Yirmiyah 19-24
Perek Summaries:
Perek 19: HaShem tells Yirmiyah to smash a bottle in front of people just outside (the old city of) Yerushalayim to convey the message of destruction and annihilation that the people will face should they continue in their spiritually rebellious ways.
Perek 20: Pashchur (an opponent of Yirmiyah) strikes Yirmiyah and puts him in prison overnight. When he is let out, Yirmiyah prophesises Pashchur’s downfall. Yirmiyah praises HaShem for His kindness but at the same time laments the difficult task he has of prophesising destruction in the midst of opponents who seek to harm/kill Yirmiyah.
Perek 21: King Tzidkiyahu sends messengers (one of them being Pashchur) to ask Yirmiyah to ask HaShem whether He will ensure victory against Nebuchadnezar king of Bavel. Yirmiyah tells them HaShem’s response; HaShem is fighting for the enemy this time, due to the sins of His people.
Perek 22: HaShem tells Yimiyah to give instructions to the king of Yehudah regarding acting with justice; tzedaka, preventing theft, etc. Yirmiyah repeats the message that if they manage to accomplish this, Yerushalayim will return to its glory, and if not then the Mikdash will be destroyed. Prophecies of destruction.
Perek 23: A call against the leaders of the people for leading their subjects astray. Hope, as HaShem promises that there will come a day when He will provide us with honest, upstanding leaders, and there will be ingathering of the exiles. HaShem deplores the false prophets and mentions the punishments awaiting them.
Perek 24: The visual representation of two palms (dates), representing the fates of two groups of people who will be exiles; one will return to the Land and live a life on the road to spiritual cleanliness, whilst the other will live in depravity.
DVAR TORAH:
In perek 19, we come across an oft-used phrase in Tanach. In pasuk 4, we are being lambasted for our idol worship of ‘other gods which you did not know about’ (‘asher lo yeda’um’). What does this phrase mean? And why is it so much worse that we are worshipping idols which we are not familiar with; is it any better if they were idols which we have worshipped in the past?
The key here is the word yeda’um. It is from the root da’as, which is translated as ‘to know.’ But it means more than that. In Bereishis (4:1), we are told that Adam and Chavah conceived (a baby). The Torah uses the words ‘veha’adam yada es chavah ishto’ (and Adam knew Chavah his wife); the root is da’as again. The concept is that da’as means an internal link and connection; one expression of which is (internal) knowledge. Therefore, when the Navi reports that the people are serving idols which they do not know (yeda’um), he is saying that the people are worshipping powers/idols which are not part of them; I.e. we were serving idols with which we have no innate internal connection with these idols, whilst we do have an innate connection with HaShem.
