into the shadow of death." This hope He will turn into the shadow of death, that is to say, it is a hope of a splintered reed that will pierce the one who leans upon it. So He says: know that even before your feet stumble on the mountains of twilight, on the mountains of darkness where you will go to request aid from Pharaoh, give honor to Hashem.
To request aid and assistance from Pharaoh, and on the contrary, "and you hope for light," you will expect that there will be light for you, but on the contrary, "and He turns it into the shadow of death and sets it as thick darkness," and He will set it as thick darkness. Thick darkness too is an expression for darkness, for a place where a person does not see what is before him.
The Malbim says: what is "and He turns it into the shadow of death"? "And He turns" means the hope that you will have, Hashem will turn it into the shadow of death, "and sets it as thick darkness." So what is the redundancy, what is "sets it as thick darkness"? "Set" is to place. Only that the Malbim says: "to set" is always more than "to place." "To place" is one level, and there is "to set," whose meaning is a stronger placement, which indicates more permanence. "To place" I can place temporarily; in contrast, "to set" means to place it permanently. And since thick darkness by nature is not permanent, He says here there will be a permanent thick darkness. And the state will be "and sets it as thick darkness," that permanently there will be here the thick darkness. So therefore I very much recommend to you: give honor to Hashem your God before it grows dark, even before the darkness comes, place, give honor to Hashem and accept the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar, for from Heaven they crowned him.
"And if you will not hear it, in hidden places My soul will weep because of pride, and my eye will surely shed tears and run down with tears, for the flock of Hashem has been captured."
"And if you will not hear it," "in hidden places My soul will weep because of pride." What is "in hidden places My soul will weep because of pride"? The prophet tells them, the Radak explains: "if you will not hear it," meaning if you will not hear the words of this prophecy that I convey to you from the mouth of God. "In hidden places My soul will weep," since I see your end, this causes me tremendous worry, heartache, and in hidden places my soul will weep. Why? "Because of pride (gevah)." What is "because of pride"? What is this "gevah" written here? There are several interpretations of this. Rashi says: because of your greatness that will be nullified, over this my heart aches. So "gevah" is from the term pride (gaavah), pride and greatness. So "in hidden places My soul will weep," for when I see the evil destined to come upon you, then in hidden places my soul weeps over the pride of Israel that is being nullified.
A further explanation says Rashi: because of the pride of the Kingdom of Heaven, which will be given to the idols of the Chaldeans. For when the Chaldeans are victorious, then to whom do they give the preciousness, honor and greatness? To their idols. This is our idol who was victorious, this is our idol who prevailed over the God of Israel. And then, as it were, in this there is a humiliation of the honor of the Kingdom of Heaven. So "in hidden places My soul will weep because of pride" means because of the pride of the Kingdom of Heaven that will be delivered into the hand of the idols.
The Radak gives a further explanation: "because of pride" means "in hidden places My soul will weep because of your pride," and here not in a positive sense as Rashi explains that your greatness will be nullified, but rather my soul weeps over the fact that you are proud and are not willing to humble yourselves. This is "because of pride." The reason for the weeping is because you should have humbled your pride and placed your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and then you would have had peace. But you arose to rebel against him, you oppose his kingship, over this my soul weeps.
A further explanation: "because of pride" the Malbim explains means because of hidden and concealed matters. The meaning is that the matter of the exile of the Shechinah, the matter of the desecration of the honor of Hashem, the Malbim says these are hidden matters. "Because of gevah" is like when we say "there are matters within (bego)." "Within" means there is something inside. So "in hidden places My soul will weep," over what? Over what is inside. What is inside? What are the concealed and hidden matters? This is the exile of the Shechinah, this is the desecration of the honor of Hashem. Physically this is not seen, it is not noticeable. That the pride of Israel is humbled, this is noticeable. But that the Shechinah is in exile, this is not noticeable. He tells them: over this my soul will weep. Over what? "In hidden places My soul will weep," over the humiliation that is in hidden places. What is the humiliation that is in hidden places? This is the exile of the Shechinah, the desecration of the honor of Hashem.
And besides this, also "and my eye will surely shed tears," the soul is from within, and "my eye will run down with tears" is from without. There is the inner weeping and there is the outer weeping, that "my eye will run down with tears," that the tears will come out of the eye and run down over the fact that the flock of Hashem has been captured. The meaning is that the people of Israel, who are the flock of His pasture, have been taken captive.
The Radak explains "and my eye will surely shed tears," the Radak says "and my eye will surely shed tears": my soul will weep in hidden places and my eye will shed tears openly, and this is as the Malbim also explained. "And my eye will run down with tears" he explains that my eye will shed tears so much that it will run down in tears. We are accustomed to explain "and my eye will run down with tears" as meaning a tear will run down from my eye. He says: no, "and my eye will run down," the eye itself runs down, as the eye melts and runs down in its tears. This is "and my eye will run down with tears." My eye will shed tears until it runs down in tears, until the eye itself runs down from the abundance of tears and weeping over their state, over the exile of the Shechinah, over the state of Israel.