Introduction: Three Prophecies of Destruction
Chapter 21 in Yechezkel opens with three prophecies in succession: a parabolic prophecy concerning the forest of the Negev, a prophecy explaining the parable - the destruction of the land of Israel and Jerusalem, and a third prophecy describing Nebuchadnezzar's route and the siege of Jerusalem. In this lesson, we follow the explanation of the Malbim, who clarifies the relationship between the parable and its interpretation, concluding with an original and wonderful explanation of the phrase "A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished."
"Set Your Face Toward the South" - Preparation for Prophecy
וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ בֶּן־אָדָם שִׂים פָּנֶיךָ דֶּרֶךְ תֵּימָנָה וְהַטֵּף אֶל־דָּרוֹם וְהִנָּבֵא אֶל־יַעַר הַשָּׂדֶה נֶגֶב׃ - And the word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach toward the southland, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the Negev.
Yechezkel is in Babylonia, by the Chebar River. Babylonia is north of Jerusalem, so in relation to him, Jerusalem lies to the south. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: Set your face toward the south - prophesy in the direction of Jerusalem. "Ve-hatef" (preach) is an expression of speech, as in "al tatifu" (do not preach), like someone delivering a discourse. And "the forest of the field" is an allegorical designation for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel: just as a forest contains both good and bad trees, so too Jerusalem has both righteous and wicked people, and ultimately the few righteous perished due to the iniquity of the many wicked.
The Malbim explains that "setting one's face" is an idiom denoting preparation for prophecy. "Set your face" - prepare yourself for the prophecy. Here, this preparation points toward the prophecy later in the chapter regarding the upcoming siege of Jerusalem and Nebuchadnezzar casting divinations whether to turn left toward Rabbah of Ammon or right toward Jerusalem. Ultimately, the lot fell on Jerusalem, as it is written, "At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem." Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, first tells him: Set your face toward the south - prepare to prophesy about Nebuchadnezzar's actions and his divinations, how he will come to destroy Jerusalem.
And what is "hatefah" (dripping/preaching)? The Malbim explains: a brief, short prophecy. Lengthy speech is likened to flowing water and a rushing stream, whereas "hatefah" is like a dripping drop - a few brief words. Here it refers to the concise prophecy regarding the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, such as "Sigh with broken loins."
And why is Jerusalem called "Darom" (south)? Chazal explain homiletically: Darom - "dar rom", that which dwells on high. The ancients divided the globe into north and south, regarding the north as low and the south as high, because the sun exerts greater influence in the south and is, as it were, closer to it, whereas the north is cold and far from the sun, and therefore lower and deeper.
And why "Negev"? Because the southern side is drained ("menugav") and drier than the north. Thus, there are three expressions for the same direction: Teimanah, Darom, and Negev. The Malbim explains that each reflects a distinct perspective: from the perspective of dryness - Negev; from the perspective of being to the prophet's right, as well as to the right in the lot cast by Nebuchadnezzar between right and left - Teimanah (from "yamin", right); and from the perspective of the Temple being the highest place in the world - Darom ("dar rom", dwelling on high). All three terms therefore converge upon Jerusalem.
The Fire That Consumes Green Tree and Dry Tree
וְאָמַרְתָּ לְיַעַר הַנֶּגֶב שְׁמַע דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הִנְנִי מַצִּית־בְּךָ אֵשׁ וְאָכְלָה בְךָ כָל־עֵץ־לַח וְכָל־עֵץ יָבֵשׁ לֹא־תִכְבֶּה לַהֶבֶת שַׁלְהֶבֶת וְנִצְרְבוּ־בָהּ כָּל־פָּנִים מִנֶּגֶב צָפוֹנָה׃ - And say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of Hashem! Thus says the Lord Hashem: Behold, I am kindling a fire in you, and it shall consume every green tree and every dry tree within you; the blazing flame shall not be extinguished, and all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it.
Here the prophet arranges the three prophecies from bottom to top, beginning with the prophecy concerning the forest of the Negev, which represents the Land of Israel as a whole. "Kindling" (hatzatah), says the Malbim, refers to setting the entire forest ablaze all at once with a great fire. And the fire will consume the moist trees first, and only afterward the dry ones. This defies the normal course of nature, for had the dry wood burned first, the fire would have halted upon reaching the green wood. In order for the conflagration to be massive and unstoppable, the fire begins with the moist trees, and by the time it reaches the dry ones, it can no longer be extinguished. All of this is still the parable, and its interpretation will be clarified shortly.
"The flaming flame" (lahavat shalhevet) - the flame (lahav) is what shoots out of the fire and spreads far and wide, while shalhevet is a compound word formed from fire (esh) and flame (lahavat), meaning the core fire itself from which the blaze bursts forth and spreads. By the force of this fire, "all faces from south to north will be scorched in it" - the fire that began burning in the south will spread northward, until all faces in the north are scorched by it. "Scorched" (venitzrevu) means dried out and burned, as in the phrase "the scar of the boil" (tzarevet hashchin).
וְרָאוּ כָּל־בָּשָׂר כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה בִּעַרְתִּיהָ לֹא תִּכְבֶּה׃ - "And all flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it will not be extinguished."
As we have explained several times: when something happens in a natural way, the hand of Hashem is not readily apparent, but when something occurs contrary to nature, it is clear that it comes from Hashem. By nature, fire consumes dry wood and stops at moist wood, yet here it begins with the moist wood and only then seizes upon the dry. When people see that the fire is not behaving in a natural manner, they will recognize that this fire is from Hashem. This also explains "it will not be extinguished": precisely because it first took hold of the moist wood and consumed it, it continues to burn the dry wood without pause.
"Does He Not Speak in Parables?" - The Greatness of Clear Prophecy
וָאֹמַר אֲהָהּ אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הֵמָּה אֹמְרִים לִי הֲלֹא מְמַשֵּׁל מְשָׁלִים הוּא׃ - "Then I said: Ah, Lord God! They say of me, 'Does he not speak in parables?'"
After these matters are presented to him by way of parable and riddle - fire, south, north - the prophet says: Master of the Universe, what purpose will it serve for me to tell them such a prophecy? They say that my way is to speak in parables; they have no understanding of my words, and therefore they will not accept them.
The Malbim cites the Rambam in The Guide for the Perplexed and in Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, who explains that a condition of complete prophecy is that it contains no parables or riddles. The higher and more perfect the prophecy, the clearer and more lucid the vision, which is the "illuminating lens" (aspaklaria me'irah). A non-illuminating lens is an unpolished mirror, and therefore the prophet must be given a parable, for he himself is not refined enough to grasp matters with pure clarity. An abundance of parables, the Malbim notes, indicates an intensified power of imagination and that prophecy is granted only at distant intervals, where the prophet sees through windows and screens, like one viewing an object from afar. From this we understand why Yechezkel received his prophecy in this manner.
And why does it say m'mashel meshalim (in the intensive pi'el form) rather than mamshil meshalim? This reflects the grammatical distinction between the simple and intensive conjugations, as we have seen several times in the Malbim: an intensive verb requires greater effort of pronunciation and denotes added force and strength (similar to the distinction between rotze'ach and meratze'ach). A parable is inherently obscure, and when the intensive m'mashel is used, it indicates the most obscure of obscurities, with heightened intensity.
The Unfolding of the Meaning: Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Land of Israel
וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ בֶּן־אָדָם שִׂים פָּנֶיךָ אֶל־יְרוּשָׁלִַם וְהַטֵּף אֶל־מִקְדָּשִׁים וְהִנָּבֵא אֶל־אַדְמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - "The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel."
Now the Holy One, blessed be He, reveals Himself to him to explain the meaning of the parable: What I told you earlier, "set your face toward the south," referred to Jerusalem. What I said, "preach toward the south," meant "preach toward the sanctuaries." And why "sanctuaries" in the plural? Some explain, and this is the Malbim's inclination, that it refers to the Temple which comprises distinct sections: the Entrance Hall (Ulam), the Sanctuary (Heichal), and the Holy of Holies (Kodesh HaKodashim), each possessing a higher degree of sanctity than the last. Rashi explains that it refers to the two destructions - the destruction of the First Temple and the destruction of the Second Temple, and the Radak follows this path as well.
"And I Will Cut Off from You the Righteous and the Wicked"
וְאָמַרְתָּ לְאַדְמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה הִנְנִי אֵלַיִךְ וְהוֹצֵאתִי חַרְבִּי מִתַּעְרָהּ וְהִכְרַתִּי מִמֵּךְ צַדִּיק וְרָשָׁע׃ - And you shall say to the land of Israel: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath, and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.
"Behold, I am against you" - I am coming to punish you with a providential punishment, one in which it is plainly evident that it comes from Hashem, as it says, "And all flesh shall see that I, the Lord, have kindled it." "And I will draw My sword from its sheath" - Radak explains that a sheath is the scabbard of the sword, as in the phrase "a drawn sword," which explains what was said earlier, "Behold, I will kindle a fire in you": the sword will consume people just as fire consumes the forest. "And cut off from you the righteous and the wicked" - this corresponds to "and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree." The righteous person is like a fresh, moist, green tree, and the wicked person is like a dry tree that has nothing in it, lacking any vitality of Torah, fear of Heaven, good character traits, and proper conduct.
Two questions arise here: Why are the righteous cut off, and why does He begin specifically with them? Seemingly, it should have said, "and cut off from you the wicked," or at least "the wicked and the righteous." Chazal already addressed this, noting that this is the nature of fire: "If fire breaks out and catches in thorns" - the cause of its breakout is the thorns, which are the wicked, but "and stacks of grain are consumed" - it first consumes the stacks of grain, which are the righteous. That is the reality, yet we must still understand why.
Rav Saadia Gaon offers a novel interpretation here: "righteous and wicked" does not mean a servant of God versus one who does not serve Him; rather, both are worshippers of the Baal, except that one is "righteous" toward the Baal and the other is "wicked" toward the Baal. There is one who serves the Baal devoutly, and he is its "righteous" follower, while another comes only occasionally and half-heartedly, and he is its "wicked" follower. Proof of this usage is found in: "Beware that you speak not to Jacob either good or bad" - for Lavan, "good" meant seizing Jacob's possessions without killing him, and "bad" meant killing him; thus Scripture speaks according to Lavan's own concepts and perspective. Here too, "righteous and wicked" is said from the perspective of Baal worship.
Targum Yonatan renders: "And I will exile from you your righteous ones in order to destroy your guilty ones." Chazal offer two reasons why the righteous are cut off first: one, so that the righteous person does not witness the punishment befalling the wicked; and second, so that the righteous person does not shield the wicked. The wording of the Targum points to the second reason: the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes to bring retribution and is, as it were, held back from doing so because the righteous protect the generation. Furthermore, we learn from the Targum's wording that there are two forms of being cut off here: cutting off the righteous means exile, while cutting off the wicked means destruction. Thus, this contains a favorable promise for the righteous - that they will be exiled and not destroyed, and an ominous promise for the wicked - that the righteous will no longer shield them.
The Malbim cites both reasons. The first reason is so that the righteous person will not witness the distress of the generation, for when a tzaddik sees affliction and disaster, he feels immense grief; therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, takes him beforehand so that he will not endure the suffering, fear, and persecution of that generation, just as Metushelach died before the Flood arrived. The second reason, as the Targum says, is so that the righteous will not hold back the retribution. The explanation for this is that in the first stage, it is an individual punishment, which the Holy One, blessed be He, metes out through direct providence to the sinners alone, and then the righteous are spared. But once a sweeping decree has been issued - there is no longer any barrier against the fire, and no distinction is made between the righteous and the wicked.
יַעַן אֲשֶׁר־הִכְרַתִּי מִמֵּךְ צַדִּיק וְרָשָׁע לָכֵן תֵּצֵא חַרְבִּי מִתַּעְרָהּ אֶל־כָּל־בָּשָׂר מִנֶּגֶב צָפוֹן׃ - Because I have cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north.
Since I have cut off from you first the righteous and then the wicked, My sword will now go forth from the south northward - from the Land of Israel it goes forth to the nations dwelling in the north. After Nevuchadnezzar conquers Jerusalem, he will proceed to conquer the surrounding nations, and will then sweep away the Israelites who fled there, including the righteous. In simple terms: once retribution is unleashed, it sweeps away everything.
וְיָדְעוּ כָּל־בָּשָׂר כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה הוֹצֵאתִי חַרְבִּי מִתַּעְרָהּ לֹא תָשׁוּב עוֹד׃ - And all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, have drawn My sword from its sheath; it shall return no more.
It will be evident that this is from Hashem, and the sword will not return to its scabbard until it cuts off all the nations mentioned in the words of the prophets against whom the sword of Hashem will go forth. Through this it will be recognized that everything is guided by Divine providence, with no one able to stay the sword. This parallels what was said in the parable, "that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched" - since the fire comes from Hashem, it cannot be extinguished.
Radak asks: The entire prophecy is a rebuke to Israel, so how are the nations relevant here? He answers: Because I have executed great vengeance upon you and your enemies rejoiced over you, and furthermore, as the Ramban notes on the verse, "I was only a little angry, and they helped for evil" - they added great cruelty out of the wickedness of their hearts far beyond what I had decreed - therefore My sword will go out of its sheath and strike them as well.
The Prophet's Sigh and the Report of the Destruction
וְאַתָּה בֶן־אָדָם הֵאָנַח בְּשִׁבְרוֹן מָתְנַיִם וּבִמְרִירוּת תֵּאָנַח לְעֵינֵיהֶם׃ - "And you, son of man, sigh with breaking of the loins, and sigh with bitterness before their eyes."
Following the prophecy concerning the Land of Israel, the Holy One, blessed be He, commands the prophet concerning the second prophecy - the prophecy of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, which corresponds to "preach toward the sanctuaries." Sigh a great sigh, until your loins break from the intensity of the groaning, with immense bitterness, and specifically before their eyes. The objective is that they will ask you: Over what are you groaning? What did you see? What harsh vision was related to you that causes you to sigh in this manner?
וְהָיָה כִּי־יֹאמְרוּ אֵלֶיךָ עַל־מָה אַתָּה נֶאֱנָח וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל־שְׁמוּעָה כִי־בָאָה וְנָמֵס כָּל־לֵב וְרָפוּ כָל־יָדַיִם וְכִהֲתָה כָל־רוּחַ וְכָל־בִּרְכַּיִם תֵּלַכְנָה מַּיִם הִנֵּה בָאָה וְנִהְיָתָה נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - "And it shall be, when they say to you, 'Over what are you sighing?' that you shall say, 'Over a report, for it comes; and every heart will melt, and all hands will grow feeble, and every spirit will dim, and all knees will run with water; behold, it comes and it shall be brought to pass, says the Lord Hashem.'"
"Over a report, for it comes" - the report of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, which will arrive suddenly, as the Malbim notes, and as we will see later in chapter 33, verse 21. They were confident that the Beis HaMikdash would not be destroyed and that the exiles would yet return, echoing the popular saying, "The Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem, the Temple of Hashem are these" - as long as we have the Temple and sacrifices are offered there, it will not be destroyed; would Hashem really destroy His own House?
And if you ask what they relied upon, given that they had explicit prophecies before them? We have already seen throughout the words of the prophets that standing against the true prophets who delivered warnings of wrath were always the prophets of Baal and the false prophets. Impersonating true prophets, they reassured the people: "Do not panic, they are merely intimidating you; we have a wonderful nation, our youth are fantastic, everything is fine, and there is nothing to worry about." On the contrary, they prophesied positive outcomes - that the vessels of the Beis HaMikdash were destined to return, that the exiles would come back, and that everything would be well. They consistently told them pleasant things, staged ceremonies and celebrations, all to keep them complacent - just so they would not repent.
And when the report arrived that the Beis HaMikdash had been destroyed - "every heart will melt, and all hands will grow feeble." Suddenly they realized that everything they had been sold was a lie, and that everything the true prophets had said was the truth. From that point on, they despaired of doing anything to return to the Land, realizing that the Temple had already been destroyed and that returning was no longer possible.
"And every spirit will dim" - the Malbim explains that this refers to the spiritual fortitude inherent within the nation, the spirit of wisdom and the spirit of prophecy. When the tremendous light from which prophecy emanated, and from which divine bounty flowed to the entire world - namely, the Beis HaMikdash - was extinguished, the spirit of prophecy set along with it. Indeed, from the time of the Destruction onward, prophecy progressively dwindled, until during the Second Temple period there were no longer any prophets. Thus, all divine bounty stemmed from the Beis HaMikdash, which was the source flowing down to the entire world.
This is reminiscent of the well-known story involving Yirmiyahu, and some say with Aristotle (though some question this on historical and chronological grounds, and opinions vary): He saw him weeping and asked, "Over what are you weeping?" Yirmiyahu replied, "Over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash." He said to him, "It does not befit a wise man like you, a great philosopher such as yourself, to weep over the destruction of mere stones." Yirmiyahu answered, "These are not mere stones; this House was the conduit of all spiritual bounty. Ask me any question you wish." He posed very profound questions to him, and Yirmiyahu answered them all, leaving him astonished at the depth of his wisdom. Yirmiyahu then said to him, "And this is but a fraction of the wisdom that existed in this House - all of this wisdom we drew from it, for it was the locus of spiritual abundance and influence that flowed to the entire world."
"And all knees will run with water" - from overwhelming dread of the future, their knees will become like water, devoid of the strength to stand. And why does the verse say "behold, it comes and it shall be brought to pass" in the past tense, when this is a future prophecy? The Malbim explains that by the time the report reaches Babylon, the event will already be in the past; by the time the news arrives, it has already taken place - old news. Other commentators explain that the prophet envisions it in his mind's eye as though it has already arrived and happened. Either way, the message is the same: there is nothing left to be done; they are hearing a fait accompli, and the decree can no longer be reversed.
The Third Prophecy: "A Sword, a Sword Is Sharpened and Also Polished"
וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר׃ בֶּן־אָדָם הִנָּבֵא וְאָמַרְתָּ כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי אֱמֹר חֶרֶב חֶרֶב הוּחַדָּה וְגַם־מְרוּטָה׃ - "The word of Hashem came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy and say, 'Thus said the Lord: Say: A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished.'"
לְמַעַן טְבֹחַ טֶבַח הוּחַדָּה לְמַעַן־הֱיֵה־לָהּ בָּרָק מֹרָטָּה אוֹ נָשִׂישׂ שֵׁבֶט בְּנִי מֹאֶסֶת כָּל־עֵץ׃ וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָהּ לְמָרְטָהֿ לִתְפֹּשׂ בַּכָּף הִיא־הוּחַדָּה חֶרֶב וְהִיא מֹרָטָּה לָתֵת אוֹתָהּ בְּיַד־הוֹרֵג׃ - "It is sharpened to perform a slaughter; it is polished that it may flash like lightning! Or shall we rejoice? The rod of My son contemns every stick. And He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the palm; the sword is sharpened and it is polished, to place it into the hand of a slayer."
Here begins the third prophecy, "Set your face toward Jerusalem," describing how Nevuchadnetzar will set his face southward toward Jerusalem rather than turning left toward Rabbah of the Ammonites, as it states later, "Mark out two roads." Before this, the prophet prefaces with a unique depiction of the siege.
The verses are enigmatic. Rashi explains that the repetition of "a sword, a sword" points to two swords: the sword of the king of Babylon, and following it, the sword of the Ammonites wielded by Yishmael ben Netanyah, who murdered Gedalyah and the remaining remnant in the Land. Regarding the word merutah (polished or dulled), interpretations abound; some explain it as drawn, or derived from the plucking of hair. We will follow the approach of the Malbim here, who offers an original and truly marvelous explanation.
The Malbim explains: The sword coming against Jerusalem was sharpened on one edge to slaughter a slaughter, while its other edge was marut - rubbed down and stripped of its sharpness. Meritah means removal, like the plucking of hair, as well as polishing and burnishing until the blade gleams like a mirror. Here both meanings apply at once: they burnish the sword and polish it, while also removing its edge. Thus, we have a sword that is sharp and lethal on one side, while on the other side they smoothed down and removed the edge so there would be a place to grip it. For if the entire sword were sharp edges with no hilt, one could not hold it in hand. The Malbim notes that we find nowhere in Scripture that meritah denotes sharpening; therefore, his approach here is: huchaddah ("sharpened") - one side was sharpened to make it easy to slaughter with, and merutah ("smoothed down") - the other side was smoothed down and had its edge removed.
And why polish the sword "that it may glitter"? A sword used for slaughter becomes soiled with blood and loses its sheen; therefore, they would polish it so that it remained gleaming. The reason for this is that the gleam inspires terror. When people saw an approaching army whose swords were polished like reflectors, with the sun gleaming off them, dread would fall upon them, giving the impression of an exceedingly sharp blade.
"Or shall we make mirth? It despises the rod of My son, as every tree" - the Malbim explains: If you wish to rejoice and say, "Look, they filed down the sword and removed its edge, so it poses no danger, it is not sharp" - you are mistaken. They filed down the sword so it would have a handle, enabling them to use its other side. For a sword that is sharp on every side with no grip cannot be used at all. Therefore, one side was smoothed down so it could be held, and the sharp side could kill. When you see someone filing down a sword and removing its edge, you might be sure this is a sign there will be no war, an instance of "they shall beat their swords into plowshares" - know that the opposite is true: they did this precisely so it could be gripped and used to kill.
"The rod of My son" - the sword was prepared to be a rod for My son, a rod meant to discipline and chastise. "It despises every tree" - it was impossible to make a wooden hilt for it. Normally, swords were fitted with wooden hilts, which are lighter and easier to grip, whereas metal heats up and slips from the hand. But here, a wooden hilt was impossible, and leaving it entirely sharp was also impossible. What did he do? He filed down one side to serve as a grip. Therefore, do not rejoice when you see the sword filed down, for its other side is sharp and ready for slaughter. This is what is meant by "it is sharpened" - the side sharpened to be ready for slaughter, "and it is burnished" - the side stripped of its sharpness, "to give it into the hand of the slayer" - so that he may grip it and kill.
The Meaning of the Metaphor: Destruction from Within
And what is the deeper meaning? Here the Malbim offers a truly wondrous explanation. Nevuchadnetzar besieged Jerusalem for many days, and what ultimately brought about its downfall and surrender was not his military prowess, but the internal strife and divisions within Jerusalem. Brother fought against brother. It is recounted that people made small, short daggers; they would walk through the marketplace, and when they reached someone with whom they had a score to settle, they would stab him in the belly unseen and keep walking as though nothing had happened. Suddenly the man collapses, people scramble, and by the time anyone arrives to evacuate him, no one knows who did it or how. Heaven forbid, Jerusalem was filled with bloodshed from end to end. A tragic reality of discord, factions, and rival sects within Jerusalem created a situation where the destruction began from within.
This is what is stated in Yirmeyahu 21: "Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon... and I will assemble them into the midst of this city" - those very weapons of war in your hands, which you turn against one another, I will deliver to the king of Babylon, so that he may come and subdue you through your own internal warfare. Similarly, it is said: "The kings of the earth did not believe... that the adversary and the enemy would enter the gates of Jerusalem" - and why did he ultimately enter? "Because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst": the sins of her prophets - the false prophets; the iniquities of her priests - the priests of the Ba'al; who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst - because they were killing one another. It was through this that Nevuchadnetzar conquered them.
And if we thought we had learned our lesson, the Second Temple era was exactly the same. Titus saw that he could not conquer Jerusalem, and saw that whenever an enemy came to fight against us, we united and wreaked havoc among the Romans. What did he do? He paused the siege. That lull was intended to let them annihilate themselves from within, fighting one another. Do not worry, from within they will devour one another; they already possess a self-destruction mechanism. Through this, he came and conquered them. It turns out that the primary sword that devoured them was their own sword.
Nevuchadnetzar did the very same thing, explains the Malbim. When he saw that he could not overcome them as long as he fought them head-on - since whenever they face an external foe they unite their forces against him, as is the nature of the Jewish people - what did he do? In the middle of the siege, he withdrew and departed. And what did the onlookers think? Wonderful, the sword has been dulled, its edge removed! They were certain it was all over and that this sword would kill no longer. And what was the outcome? The moment external conflict ceased, internal conflict flared up. They destroyed one another from within; slaughter and murder became rampant inside Jerusalem. Then it became clear that it was a grave error to think the smoothed-down sword could no longer kill. On the contrary, that smoothing was done so there would be a grip to hold the sword, enabling Nevuchadnetzar to return a second time, strike, and conquer what he could not conquer before.
The prophet tells them: Do not rejoice over this! When you see Nevuchadnetzar leave, know that it is a ploy; his sword remains bent on slaughter and destruction, but it has no hilt and he has nothing to hold it with. This is the metaphor's deeper meaning, says the Malbim: The battering rams, siege towers, and siege engines used to conquer the city are the sword's hilt - the instruments through which the slaying is carried out. When he saw that this hilt was insufficient - "it despises every tree," meaning no wooden handle could be fitted to it, and he could not kill with these siege weapons alone. Therefore, it is called "the rod of My son": in their eyes, it seemed merely like a rod rather than a sword, since Israel held strong against Nevuchadnetzar and he could not overpower them. How did he appear to them? Like one coming merely with a stick, and a stick does not kill. So they thought, and of this they were convinced. Just as a rod's handle is made of the very same material as the rod itself, so too for this sword a handle had to be fashioned from the same material - by filing down the sword itself. And how did he do that? He pretended to seek peace, to let matters rest, to depart; through this, they destroyed themselves and the ministers destroyed one another. Thereby he obtained a grip and a handle with which he could grasp the sword, conquer Jerusalem, and slaughter a slaughter.
And regarding this, he warns them not to labor under an illusion, for the entire purpose of the respite was that internally they would devour one another, making it far easier for him to conquer the city. This explains the doubled phrasing "A sword, a sword": one sword belonging to Nevuchadnezzar, which was granted a temporary respite, and a second sword - the internal sword of Israel, as they turned upon and killed one another. These are two distinct swords, and the word "cherev" (sword) shares the root of "churban" (destruction), and together they were what ultimately devastated the nation dwelling in Zion.
In summary:
The chapter opens with the parable of the forest - the fire kindled from south to north, consuming moist wood before dry wood, contrary to the laws of nature, so that all will recognize that it is from Hashem and cannot be extinguished. The nimshal is then made clear: a sword drawn from its sheath against the Land of Israel, cutting off both righteous and wicked, the righteous first - so that they will not witness the suffering of the generation and will not hold back the retribution; and once a collective decree is sealed, distinctions are suspended. The prophet is commanded to sigh with breaking loins over the report of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, for upon its arrival every heart will melt, all hands will grow limp, and the spirit of wisdom and prophecy that drew sustenance from the Temple will dim. Finally, the doubled sword is depicted: sharpened for slaughter and polished to be grasped - an allusion to the cunning of Nevuchadnezzar, who lifted the siege so that Israel would tear themselves apart from within, thereby fashioning the "hilt" that allowed him to conquer the city. This remains the piercing message for all generations: the enemy from without succeeds only when discord from within prevails.