Yirmiyah 13-18
Perek Summaries:
Perek 13: HaShem uses the demonstration of a rotting belt to convey to Yirmiyah the message of the destruction of Yehudah and Yerushalayim. Yirmayah’s message/warning to the people.
Perek 14: The (water) drought, Yirmiyah’s prayer, and HaShem’s response that He is not listening to the Bnei Yisrael’s prayers. A mention of how the people are being swayed by the false prophets. Another prayer by Yirmiyah on behalf of the people.
Perek 15: HaShem tells of the various means of destruction that are going to find the Bnei Yisrael. There is a way out via Teshuva.
Perek 16: No point in marrying, because partners will perish anyway in the coming destruction. Another mention of the stupidity of the idolatrous people.
Perek 17: Putting all one’s trust in another human is fragile and unintelligent. HaShem is Supreme and the only One to fully rely on. Yirmiyah reports to the people that glory can be restored if the people honour Shabbos.
Perek 18: In another demonstration of a parable (here the workshop of a craftsman), HaShem conveys the future destruction of the people. We are told of those who wanted to assassinate Yirmiyah, and how Yirmiyah hopes and davens for their downfall.
DVAR TORAH
This week, we shall speak about two points; the first being the main one.
There is an intriguing exchange between HaShem and Yirmiyah in perek 14:13-14. Yirmiyah defends the people’s stubbornness to heed his message of destruction by pointing out that the people are believing the false prophets (who say that all is going to be ok), and how are they supposed to know that I am telling the truth. HaShem responds ‘those prophets are saying falsehood; I did not send them and did not command them and did not speak to them…’ and continues to tell of the destruction that will fall upon the people. How is HaShem responding to Yirmiyah’s defence here; Yirmiyah knows that the other prophets are false – that was exactly his claim of defence??? We shall answer this with another question. In both perakim 17 and 18, Yirmiyah asks that those that deny/pain him should be destroyed. Why; if they sincerely believed that Yirmiyah was the false prophet then of course they should not listen to him – and they should try and kill him; surely, they only made an error in calculation as to who is the true prophet?
The answer is via the Redak, who points out that there is a simple formula for working out who is the true prophet and who is false; the prophet who is obviously trying to bring people closer to HaShem is true, and those who do not have this aim are false. The people’s fault was that they did not make an objective calculation as to who the true prophet was; they heard Yirmiyah forecasting destruction, and the other prophets promising peace and serenity – and the people thought to themselves ‘since I want peace and serenity,’ those prophets must be correct.’ In other words, they just followed their own wishes/hopes. This is why they did not go to the Sanhedrin to get a psak as to who was the true prophet; because the people were not interested in an objectively true answer – they wanted what they saw as good. They did not want a message which would interfere with their spiritual lives, or lack of it.
This answers both of our initial questions. Why does Yirmiyah ask for his detractors to perish? Because they never made a proper calculation as to him being a false prophet; they wanted to kill Yirmiyah merely because his prophecies did not fit with their value system. And how did HaShem respond to Yirmiyah in perek 14? HaShem was saying that ‘those prophets are false, and the people should be bothered to ascertain this, and so there will be destruction, because the people are not interested in real truth.’
The message for us is to avoid the indifference and stubbornness in refusing to let spirituality pervade our own notions.
2) I have a question, with an answer that I am not so fond of. Please let me know if you have any answers… In perek 18:7-11, Yirmiyah tells us that when HaShem promises bad, then if the people to Teshuva then the bad will not come upon them. And when HaShem promises good things, if the people sin then HaShem will rescind his promise of good. The problem is that the Rambam writes (hil. Yesodei HaTorah 10:4) that when HaShem promises bad, this can be rescinded via our Teshuva. But if HaShem promises good, then the good will come even if we sin. Does this not contradict our psukim in Yirmiyah?
The only answer I can think of is that the Rambam is referring to promises made to Klal Yisrael, whilst Yirmiyah is talking about HaShem’s promises to other nations.
Let me know if you have a more concrete answer please!!!
