Les Lamentations 2:10 Commentaire : Tze'enah Ure'enah & Rashi

“They sat” [2:10]. The elders sat on the ground and remained silent. They put ashes on their heads. They put sacks on the maidens of Jerusalem, and they lowered their heads to the ground. The Midrash writes about this verse that King Zedekiah swore that he wanted to serve Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar came and sent for the Sanhedrin that they should fully explain the Torah to him. When they reached the portion about abrogating vows and oaths, the king said, you have certainly permitted King Zedekiah to abrogate the oath, since the section on vows says that if one regrets his oath then the sage can abrogate it. Nebuchadnezzar immediately made them lower their heads to the ground and he tied their hair to the tails of the horses and in this manner dragged the Sanhedrin.¹⁷Lamentations Rabbah, 2.14.

They sit on the ground, etc. According to its apparent meaning. But the Midrash Aggadah [states] that Nevuchadnetzar sat them on the ground when Tzidkiyahu rebelled against him and transgressed his oath. He came and stationed himself in Dophnei³¹Nevuchadnetzar’s headquarters was situated in Rivlah as indicated in Yirmiyahu 39:5. See Targum Yonoson Ben Uzieil in Bamidbar 34:11, who identifies Rivlah as Daphnei. However, the Gemara in Maseches Sanhedrin 96b identifies Rivlah as Antochya. of Ontochya, and sent for the Sanhedrin. They came toward him and he saw that they were men of imposing appearance. He sat them down in golden chairs and said to them, “recite your Torah for me chapter by chapter and translate it for me.” When they reached the chapter dealing with vows, he said to them, “[What] if he wishes to retract [from his vow], can he retract?” They said to him, “Let him go to a sage and he will absolve him [of his vow].” He said to them, “If so, you [must have] absolved Tzidkiyahu of his oath.” He [Nevuchadnetzar] commanded, and they pushed them down and sat them on the ground.³²If they had sat down on their own accord, Scripture would have stated yushvu instead of yishvu and domu instead of yidmu. They then tied the hair of their heads to the horses’ tails³³As indicated by the end of the verse, ‘they lower their heads to the ground.’ and dragged them.