Yirmiyah 49-52
Perek 49: Prophecy of the fate of Ammon, Edom, Damuscus, Kedar, Hazor, and Elam
Perek 50: The fate of Babylonia; Israel will be redeemed and Babylonia will be plundered.
Perek 51: Continuation of the destruction of Babylonia
Perek 52: Narrative begins (as opposed to prophecy); telling of the siege of Jerusalem and the capture of Tzidkiyahu, as well as the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Exile, and Yehoyachin’s release.
DVAR TORAH:
There is a rule in leining that one does not end off with leining which speaks about a negative event (Rambam hilchos Tefillah 13:5). And though this is not an official rule (that I know of) that sefarim of Nach also finish on positive notes, I have noticed that sefarim of Nach do finish on a positive note (e.g. Sefer Yeshaya). The question, however, is what about sefer Yirmiyah. True, the last few pesukim refer to positive the releasing of Yehoyachim, but the entire final chapter is devoted to the destruction of the Temple; what could be more negative than that?
One answer is based on that which Chazal reveal to us about the destruction of the Mikdash. They tell us that HaShem had already removed His Presence from the Mikdash due to the sins of the people well before the Mikdash was destroyed. Thus, the enemy destroyed a house, not a Temple. The point of this Chazal is to tell us that it was not the enemy’s might that destroyed our Temple, but our spiritual depravity which destroyed the Temple. (and the enemy knew this too; see Yirmiyah 40:2-3). And we needed to learn this message that if we sin, there will be consequences. But, as Rashi reveals to us in Vayikra, punishments for having sinned are ultimately positive. Rashi (14;34) brings a not-so-easy-to-comprehend medrash that says that HaShem guaranteed Bnei Yisrael that they would have to break down their houses (because of tzara’as of the house form) and would find treasure underneath it. Why are we getting a reward for the tzara’as which was caused by sin in the first place?
The answer is that punishments are not all there to ‘smack us’ for doing bad – they are so that we can grow from them and become better than we were before the sin. This is how Bnei Yisrael could receive reward for punishments; because they are actually receiving reward for having utilised the punishment to grow spiritually from the punishment. In a similar vein, one who has sinned and has done Teshuva for the sin is now in a stronger position than if he did not do the sin at all; for he successfully proved his strength to separate from the sin and is less likely to repeat it (Rambam hil. Teshuva 7;4). The same question can be asked when Samson (sefer Shoftim 16;28) asks HaShem to give him the merit of one of his eyes, which had been knocked out by the Philistines, in order to give him the strength to bring down the roof of the party. How could he ask for reward for his eyes having been poked out; that was a punishment for being swayed by the physical beauty of Delilah? Again, the answer is that he is asking for the reward of having grown from his punishment and corrected himself. [Heard from R’ Frand]
Therefore, the overall message of the final perek of Yirmyah is positive; it tells of a punishment meted out to the Bnei Yisrael whose ultimate aim is that we learn from the punishment and our mistakes, and become spiritually worthy of a third beis hamikdash soon.
