Midrasz do Izajasza 19:2
וְסִכְסַכְתִּ֤י מִצְרַ֙יִם֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם וְנִלְחֲמ֥וּ אִישׁ־בְּאָחִ֖יו וְאִ֣ישׁ בְּרֵעֵ֑הוּ עִ֣יר בְּעִ֔יר מַמְלָכָ֖ה בְּמַמְלָכָֽה׃
I poduszczę Micraim przeciw Micraimowi, i walczyć będzie brat z bratem, i bliźni z bliźnim swoim; miasto z miastem, królestwo z królestwem.
Eikhah Rabbah
“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word. Hear now all you peoples, and see my pain: My young women and young men have gone into captivity” (Lamentations 1:18).
“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word.” Who said this verse? Yoshiyahu said it. That is what is written: “After all this, when Yoshiyahu had established the House, Nekho king of Egypt came up to wage war at Karkemish on the Euphrates,” (II Chronicles 35:20), Karkasyon on the Euphrates. “[Yoshiyahu went out toward him.] He sent emissaries to him, saying: What is there between me and you, king of Judah? It is not against you today, but against the house with which I have war, and God has said that I should make haste” (II Chronicles 35:20–21). It is by the word of the Holy One blessed be He that I am ascending. “Restrain yourself from god who is with me” (II Chronicles 35:21), this is an expression of idol worship. “Yoshiyahu did not turn his face from him…and did not heed the words of Nekho from the mouth of God” (II Chronicles 35:22), this [alludes to] Jeremiah, who said to Yoshiyahu: ‘So I received from my teacher Isaiah: “I will provoke Egypt against Egypt”’ (Isaiah 19:2). He did not heed him. Rather, he said to him: ‘Did Moses, the teacher of your teacher, not say this: “A sword will not pass in the land” (Leviticus 26:6)? And the sword of that wicked one is passing in my land and my borders.’ But he did not realize that his entire generation was idol worshippers. He would send a pair of students to eradicate idol worship from their houses, but they would enter and not find anything. When they would go out [the residents] would say: ‘Close the doors,’ and when they would close the doors they would see it.202There were double doors leading into the house. Half the idol was on one door and half on the other. The halves did not look like anything separately, but when the doors were closed, the idol was visible. They would say of them: The one who came to repair is the one who came and ruined.203Although they divided the idol when they opened the doors, they put it back together when they closed the doors. Therefore: “The archers shot King Yoshiyahu” (II Chronicles 35:23). Rabbi Manei said: They fired three hundred arrows into him until his body became like a sieve. Jeremiah was listening to him to ascertain what he was saying:204He was listening to what Yoshiyahu was saying as he died. What was he saying? “The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word,” His mouth and the mouth of his agent.
“The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word.” Who said this verse? Yoshiyahu said it. That is what is written: “After all this, when Yoshiyahu had established the House, Nekho king of Egypt came up to wage war at Karkemish on the Euphrates,” (II Chronicles 35:20), Karkasyon on the Euphrates. “[Yoshiyahu went out toward him.] He sent emissaries to him, saying: What is there between me and you, king of Judah? It is not against you today, but against the house with which I have war, and God has said that I should make haste” (II Chronicles 35:20–21). It is by the word of the Holy One blessed be He that I am ascending. “Restrain yourself from god who is with me” (II Chronicles 35:21), this is an expression of idol worship. “Yoshiyahu did not turn his face from him…and did not heed the words of Nekho from the mouth of God” (II Chronicles 35:22), this [alludes to] Jeremiah, who said to Yoshiyahu: ‘So I received from my teacher Isaiah: “I will provoke Egypt against Egypt”’ (Isaiah 19:2). He did not heed him. Rather, he said to him: ‘Did Moses, the teacher of your teacher, not say this: “A sword will not pass in the land” (Leviticus 26:6)? And the sword of that wicked one is passing in my land and my borders.’ But he did not realize that his entire generation was idol worshippers. He would send a pair of students to eradicate idol worship from their houses, but they would enter and not find anything. When they would go out [the residents] would say: ‘Close the doors,’ and when they would close the doors they would see it.202There were double doors leading into the house. Half the idol was on one door and half on the other. The halves did not look like anything separately, but when the doors were closed, the idol was visible. They would say of them: The one who came to repair is the one who came and ruined.203Although they divided the idol when they opened the doors, they put it back together when they closed the doors. Therefore: “The archers shot King Yoshiyahu” (II Chronicles 35:23). Rabbi Manei said: They fired three hundred arrows into him until his body became like a sieve. Jeremiah was listening to him to ascertain what he was saying:204He was listening to what Yoshiyahu was saying as he died. What was he saying? “The Lord is righteous, for I have defied His word,” His mouth and the mouth of his agent.
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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer
Rabbi Eliezer said: Not only concerning the water does the Scripture say that "the waters should bring forth abundantly" (Gen. 1:20), but also concerning the birds which are compared with water, as it is said, "And the uproar of many peoples, which roar like the roaring of the seas" (Isa. 17:12), and just as the waters brought forth abundantly on the fifth day, likewise in the future will the nations of the world swarm in the fifth world, and they will fight one another to destroy (one another), as it is said, "And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city; for God did vex them with all adversity" (2 Chron. 15:6). What is written (immediately) afterwards? The Salvation of Israel (is mentioned), as it is said, "But be ye strong; and your hands shall not be slack" (2 Chron. 15:7).
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