Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Jeremias 4:14

כמתאוננים, “as murmurers;” the word is related to און and עמל, “as in Jeremiah 4,14: מחשבות אונך, “your evil designs.”

AND THE PEOPLE WERE ‘K’MITHON’NIM.’ Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented that [the word k’mithon’nim is] “of the root aven (wickedness); similarly, the thoughts of ‘oneich’ (thy evil thoughts),¹⁴⁹Jeremiah 4:14. for they spoke words of wickedness.” But this is not correct, for why would Scripture have concealed their sin, and not stated [clearly what it was], as it does in all other places! The correct interpretation appears to me to be that as they got further away from Mount Sinai, which was near an inhabitable settlement, and entered the great and dreadful wilderness¹⁵⁰Deuteronomy 1:19. in their first journey, they became upset and said: “What shall we do? How shall we live in this wilderness? What shall we eat and what shall we drink? How shall we endure the trouble and the suffering, and when shall we come out of here?” The word k’mithon’nim is thus related to the expression, Wherefore doth a living man ‘yithonein’ (complain), a strong man because of his sins?¹⁵¹Lamentations 3:39. which is an expression indicating pain, and feeling sorry for oneself. Similarly, ben oni¹⁵²Genesis 35:18. means “the son of my sorrow; “‘v’anu hadayagim’ (and the fishers shall lament) and all they that cast angle into the Nile shall mourn.¹⁵³Isaiah 19:8. Thus when Scripture states that they felt anxious and upset, it has thereby already mentioned and told [the nature of] their sin. It states that they were k’mithon’nim (‘as’ murmurers), meaning that they spoke in the bitterness of their soul as do people who suffer pain, and this was evil in the sight of the Eternal, since they should have followed Him with joyfnlness, and with gladness of heart by reason of the abundance of all good things¹⁵⁴Deuteronomy 28:47. which He gave them, but they behaved like people acting under duress and compulsion, murmuring and complaining about their condition. It is for this reason that He states with regard to the second [sin, or punishment], and the children of Israel also wept ‘again,’¹⁵⁵Verse 4. meaning that their first sin consisted of complaining about their lack of comforts in the wilderness, and now they again did a similar thing, and they did not receive correction¹⁵⁶Jeremiah 7:28. from the fire of G-d which devoured them.¹⁵⁷As stated in the verse before us.