פירוש על ירמיהו 28:18

And it came to pass in that year When that time arrived that Nebuchadnezzar gave Zedekiah dominion over the five kings to whom Jeremiah stated his message and sent the thongs and the bars to the kings by the hand of their ambassadors.

in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah In the beginning of his dominion over the five kings. But it is impossible to say that it means at the beginning of his reign, since it says, “in the fourth year.” In that year, he went down to greet Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and Seraiah the receptionist was with him, as is stated at the end of the Book (51:59), and he gave him dominion over the kings.

said to me Our Sages state: Who misled Hananiah? He heard Jeremiah prophesying in the upper street, “Behold I am breaking the bow of Elam” (49:35). And this prophecy was said in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, as is explained there, and since Elam is adjacent to Babylon, he stood in the lower street, and expounded. And he derived a major case from a minor one. If Elam, who came only to aid the Chaldeans, the Holy One, blessed be He, said, “Behold I am breaking the bow of Elam,” how much more is this so with the Chaldeans themselves? He came into the lower street and said: So said the Lord: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon, as it is in Sanhedrin (89a).

may...do Fasse in French.

May...fulfill An expression of prayer. (These three lines up to “and he brought him to the prison” were not arranged by the author.) Amen! So may the Lord do, etc.Amen! The scholars of Aggadah say: So did he say to him: If only your words were fulfilled! I gain and you lose. I am a priest, and I eat the food hallowed in the name of Heaven if the Temple remains standing. But you are a Gibeonite, as it is written [here], “who was from Gibeon.” And you will be a slave to me, chopping wood and drawing water (Pesikta Rabbathi 27:4, Yalkut Shimoni ad loc.). But Moreh Zedek who did not explain, adopted the reason of our Sages (Sotah 41b) who learned from here that whoever flatters a wicked man will ultimately fall into his hands or into the hands of his son or into the hands of his son’s son, for Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah seized him and brought him to prison.

But, hearken now... The prophet who would prophesy for peace. He said: I prophesy retribution. If it does not come, I am not a liar, for the Holy One, blessed be He, renounces the evil, but the prophet who prophesies for peace, etc., when the word of the prophet comes, etc., but if his word does not come, he is a liar, as it is said, “God is not a man that He should lie, etc.” (Num. 23:19). In this manner Rabbi Tanhuma (Vayera 13) expounded.

the beasts of the field have I given to him He rode on a lion and tied a serpent on its head.

this year you shall die And next year you shall be buried.

in that year, in the seventh month Is it not so that the seventh month is not of the year? Rather, he died on the day preceding Rosh Hashanah and commanded his children to hurry him after Rosh Hashanah, but not before, and they should conceal his death on that day in order to make Jeremiah’s prophecy appear false.