PEREK SUMMARIES:
Perek 37: The (new) king Tzidkiyahu does not heed Yirmiyah’s messages, but despite this he asks Yirmiyah to pray on his behalf to HaShem. Yirmiyah flees Yerushalayim for Binyamin, but he is kidnapped and put into prison. King Tzidkiyahu has him removed from this harsher prison and put in a less harsh prison.
Perek 38: A group of people who disliked Yirmiyah’s prophecies plot against Yirmiyah, with the king powerless to stop them. They throw Yirmiyah into a pit in order that he should starve there. A kushi servant of the king persuades the king to have Yirmiyah taken out of the pit, but then put in prison instead. Yirmiyah conveys his prophecy to king Tzidkiyahu that the only way to avert the capture of Yerushalayim is to make peace with the Babylonians.
Perek 39: The walls of the city are breached, and Bavel capture Yerushalayim, as well as Tzikidayah himself, who they blind and exile to Babylon. The Babylonian’s remove Yirmiyah from prison and free him. The Babylonians appoint Gedalia as the leader of the few people who remained in Jerusalem.
Perek 40: Nebuzradan, commander of the enemy forces, converses with Yirmiyah about how HaShem brought about their victory over Yerushalayim, and he gives yirmiyah a free reign as to where he is to live. He remains with Gedaliah in Yerushalayim. Gedaliah is informed that there is a plan to assassinate him, but he does not beleive these reports.
Perek 41: Gedaliah is assassinated, prompting an attempt at a small-scale civil war. The people plan to flee to Egypt, for fear of what the Kasdim will do when they find out that the leader they put in place has been assassinated.
Perek 42: The people consult with Yirmiyah as to whether they should indeed go down to live in Egypt. After ten days, Yirmiyah receives a message from HaShem telling him to tell the people to remain in the Land and not to go down to Egypt.
DVAR TORAH:
The later of the above perakim tell of the events surrounding the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash and the fast of Gedaliah. We are going to discuss the fast of Gedaliah briefly. After reading the psukim, one does not get the impresson that the killing of Gedaliah was such a major event to warrent a fast day being declared for generations afterwards. It is terrible to murder anyone, but unfortunately many leaders in Nach were assassinated and no fast day was declared. And Yerushalayim had already been captured and most of the people exiled – so what was the big deal about the assassination of Gedaliah? One approach is that this was the last glimmer of hope that faded away for the Jewish People. We had already lost our Temple, and Yerushalayim was in ruins, and the people exiled. But we still had some vestige of Jewish population in the holy land. However, Gedaliah’s assassnation led the people to flee to Egypt, and now no community was left in Yerushalayim and the Land. This was the extra degree of tragedy which we remember on the fast of Gedaliah.
