Sefer Yirmiyahu, chapter 19. Thus says Hashem: Go and buy a potter's earthen flask, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests. Go and buy a flask. Before we understand the conceptual part of what is happening here, let us first understand what a flask is. The Metzudat Tzion says: this is the name of a vessel with a narrow mouth. And why is it called by this name, according to the Metzudat Tzion? Because when one pours from it, a sound like bak bak bak is heard. Therefore it is called bakbuk (flask). And similarly, "a flask of honey" and so on.
Very well, go and buy a flask. The Malbim asks: what is happening here? The Holy One, blessed be He, commands him: go and buy a potter's earthen flask. "Flask" means a flask made by a potter of clay. And why the emphasis on a potter of clay? Because there could be a wooden flask, there could be a metal flask, but I am asking that the flask be made of clay. And what is happening here is a continuation of what we saw earlier. We saw earlier that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave Yirmiyahu a parable and told him: go to the house of the potter. And there, at the potter's, you will see how they take the clay and form from it a jug, and when something goes wrong then he simply returns the clay to its raw state and begins to form from it anew. So says the Holy One, blessed be He: the people of Israel are like clay in the hand of the potter, and what the Holy One, blessed be He, does is in order to fix them and raise them to a better spiritual state.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: now I will give you another parable. And in this parable the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I want to show you that the people of Israel are not always like clay in the hand of the potter. For when the people of Israel abandon the Master of the world, when they worship idolatry, then they resemble a potter's vessel that has already been fired in the kiln. In such a state, is there any remedy? Its breaking is its remedy. There is no possibility of returning it to raw clay and saying let us begin anew to shape a flask here, to shape a vessel here anew. That is only while it is still at the clay stage, but once it is already a finished flask, if it breaks there is no remedy for it.
And He told him: take specifically a flask. He could have told him to take a small dish, He could have told him to take a pot or a cup, but He tells him to take specifically a flask. And why? The Malbim explains: the flask, as we explained, has a narrow mouth. And their way was often to put honey inside the flask. And after the honey had congealed inside it, there was no way to get the honey out of the flask. As in winter and the like, the honey no longer flows. So what would they do? An earthenware vessel is very cheap clay, so they would break the vessel and take the honey out of it. That was the way.
This is also so in the analogue. He tells him: know that the people of Israel are full of evil counsels and heretical thoughts, which cannot be removed by the rebuke of the prophets. It is impossible to take these evil things out of them. Necessarily, what must be done is to break in order to bring out the inner content. In order to remove wicked counsel and to end the sin, in the words of the Malbim. "To end" from the language of finishing, to nullify the sin. And since this is so, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: just as the flask, to bring out its inner content, requires breaking, so too with them, to bring out their inner content, only that in the flask it is honey, here it is corruption, to bring out their inner content means to bring out the evil things that are within them, there is no choice but to break, which in fact expresses the crisis that the people are meant to undergo in order to purify them, in order to remove from them their corruption.
What is the end of the verse, "and of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests"? The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: go and buy? When you go and buy a potter's earthen flask, then take with you some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests, that they should go with you. And so it comes out, says the Malbim, that the "going" extends to two things. Or it takes something else along with it, which is the same idea. As we have discussed several times, that "He did not make our portion like theirs, nor our lot like all their multitude." The "did not make" written at the beginning also carries over to "nor our lot." That He did not make our portion like theirs, and He did not make our lot like all their multitude. This is called taking something else along with it, or extending to two things. So here too, thus says Hashem: "go" extends to two things. Go and buy a potter's earthen flask, go with some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests, meaning together with you, they too should go with you.
And go out to the valley of Ben Hinnom, which is by the entrance of the Charsit Gate, and proclaim there the words that I will speak to you. Hashem tells him: go to the valley of Ben Hinnom which is at the entrance of the Charsit Gate. The valley of Ben Hinnom is a place where they used to burn their sons to fire, in fire, as we saw earlier in chapter 7, verse 31. This place is called the valley of Ben Hinnom, and we will explain shortly why it is called by this name. And there I say, go to the valley of Ben Hinnom which is by the entrance of the Charsit Gate. What is the Charsit Gate? Rashi explains that this is the Dung Gate. And why is it called Charsit? Because there they would throw the broken potsherds (charasim). And this fits with Targum Yonatan, which said "tera kilkalta." "Tera kilkalta": tera is a gate, kilkalta is refuse, as is often brought in the Gemara. So, go to the Dung Gate.
By contrast, the Malbim, and the Radak also tends this way, explain that the Charsit Gate means the eastern gate. Since, as is known, the worship of the Molech was directed to the sun. This is called the worshippers of chamanim (sun-images). They worshipped the sun. That was the worship of the Molech. And the eastern gate, that is where they would go when they went out to greet the face of the sun in order to bow to it with their backs to the Temple of Hashem; they would go out by the side of the eastern gate. Therefore He tells him: go to the entrance of the Charsit Gate. How is the name Charsit connected to this matter of sun worship? The Malbim explains that charsit or cheres means sun in the holy tongue. As we see it is written "who commands the sun (cheres) and it does not shine." Or as it is written that Shimshon tells them to figure out his riddle "before the cheres came," meaning before the sun set. Or as it is written about Yehoshua who was buried in Timnat Cheres, and Chazal say that they set the image of the sun on his grave, this being the man who made the sun stand still. So cheres means sun. So then, the Charsit Gate is the gate facing east, toward the sun which they worshipped as idolatry.
And proclaim there the words that I will speak to you. Hashem says: I have a prophecy, and this prophecy I want you to proclaim there. And you shall say: Hear the word of Hashem, kings of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim. Thus says Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing evil upon this place, such that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle. Tell them: Hear the word of Hashem, kings of Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim; I am bringing upon this place an evil such that whoever hears of this evil, his ears will tingle. He will have a ringing of cymbals in his ears. A ringing motion, says the Radak. His ears will tingle.
Because they have abandoned Me and have alienated this place and have burned incense in it to other gods, whom they did not know, they and their fathers and the kings of Yehudah, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. The Holy One, blessed be He, says: the reason is because they have abandoned Me and alienated this place. "Alienated," they made this place foreign before Me. The Radak explains, as it is written "the foreign gods of the land," that this thing is like a foreigner to the land, for the land does not tolerate idolatry, so this is "foreign to the land," this is idolatry, which is foreign to the land. "Alienated," the Malbim explains, means they designated this place for idolatry. And do not say, what can they do, a captured infant, the deeds of their fathers are in their hands. About this He says: whom they did not know, they and their fathers. These are innovations of the last generation. This thing, this idolatry, the smartphone, as it were this idolatry, a new idolatry, their fathers did not know. This is something they did not recognize before. And filled it with the blood of the innocent. They would offer to the Molech souls, the blood of the innocent.
And now He will detail how they filled it with the blood of the innocent. And they built the high places of the Baal to burn their sons in fire as burnt offerings to the Baal, which I did not command, nor did I speak, nor did it come into My heart. They built the high places of the Baal; the Baal is the idolatry, to burn their sons in fire. They would offer up their sons in fire before the idolatry. Burnt offerings to the Baal, this fire was burnt offerings to the Baal. And this place, let us read the following verse as well. Therefore behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when this place shall no longer be called the Tofet and the valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. And this place shall not be called Tofet and the valley of Ben Hinnom. Tofet, why is it called by this name? Because they would make two fires and pass the child between them, and the child would pass through and be burned. And his cries were horrifying. And in order that his cries not be heard, they would drum on drums (tupim). Therefore it was called Tofet, so that the father would not hear the groaning of the son as he burned and be moved to mercy. And this is also the reason it is called the valley of Ben Hinnom. The valley of Ben Hinnom, "Hinnom" from the language of groaning (nehimah), that the son would groan, would shriek and cry out at the time of his burning. He tells them: this place shall no longer be called the Tofet and the valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. That is to say, measure for measure, these people will die there in that place.
And all of this, let us return to the previous verse, is because they built the high places of the Baal to burn their sons in fire as burnt offerings to the Baal. Hashem says: which I did not command, nor did I speak, nor did it come into My heart. They built the high places of the Tofet, says the Malbim, and beyond what they passed over to the Molech, they also offered up burnt offerings of people, by which they shed blood, which I did not command, nor did I speak, nor did it come into My heart. The Malbim explains the doubling and tripling. The Malbim says: usually when a person plans a plan, how does it go? First it comes into his heart. Then he speaks. In the third stage he carries it out. So the verse says here: "came into My heart," this is the thought. Then "I spoke," I speak of how to bring the matter to fruition. And then "I commanded." "I commanded" is already the final instruction to implement. Says the Malbim: here, since the Holy One, blessed be He, comes in the manner of negation, He begins from the end. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says: which I did not command. I never commanded such a command that a person should offer human sacrifices. Very well, you might say perhaps You did not command but You spoke? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I also did not speak. You might say perhaps You did not speak but perhaps it came into Your heart? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: and it also did not come into My heart. Therefore it begins from the severe to the light. For in fact the Holy One, blessed be He, says: neither this nor that nor even that. Even coming into My heart, it did not come.
Chazal say, the Gemara in Taanit, page 4: "I did not command" refers to Meisha king of Moav, "nor did I speak" refers to Yiftach, and "nor did it come into My heart" refers to the binding of Yitzchak. So it comes out that, so to speak, He is speaking here in chronological order, says the Malbim. Since Meisha king of Moav, who took and slaughtered his son on the wall, there it is brought that he asked by what Israel is victorious, and they told him: their father Avraham offered up and bound his son. He almost bound his son. He said to them: he only almost bound him, I will actually bind him. He took and slaughtered his son. It is written that this thing caused great wrath upon the people of Israel. In any case, whoever wants can hear this on the CD on Melachim. In any case, there he performed an act about which the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I did not command. I did not command him to take and slaughter his son. "Nor did I speak" refers to Yiftach. Yiftach too acted in this manner with his daughter. Admittedly there is a dispute whether it is as its plain meaning that he killed her, or that he only secluded her in some house in an isolated place, but according to the view that he killed her, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: even what happened there with Yiftach, I did not speak. I did not speak of such a thing being done. "Nor did it come into My heart," what will you say, but with Yitzchak the Holy One, blessed be He, says "take now your son"? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: there it did not even come into My heart. So that you should not think that it came into My heart and I regretted it. Rather it did not come into My heart, but what did I say? Offer him up upon the altar. You offered him up? Take him down. So the Holy One, blessed be He, said also to Avraham. When Avraham asked, yesterday You said offer him up to Me as a burnt offering, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: the very fact that he went up upon the altar is a burnt offering to Me. I did not ask that you slaughter him. In any case, about this He comes and says: come and see how it never came into My heart that they should offer human sacrifices. So you might think that perhaps there were stages here. With Yitzchak it only came into the heart of the Holy One, blessed be He, that there be human sacrifices. Then with Yiftach He already spoke. And then with Meisha He already commanded. Therefore He tells you: it did not come into My heart, nor did I speak, nor did I command. I never desired human sacrifices.
Therefore behold, days are coming, says Hashem, when this place shall no longer be called the Tofet and the valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. And I will empty out the counsel of Yehudah and Yerushalayim in this place, and I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their lives; and I will give their carcasses as food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth. And I will empty out the counsel of Yehudah and Yerushalayim in this place. "Uvakoti" (and I will empty out) is written with a kuf and a tav. And this is like "bukah umevukah umevulakah" (empty and emptied and laid waste) that appears in Sefer Nachum. And it is not for nothing that He used such a language, uvakoti, because it reminds us of the bakbuk (flask) that appears at the beginning of the chapter. So in fact this is a play on words. That is to say, He gave us the parable of the flask, and now in the analogue too He uses the same expression. What is "uvakoti"? Rashi explains: I emptied out. And also what is written there, "bukah umevukah umevulakah," there it means empty and emptied and its walls breached, that is the meaning of mevulakah. Today it is an expression for a mess. When people want to say there was disorder there, they say there was "bukah umevukah umevulakah" there. When people want to say there was a mess there, they use this expression. But in fact this is not the meaning of the expression. The meaning of the expression is emptying. For there He speaks of them coming to Yerushalayim and taking all the silver and all the gold and emptying it out. About this is the expression bukah umevulakah umevukah umevulakah. So here too. And I will empty out the counsel of Yehudah and Yerushalayim, its meaning being: I will empty out of them their evil counsel. As the Malbim explained, that when one wants to take out the honey, one must break the flask in order to bring out its inner content. So too, "and I will empty out," and this fits very well with the flask, I will bring out the evil from within them through breaking.
How? And I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their lives; and I will give their carcasses as food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city a desolation and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be appalled and will hiss over all its wounds. I will make this city, this is a punishment for the fact that they alienated this place as we explained earlier, made it foreign; the Holy One, blessed be He, says this place will be a desolation, this is the language of desolation, and a hissing, meaning everyone who passes by will hiss a hiss of astonishment and amazement. He will be appalled, will be astonished and will hiss over all its wounds. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of his fellow, in the siege and the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their lives will oppress them. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons, and they will eat the flesh of their daughters. What does this come to express? This is a punishment measure for measure. They offered up their sons as burnt offerings to the Baal, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: now they will eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. The siege and distress with which their enemies oppress them will be so great, that a person will not be able to overcome his hunger and will eat the flesh of his sons and daughters. As there were such descriptions, as brought in Sefer Yosifon, a horrifying and shocking description; whoever wants can hear it on our CD on Chanukah. There we elaborate and detail this matter. And there are further difficult descriptions that they ate; also on our CD on Eichah, there too we brought a terrible description of a situation where he describes how they ate the flesh of their sons and daughters. We have such a description in the Prophets, when the woman cried out to Yehoram son of Achav and said to him: yesterday we ate my son and today we should eat her son, and she refuses to give her son for us to eat. So she comes to the king so that he should judge and obligate her now to give her son to eat. Horrifying things that are already written in the Torah, that the Torah says: and they will eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. And this thing, the Holy One, blessed be He, tells them: measure for measure, will also happen to you now in Yerushalayim.
We once brought an explanation that is given: it is written that the Holy One, blessed be He, will turn all the curses into blessing. So they ask: what blessing is there in "they will eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters they will eat"? What blessing could there be in Hashem turning this into a blessing? So they explain that the meaning is that a generation will come, and in that generation the parents will want the children to be their guests, but the children no longer rely on the parents' kashrut certifications. So the child tells the father: Dad, I will bring meat, there is no need, I will bring meat, I will buy it. "They will eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters they will eat." The parents will eat the meat that the sons bring, "and He will turn the heart of the sons back to their fathers." The sons will repent and will bring the fathers back to repentance too, so the parents will eat the flesh of their sons, the meat that the son brings home the father will eat.
And you shall break the flask before the eyes of the men who go with you. And you shall break the flask, as we explained, that when one wants to empty out what is inside it, when there is congealed honey inside it, they would break it. And you shall say to them: Thus says Hashem of Hosts, so will I break this people and this city as one breaks a potter's vessel, which can no longer be repaired; and in the Tofet they will bury, for lack of a place to bury. So will I break this people. Not like the breaking of the clay in the hand of the potter as we saw earlier, that if the clay breaks then one takes it and kneads it again and makes a new vessel. Rather He says: as one breaks a potter's vessel. A potter's vessel means a vessel that has already been formed and finished, and then which can no longer be repaired. Such a vessel that breaks has no remedy, it can no longer be repaired. This is not like the parable of the vessel that is still at the stage where it is clay. Rashi explains that "which can no longer be repaired" refers to the people. But by contrast the city, about which He says it will be like the Tofet, it will yet be purified in the future. But the one that cannot be repaired is the people. And He says: and in the Tofet they will bury, for lack of a place to bury. "In the Tofet they will bury" means: the Tofet is a place of idolatry, and the Tofet we saw they would defile, it is an impure place. And nevertheless, since there will be no place to bury, they will bury even in this impure place.
So will I do to this place, says Hashem, and to its inhabitants, making this city like the Tofet. So will I do to this place, says Hashem, this is the reason why they will bury in the Tofet; He tells you this is in order to defile the place just as they defiled it. And that He will break them is in order to do so to the inhabitants of the place. And not only will the Tofet be filled with human corpses, but He says: making this city like the Tofet. The entire city will become one large cemetery, it will be like a Tofet for the burial of the dead. And all of this, as we said, corresponds to what they did with the deed of the Tofet, that they offered up their sons.
And the houses of Yerushalayim and the houses of the kings of Yehudah will be like the place of the Tofet, defiled, all the houses upon whose roofs they burned incense to all the host of the heavens and poured libations to other gods. And the houses of Yerushalayim and the houses of the kings of Yehudah will be like the place of the Tofet. That is to say, since these houses too are defiled, and why are they defiled? Because of all the houses upon whose roofs they burned incense. These houses burned incense upon their roofs to idolatry, and since this is so, their law is like a high place of idolatry. So as I said earlier that everything will be like the Tofet, their houses too will be like the Tofet, and there will be there demolition and destruction, since these houses were houses of idolatry, houses in which they worshipped the Tofet, and consequently in the place where they burned incense, they burned incense upon their roofs to all the host of the heavens, pouring libations to other gods, it is judged as a house of idolatry which also requires demolition.
And Yirmiyahu came from the Tofet, where Hashem had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the House of Hashem and said to all the people. And Yirmiyahu came from the Tofet, where He sent him, where he was to prophesy. The emphasis here, says the Malbim, pay attention, and this is already an introduction to the next chapter. The Malbim says: Hashem sent Yirmiyahu only to prophesy there in the Tofet, in that place where they did all those wrongs. But by contrast, what Yirmiyahu afterward goes and prophesies of these things in the courtyard of the House of Hashem, as we will see further on, this was already on his own. This Hashem did not command. And Yirmiyahu came from the Tofet, where Hashem had sent him to prophesy. Specifically there in the Tofet Hashem sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the courtyard of the House of Hashem and said to all the people: Thus says Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have spoken concerning it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to hear My words. About this He tells you: this He did not command him to say there in the House of Hashem, but only in the place of the Tofet. What difference does it make? Why is it important for us to emphasize this? Because in the next chapter we will see that they struck him for the very act of the prophecy. How could they harm the prophet, for Hashem promised to protect him? The answer is: they struck him for the prophecy about which he was not commanded. But for the prophecy about which he was commanded, they did not harm him. And therefore He tells you: and Yirmiyahu came from the Tofet, where Hashem had sent him to prophesy, and behold you will see they did nothing to him. But by contrast, when he arrives at the courtyards of the House of Hashem and there he prophesies where Hashem did not tell him, again this is not a prohibition, for after all he brings the word of Hashem, but about this there was no command. Since about this there was no command, consequently we will see how this thing causes them to harm him.
The Radak explains: Thus says Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel. The Radak says that there is here some positive expression and statement toward the people. Despite all the harsh things, there is here some positive statement. And the statement is that Hashem is the God of Hosts of Israel, the Master of the hosts above and below. Hashem says: I am the God of Israel, even though they sin before Me and they worshipped idolatry, other gods, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I am their God. For not all of them rebelled against Me, and a portion of the transgressors, says the Radak, will return in repentance. That is to say, there is still a statement here, the connection between us will not be severed, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is still the God of Israel. And why does He emphasize Hashem of Hosts? About this He says: Hashem of Hosts, meaning I will muster against you the host below. This is Hashem of Hosts. All His hosts, the host above and the host below. So the Holy One, blessed be He, says: I can bring upon you the host below, its meaning being the army of Nevuchadnetzar, the army of the enemies who will come against you. Hashem is the God of Hosts, meaning all His hosts. And about Yerushalayim, "upon this city and upon all its towns," "its towns" meaning the towns of Yehudah, which were considered the daughters of Yehudah, those that are around greater Yerushalayim.
The Malbim explains: Thus says Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel, behold I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns. What is this "behold I am bringing"? If You already said a prophecy earlier then it will surely come to pass. Why is it necessary to emphasize this "behold I am bringing"? The Malbim says: when the prophet performs some action as an action attached and accompanying the prophecy, the Ramban says this thing indicates that this prophecy will come to pass without doubt. That is to say, we have a rule: prophecies for good, the Holy One, blessed be He, never retracts, except in one case. Prophecies for evil, if the people of Israel repent, Hashem retracts them. Says the Ramban: all this is on condition that no accompanying action was performed with the prophecy. But once an accompanying action was performed, that is to say, this prophecy will come to pass in any situation. I elaborate on this a bit in Mishnat HaChalomot; I will explain now briefly. The idea of the matter is thus: once an action is performed, this brings the prophecy, which is essentially abstract speech, out of the potential of speech into the potential of realization. And when you take a flask and break it and say: so shall Yehudah be broken, its meaning is that this thing has already been realized. It has already descended and been realized here in actuality in the breaking. Which means there is no turning back from it. By contrast, if there remained a prophecy saying Yehudah will be broken, and they repented, then it remains speech. There was speech that Yehudah will be broken, and nothing will happen to Yehudah since they repented. But once it descended and was realized here in actuality, this thing means that the matter will happen come what may. And therefore here He informs them: Thus says Hashem, behold I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have spoken concerning it. What I have spoken now already becomes something in actuality. The judgment is already sealed. And do not think that it is only about a thought that Hashem thinks about them, thoughts that perhaps they will return, since they stiffen their necks and do not want to return, so this thing became in the category of a sealed judgment, as we will see below in chapter 21: I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good.