Sefer Yirmiyahu chapter 27. At the beginning of the reign of Yehoyakim son of Yoshiyahu, king of Yehudah, this word came to Yirmiyahu from Hashem, saying. This prophecy was given to Yirmiyahu in the first year of Yehoyakim's reign.
And Hashem told him that when Tzidkiyahu would reign, after the reign of Yehoyakim and the reign of Yehoyachin, Hashem says to him: so said Hashem to me, make for yourself bonds and yoke bars, and place them on your neck. Make for yourself bonds and yoke bars. The yoke bars refer to the bars of the yoke, like the yoke of an animal. The bonds are the straps with which one ties the yoke, with which the yoke is fastened.
And this you shall place on your neck. And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moav, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tzor, and to the king of Tzidon, by the hand of messengers who come to Yerushalayim, to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah.
Chazal say that Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel appointed Tzidkiyahu as king and set him in authority over the five kings mentioned here: the king of Edom, the king of Moav, the children of Ammon, Tzor and Tzidon. These are five kings over whom Tzidkiyahu was appointed by Nevuchadnetzar to be head, that he set him in authority over them.
The purpose of these things: he tells him you shall take these bonds upon yourself. How long, in the first place, were these bonds upon him? Rashi says the bonds were on his neck for fifteen years. From the first year of Yehoyakim until the fourth year of Tzidkiyahu, altogether fifteen years, until, as we will see later, Chananya ben Azur broke these yoke bars off his neck.
Why, why, what, suddenly...
We will explain shortly.
The Malbim explains that by the necessity of the verses one must interpret that already in the time of Yehoyakim, Tzidkiyahu was already second to the king, like a viceroy to the king. And so when this took place, this refers to a period even before he was actually king, while he was still in the category of being viceroy to him.
And you shall command them concerning their masters, saying, so said Hashem of Hosts, God of Yisrael, so shall you say to your masters. The messengers, that is, the emissaries of these five kings, you shall command them to convey a message to their masters, that is, to the kings.
I made the earth, man and beast that are upon the face of the earth, with My great strength and with My outstretched arm, and I gave it to whomever was right in My eyes.
Hashem says, I made the earth, I have ownership both over the body of the earth and over the life upon it, that is, man and beast that are upon the face of the earth. The entire creation came about through the power of Hashem. The continued existence of creation is with My outstretched arm. What does outstretched arm mean? The arm is always outstretched. Rav Chaim of Volozhin explains in Nefesh HaChaim, and so it appears in the works of the kabbalists, and so too it is precise from the language of the tefillah and from other sources, that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not create the world as a one time creation and then withdraw from it as regards the world's existence. Rather, at every single moment the Holy One, blessed be He, gives life to the world by His will. He renews in His goodness each day, and not only each day, but each day, continually. At every single moment the act of creation. The Holy One, blessed be He, at every second, at every single moment, renews the act of creation. As it were, if we wish to give a parable, it is like if I now lift up the cup and hold it, and they ask me how does the cup stand in the air? Because at this moment I am holding it. If I remove my hand for one second, the cup falls. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, at every single moment, as it were, holds the world and gives it life. The moment Hashem would remove His will from the world for one second, the world would cease to exist.
This is what is called, this is what is called with My outstretched arm. There is, as it were, an outstretched arm of the Holy One, blessed be He, and this arm, as it were, sustains the world continually. And I gave it to whomever was right in My eyes. And I gave the earth to whomever was right in My eyes, that is, I appointed the kings who exalt themselves as head, the masters of the earth. I appointed Nevuchadnetzar. Everything really comes from Him, may He be blessed.
And now, I have given all these lands into the hand of Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel My servant, and even the beast of the field I have given him to serve him.
Now the prophet says in the name of Hashem, I have given all these lands into the hand of Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel. I have handed all of them into his power, he ruled over the whole world. And even the beast of the field I have given him to serve him. What does the beast of the field I have given him to serve him mean? Chazal say that when he was among the animals, the animals would bring him food and drink. The meaning is: Nevuchadnetzar, as we will learn with Hashem's help when we reach Sefer Daniel, Nevuchadnetzar was driven out of his palace and for seven years was like a beast of the field. And there he would eat from the grass of the field and lived among the animals for seven years. During that period the animals served him, bringing him food and drink. This is the meaning of the beast of the field I have given him to serve him. But the Radak says this is by way of derash. The plain meaning of the verses says that at that time he ate grass, he did not need the beast of the field to bring him steaks. He ate grass, as it was said to him, and they will feed you grass like oxen. They will bring, they will feed you grass like oxen. So he ate grass, they did not bring him gourmet portions. So what then is written here, the beast of the field I have given him to serve him? Chazal say Nevuchadnetzar would ride on a lion and tie a serpent on its head. He would ride on a lion and make himself a crown from a serpent wrapped around his head, to show that all fear and are afraid of me. I am head over all. This was Nevuchadnetzar. And therefore he tells them, I ask of you that you not try to rebel against him.
Chazal say he would use wild beasts in war, elephants, lions, for that is how they used them in ancient times. And therefore this is another explanation of what the beast of the field I have given him to serve him means, namely that even the beasts of the field serve him when he goes out to battle.
And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings shall subjugate him. And all the nations shall serve him: Hashem promises him three generations of kingship. Him, and his son, who was his son? Evil Merodach. Who was his son's son? Belshatzar. And Belshatzar lost the kingship, as it is said, on that very night Belshatzar was slain, we will see this in Sefer Daniel. Until the time of his own land comes, that in the end the time of his own land will also arrive, that it too will be conquered. And then many nations and great kings shall subjugate him.
Why does he convey this to the kings? Because these kings sent to Tzidkiyahu, as the Radak explains, they sent to Tzidkiyahu, who was the one ruling over them on behalf of Nevuchadnetzar, they sent to Tzidkiyahu and said to him, we wish to rebel against the king of Bavel. Let us all form a conspiracy and rebel against the king of Bavel. And therefore he sends them the bonds and the yoke and tells them, know that Hashem has said, you must place your neck under the yoke of the king of Bavel, for I appointed him king. This is the purpose of Yirmiyahu's mission and the purpose of the prophecy.
What if you say, we will not do so? And it shall be that the nation and the kingdom that will not serve him, Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel, and that will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Bavel, with sword and with famine and with pestilence I will punish that nation, says Hashem, until I have consumed them by his hand. Whoever will not hand himself over into his hand, the Holy One, blessed be He, says I will deliver him to the sword, to pestilence, to famine, until I have consumed them by his hand, until they are completed and delivered absolutely into his hand.
The Malbim says that in truth at that time there were great kingdoms that were not under the hand of Nevuchadnetzar. He says that whoever examines the annals of the chronicles sees that Nevuchadnetzar's rule was not an absolute rule. Only that the smaller kingdoms were obligated to take shelter under the protection of a great kingdom. That this king would be what is called protection, he would be the one to protect it. If not, tomorrow Iraq could come and conquer Kuwait. If it does not have the shadow of America in which to take shelter, then the small kingdoms could fall automatically into the hand of the great kingdoms that would swallow them. And therefore all the small kingdoms would come and serve a king, some great king, and then they are under his protection, they pay him tribute and he is obligated to safeguard their welfare. So they were compelled to serve some other great kingdom that would protect them from Nevuchadnetzar. Either you are under Nevuchadnetzar, or you are under another kingdom that will be the one to protect you.
So the nation and the kingdom that will not serve him, that is, the king of Bavel, and the king that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Bavel, with sword and with famine and with pestilence I will punish that nation. Whoever will not put himself under the yoke of the king of Bavel, in the end it will turn out that he will be harmed, delivered to the sword, delivered to famine, until I have consumed them by his hand, until they are completed and all are in the hand of Nevuchadnetzar.
Why did Nevuchadnetzar merit a kingship of three generations? After all, it is written about him that he was a tyrannical and wicked king. Because when he sent a letter, as is brought there, he sent a letter, this was to Chizkiyahu the king, and there in the letter it was written, the letter was: from me, Nevuchadnetzar, to you, Chizkiyahu king of Yehudah, Yerushalayim the holy city, and Hashem the God of Yisrael. And then... he was a messenger I think, he was a messenger... it was Evil Merodach... yes, yes... the king was Evil Merodach... he was... no, first of all... Sancheriv perhaps? Sancheriv perhaps? Yes, yes, the king was, one moment, I will tell you his name... no, no, no, no... Berodach Baladan son of Baladan, Evil Merodach was Nevuchadnetzar's son, it cannot be. Berodach Baladan son of Baladan, he was the king's scribe. And then he said, how can it be that you, if you say that Hashem is the God of Yisrael, how do you write Him last? He should be placed first. So he went, took the letter, read it, walked three steps, took the letter, read it, and wrote to Hashem the God of Yisrael, then to Yerushalayim, and at the end wrote Chizkiyahu the king. In the merit of this, no, he was the messenger. Yes. In the merit of this, he merited and received a kingship of three generations, he, and his son Evil Merodach, and his grandson Belshatzar. And therefore Hashem tells him, I have handed the kingship into his hand.
And you, do not listen to your prophets and to your diviners and to your dreams and to your soothsayers and to your sorcerers, who say to you, saying, you shall not serve the king of Bavel. And therefore he comes and warns them, do not listen to your prophets, you have false prophets. And to your diviners, these are the diviners, all these types who inquire through divination or through sorcery. And to your dreams, these are people who foretell the future through dream inquiries. And to your soothsayers, a soothsayer is a type of sorcerer, a soothsayer and sorcerer and diviner. What is a soothsayer? A person who says such and such a season is good to do such and such, another season is not good. As if there is one who determines times and seasons, when it is good to do something and when it is not good. And to your sorcerers, that is, the sorcerers, those who engage in various kinds of sorcery.
Who say to you, saying, you shall not serve the king of Bavel, do not worry, you will not come to the point where the king of Bavel rules over you. You have nothing to worry about. They would calm the people. They calm them with falsehood. He tells them, do not listen to them. And also to your prophets, meaning here the false prophets. - Kishpeichem or kishafeichem? - Kishafeichem refers to people who perform sorcery, who engage in sorcery. - Kishpeichem means sorcery? - Yes.
For falsely they prophesy to you, in order to remove you far from your land, and I will drive you away and you will perish. For falsely they prophesy to you. What will they benefit you? They will only cause you to be removed far from your land. It does not mean to say in order to remove you far from your land, that is, that they prophesy falsely in order to remove you from your land, for they have no aim to remove them from their land. Rather the meaning is that in the end they will bring about your being removed far from your land. This is what they will cause you. Why? Because as long as you dwell in your land, you will pay tribute to the king of Bavel but you will remain here and will not be exiled and will not go into exile. But if you rebel, then I will drive you away and you will perish. I will assist Nevuchadnetzar, says the Creator of the world, and I will drive you from your land and thus you will perish.
And the nation that will bring its neck into the yoke of the king of Bavel and serve him, and serve him, I will let it rest upon its land, says Hashem, and it will till it and dwell in it. The nation that will bring its neck into the yoke of the king of Bavel, this is the idea of the bonds. This is why he sent them bonds. This is the symbolic part of the matter. Here you see, you must bring your head, your neck, into the yoke of the king of Bavel and serve him, and I will let it rest upon its land, says Hashem. This nation will rest upon its land, and it will till it and dwell in it. Through this it will be able to plow, to sow, to reap and to dwell in its land.
And to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah I spoke according to all these words, saying: bring your necks into the yoke of the king of Bavel and serve him and his people, and serve him and his people and live. He says, and to Tzidkiyahu the king too I spoke according to all these words. Thus he informs the five kings. Not only to you do I say these things, I said this also to Tzidkiyahu. So really, what will it benefit you to form a conspiracy together with Tzidkiyahu against the yoke of the king of Bavel? Tzidkiyahu will not be able to protect you, for Tzidkiyahu himself is also obligated to bring his neck into the yoke of the king of Bavel. So your alliance will not help.
Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine and by pestilence, as Hashem spoke concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Bavel? Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine, by pestilence? For this is what will happen to anyone who does not take upon himself the yoke of servitude to the king of Bavel.
And do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, saying, you shall not serve the king of Bavel, for falsely they prophesy to you. He already said this above, why does he repeat it again? Here he repeats it as a warning to Tzidkiyahu. Earlier he spoke to the five kings and now he speaks to Tzidkiyahu and his ministers. For I did not send them, says Hashem, and they prophesy in My name falsely, in order to drive you away and you will perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you. They are not sent by Me, says the Holy One, blessed be He, and they prophesy in My name falsely. And their aim is to drive you away and you will perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you. This is what they will benefit you, this is the meaning of in order to drive you away. They will benefit you by causing you in the end to be driven out of the land. So although it is very pleasant to hear a prophecy that says you have nothing to worry about, the king of Bavel cannot do anything to you, it is very pleasant to hear this. In practice he tells them, know that you will fall into his hand. So do not listen to these things.
And to the kohanim and to all this people I spoke, saying: so said Hashem, do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, behold the vessels of the House of Hashem will now soon be returned from Bavel, for falsely they prophesy to you. The vessels of the House of Hashem, the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash, were already exiled in the exile of Yechonya. Here we are speaking in the time of Tzidkiyahu, which was afterward. The false prophets came and made good promises to the people. Behold, so said Hashem, the vessels that were exiled to Bavel are destined to return. Ah, a very wonderful prophecy, very encouraging. He tells them, do not listen to this prophecy. This prophecy is false. And not only will these vessels not return, but even the vessels that are here, even what still remains of them, they too are destined to go.
- They did not return? - No. - They returned when... - They returned when Ezra and Nechemya returned. But this is not what they are speaking about. Shortly you will see when they tell them they will return. - Did all the vessels return? - No, this is false. They said in two years Hashem will return the vessels. This is complete falsehood. They told them Hashem said do not go, do not submit to the king of Bavel, stay here, rebel against him, and Hashem promises you the kingdom will return, in two years all the vessels will return here. All of this was complete falsehood. - Did nothing remain in Bavel, everything returned? - Everything returned.
Do not listen to them, serve the king of Bavel and live. Why should this city become a ruin? Do not listen to them. For if you act according to their words, this city will become a ruin. So therefore listen to what I tell you, bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Bavel.
And if they are prophets, and if the word of Hashem is with them, let them now entreat Hashem of Hosts that the vessels remaining in the House of Hashem and the house of the king of Yehudah and in Yerushalayim not go to Bavel. He tells them, if they are prophets and the word of Hashem is with them...
Then I ask that they at least pray that the vessels that are here not go to Bavel. Instead of prophesying to me that the vessels in Bavel will return, do me a favor, pray that what is here should not go to Bavel. The Malbim says that it was told to Yirmiyahu in prophecy that even the vessels that remain here will go to Bavel. So it cannot be that the first vessels that went to Bavel will return, if now there is a prophecy that the second set too will be exiled. Therefore he tells them, if the word of Hashem is with them, then surely the opposite was told to them, that the remaining vessels will be brought to Bavel. That is, that in fact the vessels that are there will return here.
He tells them, let them now entreat Hashem that the remaining vessels not go. The meaning of this: we know that a prophecy that was told to a prophet not by way of mission but only by way of information, what Hashem informs the prophet himself, the purpose of such a prophecy is in order to pray. What is the purpose of informing the prophet, you know it is going to be such and such? If it comes by way of mission, go inform the people, well, the purpose is clear, that the people should repent. But if Hashem informs the prophet, I am revealing to you that such and such is about to happen, why was it revealed to him? So that he pray. Why was it revealed to him? So that he change the situation. This is really the purpose of the prophecy.
So this is what he tells them, if the word of Hashem is with them, that is, that Hashem revealed something to them and not in order to convey, then let them entreat Hashem. Here prayer is effective. Please pray to Hashem, for in prophecy there was conveyed an explicit prophecy that all the vessels that are here will still go to Bavel. So if you received some such prophecy, pray to Hashem that this not happen.
For so said Hashem of Hosts concerning the pillars and concerning the sea and concerning the bases and concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city. So said Hashem of Hosts concerning the pillars, that is, about the pillars, the copper pillars that were in the Beit HaMikdash. And concerning the sea, this is the copper sea, what is called the Sea of Shlomo, which was a kind of enormous basin in which there was water for the kohanim to wash their hands. And the bases, the bases are the stands of the lavers. There were ten lavers that Shlomo made, and these lavers had a kind of wheeled cart underneath with which they moved the laver. This is called the bases. And the bases and concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city, thus there is a prophecy concerning them.
Which Nevuchadnetzar king of Bavel did not take when he exiled, when he exiled Yechonya son of Yehoyakim king of Yehudah from Yerushalayim to Bavel, along with all the nobles of Yehudah and Yerushalayim. All these vessels Nevuchadnetzar had not yet taken then, in the time of Yechonya son of Yehoyakim. For so said Hashem of Hosts, God of Yisrael, concerning the vessels that remain in the House of Hashem and the house of the king of Yehudah and Yerushalayim. All these vessels that still remain, to Bavel they will be brought, and there they will be until the day I remember them, says Hashem, and I will bring them up and restore them to this place.
He says, yes, it is true the vessels will return, but when? Until the day I remember them, says Hashem. Until the time that I remember them, says the Holy One, blessed be He, only then will the vessels return. When is the day I remember them? In the time of Koresh, as we will see in Sefer Ezra, when he gave permission to bring up the vessels, 2,400 I believe, or 5,000 something, it says there, these are the vessels that returned from Bavel back to Yerushalayim, until the day I remember them. So Koresh son of Esther, yes.
[another speaker speaks] What? Koresh son of Esther, yes.
[another speaker speaks] After this it is written what the number of the vessels is.
[another speaker speaks] What? Yes. No. There was... there was a first permission. Daryavesh... it was like this: Koresh gave permission, the adversaries of Yehudah wrote an accusation against this permission that Koresh gave, and he stopped the building. Afterward Daryavesh, who arose after him, gave authorization to continue building the structure. This is Daryavesh son of Esther. Daryavesh was the son of Esther. And he gave the authorization to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash. And in the end, yes, they built it, and they also agreed to let Nechemya come up and go to restore the ruins of Yerushalayim here.
The Malbim says here two things were said. First, it was said here that the rest of the vessels will be brought to Bavel. Second, it was said here that on the day of remembrance, when Hashem will remember, these vessels will return from Bavel to Eretz Yisrael. So the first prophecy we saw was fulfilled, all the vessels were taken to Bavel as we saw, as we will see with Hashem's help at the end of the book. But the second statement, which says that the vessels will be brought back and return to Eretz Yisrael, the Malbim says this was fulfilled only regarding the vessels of service of gold and silver that were taken there. Yes, as is brought, they were restored in the days of Koresh the first, they gave 5,400 vessels into the hand of Sheshbatzar the prince, as is written in Sefer Ezra. But the pillars and the Sea of Shlomo, these things were not restored. The copper vessels were not restored.
And therefore he speaks in a doubled expression: for so said Hashem concerning the pillars and concerning the sea, about them he said they will be brought to Bavel. What does they will be brought mean? Without returning. For the pillars and the sea indeed did not return. And another prophecy: so said Hashem concerning the vessels that remain, which refers to the vessels of silver and gold, they will be brought to Bavel and I will bring them up and restore them to this place. Only about them was a prophecy stated that they too would be restored. And therefore in the first statement he said so said Hashem of Hosts, and in the second statement he said so said Hashem of Hosts, God of Yisrael. That is to say, that the vessels go to Bavel is from the aspect that Hashem is the God of Hosts and Hashem exercises dominion as He wishes. And that the vessels return afterward is from the aspect that Hashem of Hosts is the God of Yisrael, and Hashem in His love takes care to restore the vessels to Yisrael.