meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/Malbim/Prophets/Malbim on Jeremiah/English/merged.txt"}
text: Malbim on Jeremiah
  מלבי"ם על ירמיהו
  merged
  
  This file contains merged sections from the following text versions:
  -Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology
  -
  -Sefaria Community Translation
  -
  
  Malbim on Jeremiah
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  words of jeremiah. The first three pesukim bring out the boundaries of the essence of the book in all its details, because all books are limited. They are limited in terms of its form and what it talks about. For example if it a book of rebuke or a poem or a work of knowledge or the like, or if it was said in a riddle form or a story or the like, and on this it says, Divrei the words, to show that it (sefer Yirmiyahu) includes many types of things. In it you can find Visions, nevuas, stories, rebuke, and the like. The second way a book is limited is from the standpoint of the author who said what is in the book. Yirmiyahu ben Chilkiyahu he wrote sefer yirmiyahu and he was a navi who was special that his father was the kohen gadol and navi. And he was also rich. He (Yirmiyahu) was from the kohanim who were in Anatot (name of a town). They (the kohanim in Anatot) were special in their fear of Hashem. Yirmiyahu was from Eretz Binyamin, not from the people who lived in Yerushaliayim. The person who rebukes who is from a different city, the people he is talking to won't recognize him and he wont hold back from giving them rebuke because of his love of the city, and his words will be heard better. Where does he (Yirmiyahu) draw his words from, is it from his mind, or his studies, or from books? it says That is the words of Hashem to him, that he (Yirmiyahu) drew his words from the source of living water (a reference to Hashem's words). From the standpoint of the time that he gave nevuah, it says that he had nevuah in three changing time periods that the stance of the nation and kings were changing (in terms of following Hashem or not). Because he started nevuah during the time Yoshiyahu ben Amon, that he and his generation were tzadikim, and he started to have nevuah in the thirteenth year of his kingship (yoshiyahu's kingship), that when he (yirmiyahu) was mature he started serving Hashem. 
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  And he continued his nevuah IN the days of Yehoyakim, during which the generation were tzadikim and the king was a rasha Until the end of the eleventh year of Tzidkiyahu, during which the nation changed to reshaim and the king was good. And It is telling us that these nevuot (the nevuahs of yirmiyahu) were constant during this whole time. Until the galut of yerushalayim, because all of the nevuahs were fulfilled. 
  
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  I cannot speak, for I am a child. This was for three reasons: 1. That the child (Jeremiah) did not have confidence in himself in front of greater people, 2. That the child did not know how to order his words in the correct way (meaning he did not know how to speak well in front of the congregation), and 3. That maybe the nation will become angry with what he says and come upon him and kill him. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  
  
  Verse 13
  
  
  
  Verse 14
  
  
  
  Verse 15
  
  
  
  Verse 16
  
  
  
  Verse 17
  
  At that time, The Throne of the Lord – Now “The Lord established His throne in the heavens…” (Psalms 103:19) and His kingship and rule are seen in the heavens, in that He directs everything according to the laws of nature. But then His kingship and rule will be seen in Jerusalem through miraculous direction above the laws of nature. Then it will be as if the Lord sits there guiding, watching over and ruling all. Therefore ‘all nations shall gather to it’ and not for the sake of making war against her or to eat from her fruits, but rather ‘in the name of the Lord’ and also ‘to Jerusalem’ for the sake of the importance of the city: and they shall no longer follow the idea of their evil heart – Because they will all recognize the kingship of the Lord, His unity, His ways and His Torah:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  And I will make – That is to say – Only on the mountains and the pastures of the wilderness will I lament, not on Jerusalem and the cities of Yehudah which I myself will make a desolation. This is as it says “…or for such a nation shall My soul not take vengeance?” (Jeremiah 5:29)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  
  
  Verse 13
  
  
  
  Verse 14
  
  
  
  Verse 15
  
  
  
  Verse 16
  
  
  
  Verse 17
  
  
  
  Verse 18
  
  
  
  Verse 19
  
  So said the Lord to me – After the Lord had decided on His decree, the attribute of mercy came back and gave them a simple solution in order that Jerusalem not be destroyed. It was that they keep Shabbat free of all desecration, as the Sages wrote ‘anyone who keeps Shabbat according to the law, even if they worshipped idols like the generation of Enoch, they will be forgiven.’ (Shabbat 118b) This is because keeping Shabbat testifies to a faith in creation ex nihilo and Divine providence, and contradicts the worship of idols. Therefore it is impossible that the sin of  idolatry would cause the destruction since through the keep of Shabbat they were testifying to its opposite – that God created the world and rules over all its systems. They already said there in the gemara that if Israel would keep Shabbat twice they would be immediately redeemed (and all the more so that the merit of Shabbat would be effective in preventing the destruction of Jerusalem): 
  in which the kings of Judah come – this is to give warning to the great people first: 
  and out of which they go – to warn them multiple times as they go out and come in: 
  and in all the gates of Jerusalem – to warn all the people:
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  Like in the Mashal, the breaking of the vessel was in an instant, and only to fix it innto something new, so to Hashem only destroys for the purpose of the fixing
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  They did bad in my eyes like it says in the mashal that the vessel was destroyed And I changed my mind on the good I said that I would do, like it says in the mashal that the potter made a different vessel, that he broke it in order to fix it, and when Hashem said that he will do bad it says He thought to do, and when Hashem says that he will do good, it says The said he would do. Because with the bad Hashem changed also the thought of the bad forever, but regarding the good, The thought or desire to do good remained even now. Because the breaking of the vessel is in order to do good. . . that it wants to say that the meaning of the nimshal is that when Hashem changes his mind about doing good, the purpose of the changing (from giving the good to the bad) is in order to do good for the person and return him to the good
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  It means to say, "when it is yet still morning." Meaning, before the trouble and darkness, judge the law, as it says "Zion will be redeemed through justice (Isaiah 1:27)" for the destruction of Jerusalem was caused by theft, corruption and lack of civil law (As it writes, " And now murderers... your princes have become rebellious (Isaiah 1:21, 1:23) Lest My rage burn forth like a Fire: You will have no refuge(es)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  In his days – It says that in the days of the Messiah ‘Yehudah will be saved’, for in the time of the Second Temple they were not really saved because they were subjugated by Persia, Greece and Rome. And Israel, which refers to the ten tribes, ‘shall dwell safely’ because in the time of the Second Temple the ten tribes did not return: his name that he shall be called He will then be called ‘the Lord is our righteousness’ because our righteousness is the Lord, as it says “…O God of my righteousness…” (Tehillim 4:2) meaning that my righteousness will come from God – just as He exists so too Israel will be righteous and saved by God. This prophecy is repeated further on in 33:15, with some changes. It says ‘I will cause to grow for David a plant of righteousness’ but does not mention ‘and he shall reign a king and prosper.’ There it is written ‘In those days, Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell securely and this is the name that He shall call it, the Lord is our righteousness.’ This is because there are two manners of redemption. If it comes through our merit ‘I will hurry it,’ if it is not through our merit ‘in its time’ (see Isaiah 60:22 and gem. Sanhedrin 98a). It further says there in the gemara: if it is through our merit ‘and behold with the clouds (ananei) of the heaven, one like a man was coming’ (Daniel 7:13) and if not ‘humble (ani), and riding a donkey.’ (Zechariah 9:9) Here in chapter 23 the prophet is speaking about redemption that comes through merit, which is why is says ‘I will set up of David a righteous shoot,’ meaning that he will be righteous through his merit. In chapter 33 the prophet is speaking about redemption which comes not through our merit, which is why it says ‘In those days and in that time I will cause to grow for David a plant of righteousness,’ because the supernal righteousness will not look at the acts of righteousness and merit, but rather will act out of generous kindness and through an arousal from above, as I explained in Yeshayahu 29. Therefore it does not say ‘I will set up of David,’ but rather ‘I will cause to grow for David,’ because it will be a new growth. This is not the case for redemption brought on through merit, there it says ‘I will set up’ because the growth will exist already through the merit of his actions and God will simply lift it up from its fallen state. Further in chapter 33 the prophet adds ‘In those days and in that time’ because if it is not through merit we will have to wait until the appointed time. This is not the case here in chapter 23, it does not say ‘in that time’ because ‘I will hurry it.’ So too it does not say in chapter 33 ‘and he shall reign a king and prosper’ because if it is not through merit then he will not reign right away, but rather he will be ‘humble, and riding a donkey.’ Further, it doesn’t say there ‘and Israel shall dwell safely’ because if we do not merit the tribes will not be gathered in right away, rather only Yehudah and Jerusalem will be saved. The ingathering will be delayed until Jerusalem is rebuilt first. It does not say in chapter 33 ‘and this is its name’ in reference to Jerusalem because it will not have this name already due to our lack of merit, ‘this is the name that He shall call it’ Jerusalem from now forward. But here in chapter 23 where it describes redemption through our merit it says ‘and this is his name’ because he will have already acquired this name through his merit.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  
  
  Verse 13
  
  
  
  Verse 14
  
  
  
  Verse 15
  
  
  
  Verse 16
  
  
  
  Verse 17
  
  
  
  Verse 18
  
  So said the Lord – This will not be pushed off, because ‘Behold I am returning the captivity of the tents of Jacob’ and afterwards they will settle in permanent dwellings ‘and his dwellings I will pity’ and after this ‘the city shall be built on its mound’. That is to say that in the beginning they will settle there in tents, then afterwards their dwellings will be built and after this Zion will be rebuilt as it was before. After this the Temple and the King’s house will be rebuilt and the palace will be set in its proper site. This will be according to its laws and regulations because the Temple must be built as the hand of Gd has written in order to enlighten us:
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  For there is a day – Because in the beginning they placed guards on Mount Ephraim to prevent Israel from coming up to Jerusalem, and the day will come when they place watchmen and guards who will cry out ‘Rise! Let us go up to Zion.’ They will keep watch in the opposite fashion, because everyone will bring the fruits of the fourth year up to Jerusalem to eat them there.
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  
  
  Verse 13
  
  
  
  Verse 14
  
  
  
  Verse 15
  
  
  
  Verse 16
  
  
  
  Verse 17
  
  
  
  Verse 18
  
  
  
  Verse 19
  
  
  
  Verse 20
  
  A dear son...God responds to them that there is a difference between someone from the first generations whom God was able to bring back [to God's ways] by showing them godliness, might and wonders, versus now, and there is a difference between a dear son and a little tyke. A little tyke is a small boy who, even if he sins, his father still loves him because he is a little boy and he plays with him. A dear son is a grown man who has many virtues and is dear to because of those virtues, and even if he sins, his father still loves him because he'll remember his virtues and be dear to him. So too, in Egypt, when Israel had no virtue or wholeness, they were like a little tyke in God's eyes, as it is written "when Israel was a youth I loved him." When they were in the wilderness and in the Land of Israel in the early years, they were like a dear son, because they had among them prophets, holy ministers and sages, and then if they sinned, God remembered the righteous among them and forgave their sin. But now "Ephraim is a dear son to me" - behold he has no dearness or importance, and so too "he is a little tyke" -- behold he is not a boy but he has already reached old age, and the parallel statements "Ephraim is a dear son to me...whenever I have turned on him, I remember him even more (every utterance that has the letter bet after it is a reproach) that so too whenever I speak any defamation "I will surely remember" his virtues because he is dear. "he is a little tyke...that is why my heart yearns for him" that my heart will yearn on account of him and "I will surely have mercy" because he is a small boy, I will play with him, and and if so, how can you ask that I do something miraculous and love you as in the days of old?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  Ishmael came etc. Of the royal seed, This is one reason for which he killed him. Since he was of the royal seed he thought that the governorship was due him. And smote Gedaliah, etc. whom the king of Babylon had made governor, consequently he killed him, because he was sent by the king of the sons of Amon who hated the king of Babylon and wanted the land of Israel to be under his rule, and they smote...and he slew him, they [all] smote him and Ishmael completed his death with his [own] hands. 
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 3
  
  And all of the Jews that were with him, meaning, [only] the Jews that were there for the purpose of Gedaliah, his men of war. Therefore it said with Gedaliah. For he did not kill the Jews who [simply] lived there, but he killed all of the Chaldeans that were there. It specifies that he smote the men of war and the Chaldeans were all men of war; therefore it said, '[the Chaldeans] who were found there.' But of the Jews, he only killed the men of war and the rest of the people he left alive.
  
  
  
  Verse 4
  
  And it was on the second day, Ishmael had hidden the death of Gedaliah, therefore it said No man knew. He intended to find an false charge, so that he could say that he killed him legally and justly. This was the strategy in killing the eighty men, as will be explained.
  
  
  Verse 5
  
  Men came. He wanted to publicize that Gedaliah smote the men. Namely, that [Gedaliah] commanded to kill them because they were mourning over the burning of the Holy Temple, as it said, that they were having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and that they were bringing meal-offerings and frankincense to the house of the LORD. He wanted everyone who heard to think that Nebuchadnezzar had commanded Gedaliah to kill all those who mourned over the house of the LORD and all who went to sacrifice there.
  
  
  
  Verse 6
  
  And Ishmael went forth... to meet them... weeping all along as he went. He passed himself off as one who is weeping and mourning over this command that Gedaliah gave him to kill those who were going to the house of the LORD. He said unto them: 'Come to Gedaliah,' so that they would think that they were being killed by command of Gedaliah. When they came into the city, "he slew them into the midst of the pit." And all of this he did [as if] by command of Gedaliah.
  
  
  
  Verse 7
  
  
  
  Verse 8
  
  But ten men were found among them, who - in thinking that Gedaliah had ordered to smite them for going to the house of the LORD - said... 'Slay us not, for we have stores hidden in the field.' [Meaning,] a bribe will be given to Gedaliah if he keeps us alive. Therefore, he didn't kill them so that they should think that all of this was done by order of Gedaliah. His intention was that if dread fell upon the survivors that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Gedaliah to murder innocent people who were mourning over the destruction, then they would all rejoice and praise him for killing Gedaliah, who had murdered people unjustly, and this is what it said And the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain by the hand of Gedaliah. That he had in fact smote them "by the hand of Gedaliah" and his order. (Meaning, that he said this: Gedaliah had commanded to smite them down.) [The pit...] that Asa the king had made because of Baasa... Through this it informs [us] what sin causes. For it already explained (Kings I 15:17) that Baasa had built the tower so as to prevent access to Asa the king of Judah, namely, to prevent Israel from going up on pilgrimage [to the Temple]. (The main path on the pilgrimage was the road of Mizpah, as it is written (Hosea 5) "That you were a trap for Mizpah.") Asa's forces also stood there to guard those going on pilgrimage and to battle against Baasa troops. And [Asa] had made the pit to store enough water for his forces. If so, this pit, which was made to assist those going to the house of the LORD, now, by the sins of the generation, they threw there the corpses of those going to the house of the LORD.
  
  
  Verse 9
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 10
  
  And he carried away captive the remainder of the people who were in Mizpah: [the remainder] of those who had returned to the Land of Israel (as mentioned earlier Jeremiah 42:11) And all the people who remained of those who had already been in the Land of Israel whom Nebuzaradan had committed... [to the governance of Gedaliah].
  
  
  
  
  Verse 11
  
  
  
  Verse 12
  
  
  
  Verse 13
  
  
  
  Verse 14
  
  
  
  Verse 15
  
  
  
  Verse 16
  
  Whom he had recovered from Ishmael... For when Ishmael went, there were a large number of additional people left in the area around Mizpah. Their intention was also to go to the land of the children of Amon after Ishmael, but Johanan brought them back from the road. "And the men, even the men of war... whom he returned from Gibeon," Ishmael had taken them with him and he found them near Gibeon.