Musar su II Re 24:26

Concerning such truth, the prophet Jeremiah (5,1) proclaims in the name of the Lord: "Roam the streets of Jerusalem, search its squares; look about and take note; you will not find a man. There is none who acts justly, who seeks integrity, that I should pardon her." This is surely a very remarkable statement. How could the existence of even a single such “איש” be questioned, when at that time there lived in Israel numerous prophets and pious men in Israel! Does not the same prophet in chapter 24,1 describe that G–d showed him a vision of the חרש והמסגר, two Torah scholars of renown, (Sanhedrin 38) who were exiled together with king Yechonyah (Kings II 24,16-17)? The answer is simply that these Torah scholars had failed to act publicly to call upon the masses to mend their ways, and return to the ways of the Torah. Jeremiah laments that there is not a single person in the courtyards of Jerusalem who has the moral courage to proclaim his convictions publicly! Rabbi Amram in Sanhedrin 119 states explicitly that Jersusalem was destroyed because the Torah scholars ignored the commandment to admonish their fellow Jews. (Leviticus 19,17) He derives this from the verse in Lamentations 1,6: היו שריה כאילים, לא מצאו מרעה. "Her leaders were like stags that found no pasture." The prophet there drew a parallel between the spiritual leaders of Israel and the stag whose head is usually down on the ground near its tail. The leaders of the Jewish people, similarly, buried their heads in the sand in order "to see no evil, hear no evil-etc." When contrasted with this kind of behaviour, Pinchas stood out as a man of truth in whom the jealousy for his G–d was paramount. This explains why he was rewarded with everlasting life, i.e. this is why the prophet Elijah did not experience death on this earth.

The Torah (19,14) continues with: "Do not curse the deaf." This should be understood in the sense of Kings II 24,14: וכל החרש והמסגר, "all the craftsmen and smiths." In the above mentioned context all the leading people of Jerusalem who could have enabled its continued existence as an independent nation were exiled. Here, too, the Torah means that one should not curse the judges, the leaders, etc., without whom the state could not continue to function properly.