Komentarz do Jeremiasza 23:44

Woe to the shepherds The kings of Judah.

and have not taken care of them You were not careful to watch them.

nor shall [any of them] be missing and they shall not be missing. (Cf. Num. 31:49) “And no one of us was missing (נפקד).”

and prosper Heb. והשכּיל.

The Lord is our righteousness The Lord will vindicate us during this one’s days.

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.

Because of the prophets my heart is broken within me Because of the words of the prophets who say, “You shall have peace,” my heart is broken. shake sway like the wings of a bird who hovers over his nest, (trenblent in O.F.) tremble.

because of the Lord For I heard from Him this evil decree.

because of oaths False oaths.

mourns i.e., is destroyed.

their eagerness (course in French,) their course, their running. But Jonathan renders it as an expression of desire.

not right Not according to the law.

both prophet and priest Even these, from whom everyone learns.

even in My house have I found their evil For they placed an image in the Temple.

like slippery places Smooth ground upon which the foot slips and the person falls.

like slippery places in the dark Stumbling upon stumbling. On slippery places in the light there is stumbling. In the dark without slippery places, there is stumbling.

And in the prophets of Samaria I saw unseemliness before they were exiled.

And in the prophets of Jerusalem I now see. a horrible thing a shameful thing.

and they encouraged evil doers They say to the wicked, “You shall have peace.”

that none returns So that the evildoers would not return each one from his evil.

and everyone who follows the view of his heart And to everyone who follows the view of his heart, etc.

For who stood in the council of the Lord and will hear what is decreed by Him? He who hearkened to the word of His Torah and listened to His commandments, but not these wicked men. The first expression of ֹשְמִיעָה in the verse is actual hearing; the latter expression of ֹשְמִיעָה is an expression of acceptance.

a whirling A resting storm, a storm which seeks to rest, and it shall rest on the heads of the wicked.

the plans of an expression of thought.

And if they stood in My council, they should have let My people hear My word, etc. They should have let My people hear My words and My Torah, rather than cause them to stray away from Me.

Am I a God from near that I do not see but what is close to Me and have I no power to judge the lower creatures that are far from Me and do I not know of their deeds?

Can a man hide in secret places This is a repetition of the question, ‘Am I a God from near,’ according to the manner of all double questions.

How long [will this be]? That they will prophesy falsely? Do these prophets who prophesy falsely have in their heart to execute their thoughts that they are thinking to cause My people to forget My name, etc.?

deceit an expression of מִרְמָה, deceit.

let him tell a dream Let him tell it as vain talk like other dreams, and let him not presume it as words of prophecy.

What has the straw to do with the wheat? What has falsehood to do with truth?

with the wheat like עִם-הַבָּר.

Is not My word so like fire? They should not have erred to compare their dreams to say that they are prophecy, for the prophetic word, when it comes to a prophet, it comes into him with force like a burning fire, as the matter is stated (supra 20:9): “And it was in my heart like a burning fire,” and (Ezekiel 3:14): “And the hand of the Lord became strong upon me.”

and as a hammer (pic in French), a pick. And some say (marteau in French), a hammer.

those who steal My wards from one another They have spies who spy upon the true prophets, who listen to their expression with which they prophesy and say false prophecies with that same expression, as Hananiah son of Azzur did. He heard Jeremiah prophesying in the upper marketplace, “Behold I break the bow of Elam,” and he prophesied in the lower marketplace, “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon” (28:2), as our Rabbis wrote in Sanhedrin 89a.

those who train their tongues who teach their tongues to say their falsehoods with the expression, “Says the Lord,” like the true prophets, so that they should believe them.

with their bewilderment an expression of wonder (estordisoun in O. F.).

“What is the burden of the Lord?” This is an expression of derision, for his prophecy is a burden to them.

you shall say to them, “What burden? And I will forsake you, etc.” They say to you (sic), “What is the burden?” You are the burden of the Holy One, blessed be He, and He says that He will forsake you and cast you off His arms from heaven to earth. So I heard.

and I will forsake Heb. וְעָזַבְתִּי.

For the burden shall be to the man of His word Although you pervert the massa into a pejorative, the prophecy (משא) of the word of the Lord shall be to the man of His word, and to the man of His counsel He reveals it, but you pervert it to an expression of a burden. This interpretation I did not hear, but it is the main interpretation. But this is how I heard it, namely that the burden shall be a burden of retribution for the one who says it, who asks, “What is the burden?” Another interpretation: משא is an expression of prophecy, and the false prophet would ask the true prophet to tell him the word of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the language in which the expression came to him, and the expression did not explain the speech adequately. Therefore, the false prophet would pervert it to another meaning and would speak after the fashion of the true prophet in order that they should believe him. And so did Hananiah son of Azzur do. Therefore, he says, “Do not ask the prophecy of the Lord,” the language of the expression, but “What did He speak?” or “What did He reply?” The explanation of the words you shall ask the true prophet to tell you what the Holy One, blessed be He, says, and to what His words are inclined.

for the prophecy shall be for the man of His word The unexplained expression the Holy One, blessed be He, said unexplained to the man of His counsel, who is not suspected of perverting it, but you ask it in order to pervert it, and you pervert the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, and that is what is stated above (v. 30): “those who steal My words from one another.” This too is a correct explanation.

So shall you say to the prophet when you come to ask My words of the prophet.

and I will exile an expression of “the sinew that was dislocated (גִיד הַנָֹּשֶה)” (Gen. 32:33), and an expression of “their might has failed (נָֹשְתָה),” it jumps and moves from place to place.