This part of Chapter 22 deals with the conclusion of the prophecies concerning the royal house of Judah: the prophecy of disgrace regarding Jehoiakim - that no one will lament him and he will not receive a human burial; the cry of anguish over "your lovers" who have all been broken; and the conclusion of the chapter with the prophecy concerning Coniah, who is Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim, that he will be exiled to Babylon and never return. We will follow the order of the verses, presenting the words of the Malbim alongside Rashi, Radak, the Metzudos, and the Midrashim.
לָכֵן כֹּה־אָמַר יְהֹוָה אֶל־יְהוֹיָקִים בֶּן־יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה: לֹא־יִסְפְּדוּ לוֹ הוֹי אָחִי וְהוֹי אָחוֹת, לֹא־יִסְפְּדוּ לוֹ הוֹי אָדוֹן וְהוֹי הֹדֹה׃ - Therefore thus said Hashem concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him, "Alas, my brother!" or "Alas, sister!" They shall not lament for him, "Alas, master!" or "Alas, his majesty!"
It was the custom of eulogizers to begin with "Hoy" ("Alas"), an expression of sorrow and pain. Immediately, a question arises: What is the relevance of "Alas, sister" regarding Jehoiakim, when he was a man? Rashi explains that "Alas, sister" refers to Jehoiakim's wife. Although she is not explicitly mentioned here, when Jehoiakim is punished, his wife shares in his fate, so when people eulogize, they would say "Alas, my brother" over him and "Alas, sister" over her. To this the prophet says: they will not lament over you, nor over your wife.
The Malbim explains differently: his brothers will not lament for him, "Alas, my brother," nor will his sisters lament, "Alas, sister." In other words, the cry of "Hoy" refers to the eulogizer: "Woe is me that I am the brother of a person who suffered so," or "Woe is me that I am the sister of a person whose death and ruin I witnessed." Metzudas David explains similarly in greater detail: his female relatives will not lament, saying, "Alas, that I was a sister to him."
And in the continuation of the verse: "Alas, master! and Alas, his majesty!" - the Malbim explains that his servants will not lament that he was a master to them, and his people will not lament over his splendor, majesty, and glory. Yet seemingly there is a difficulty with the Malbim's approach, which gives an advantage to Rashi's interpretation: for even according to the Malbim, "Alas, master" refers to the king himself rather than to the mourner; if so, why should "Alas, my brother" and "Alas, sister" refer to the mourner? The continuation of the verse implies that the entire eulogy is directed at the deceased himself, not the mourner. It is very likely that this difficulty is precisely what compelled Rashi to explain that "sister" is not a literal sister, but an allusion to Jehoiakim's wife.
קְבוּרַת חֲמוֹר יִקָּבֵר, סָחוֹב וְהַשְׁלֵךְ מֵהָלְאָה לְשַׁעֲרֵי יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם׃ - He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
The prophet adds yet another "blessing" for him. Radak and Metzudas David explain: just as one does not bury a donkey but casts it along the roadside, so will it be with him - "he shall be buried with the burial of a donkey" means that he will be thrown by the wayside and not buried at all. And so it was, says Radak: they led him into exile, and he died along the way and received no burial. "Dragged and cast out" - he will be dragged along and cast away, far outside the gates of Jerusalem, unburied.
Some explain that "the burial of a donkey" means burial in a standing position, and this is the definition in Halachah, which forbids burying a Jew with "the burial of a donkey," that is, upright. This brings to mind a well-known story about Rav Moshe Feinstein when he served as Rav in Lyuban. There was an informer there, a wicked man who caused tremendous suffering to the Jews of the region. Before his death, he summoned the Chevrah Kadisha and told them that he knew he had committed terrible evils and wished to repent; therefore, as an atonement, he requested that they bury him with the burial of a donkey, standing upright. Having spoken, he passed away. When they were about to fulfill his request, Rav Moshe Feinstein heard of it and said: "Under no circumstances. We do not bury a Jew with the burial of a donkey; this is an explicit halachah in the Shulchan Aruch, and it is strictly forbidden." Arguments citing the honor of the deceased or atonement were of no avail; Rav Moshe refused to permit it, and they buried him in the manner of all people.
Two days later, agents of the secret police - the forerunner of the KGB - came to the Rav and the community leaders and demanded that the grave be opened. The community protested against desecrating the dead, but in the Russia of those days, one had little say; whoever spoke too much was sent to Siberia, never knowing if he would return. They opened the grave; the agents inspected it, took a look, and said that it could be covered up and they could leave. When asked what they had been looking for, they replied: "This man was closely connected with us, and he told us that the Jews would take revenge on him at the end of his life by burying him standing up - which is considered a disgraceful burial among them - as an act of vengeance. He asked us to check after his passing, and if they had done so, to punish them severely and then rebury him lying down."
Look at that man: even from Gehinnom, he was still seeking to distress his fellow Jews! And what a kindness of Hashem it was that Daas Torah was sought, and Rav Moshe Feinstein ruled that under no circumstances should such a thing be done.
עֲלִי הַלְּבָנוֹן וּצְעָקִי, וּבַבָּשָׁן תְּנִי קוֹלֵךְ, וְצַעֲקִי מֵעֲבָרִים, כִּי נִשְׁבְּרוּ כׇּל־מְאַהֲבָיִךְ׃ - "Ascend Lebanon and cry out, and raise your voice in Bashan, and cry out from Avarim, for all your lovers are broken."
What are all these places? Rashi cites the Targum, explaining that this refers to the Beis HaMikdash: "Ascend to the Beis HaMikdash and cry out." Radak explains similarly: Lebanon is the Beis HaMikdash, as in the verse, "this good mountain and the Lebanon." And why is the Beis HaMikdash called Lebanon (Levanon)? Because it whitens (malbin) the sins of Israel, from the root for white (lavan). According to the more literal approach: because it was built from the cedars of Lebanon.
"And raise your voice in Bashan" - Targum Yonasan explains that this refers to the Temple Mount, the "mountain of the House." Rashi writes: I do not know how the term Bashan applies to the gates of the Temple Mount. He suggests a hypothesis: perhaps because the doors were crafted from the oaks of Bashan, which were precious oaks, and therefore the Temple Mount whose gates were from the oaks of Bashan is called Bashan. Rashi offers another explanation: Bashan is a wide valley, and similarly the expanse surrounding the Temple Mount was like a valley, a spacious and open area around the Beis HaMikdash. A third explanation is brought by Radak: Bashan was grazing pasture for livestock, and in the Beis HaMikdash there were likewise many animals brought for sacrifices; because of the abundance of animals in both places, he referred to it as Bashan. "And cry out from Avarim" - the Targum renders, "and cry out from the crossings," the name of a place called Avarim.
Radak explains differently: Lebanon, Bashan, and Avarim do not refer to the Beis HaMikdash, but rather to the nations. The prophet says to Israel: You imagine that you will find help from all your lovers? Go and cry out to them, and plead with them to aid you! After all, you turned to Assyria and you turned to Egypt; you relied on them and placed your trust in them. You removed your trust from Me, says the Holy One, Blessed be He, and leaned on Egypt - a crushed reed - and on Assyria. And regarding this we say, "Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride on horses, nor will we say any more to the work of our hands, you are our gods." There was a spiritual failure here, for we relied on the nations rather than on the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Therefore he tells them: When the catastrophe strikes, when trouble comes, go and cry out to them and see if they can save you! Then you will realize that they too are broken, just like you. The king of Assyria was broken, and Egypt too was broken by Nevuchadnetzar in the days of Yehoyakim, as it is written: "And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for the king of Babylon had taken from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates all that belonged to the king of Egypt." And even though it is written in the days of Tzidkiyahu, "And Pharaoh's army came out of Egypt," showing that they still had some strength, Radak resolves that ultimately Nevuchadnetzar prevailed and laid Egypt to waste, so that in the end, no strength remained for Egypt either.
According to this approach, "Ascend Lebanon" is neither the name of a nation nor of a specific place, but rather: ascend to the high places - Mount Lebanon and Mount Bashan - and cry out from there to all the nations upon whom you rely, to Assyria and Egypt, to come and help you. "From Avarim" - from every side and direction (ever). "For all your lovers are broken" - behold, you will see that all of them are already broken. According to this, it is also possible to explain that the "lovers" are our brethren of Israel, the Ten Tribes, who might have been able to help, yet behold, they too have already gone into exile. And when your strength weakened, you should have feared that the cup of sorrow would pass over you as well, that trouble would reach you too. Why, then, do you see what befell them and remain unconcerned?
דִּבַּרְתִּי אֵלַיִךְ בְּשַׁלְוֺתַיִךְ, אָמַרְתְּ לֹא אֶשְׁמָע, זֶה דַרְכֵּךְ מִנְּעוּרַיִךְ כִּי לֹא־שָׁמַעַתְּ בְּקוֹלִי׃ - "I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, 'I will not listen.' This has been your way from your youth, for you have not obeyed My voice."
I spoke to you in your time of tranquility, yet you said, "I will not listen." And why? This has been your way from your youth: not to listen to the voice of Hashem, and having no desire to repent.
כׇּל־רֹעַיִךְ תִּרְעֶה־רוּחַ, וּמְאַהֲבַיִךְ בַּשְּׁבִי יֵלֵכוּ, כִּי אָז תֵּבֹשִׁי וְנִכְלַמְתְּ מִכֹּל רָעָתֵךְ׃ - "The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; for then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness."
Radak, who explained above that the crying out was directed toward Assyria and Egypt, continues along this line: "Your shepherds" are your providers and leaders, those upon whom you rely - the kings of Assyria and Egypt, who are as if the shepherds and leaders who will look after you. And he tells her: the wind will consume all of them; they will all be swiftly broken as if the wind scattered them. That is to say, they will not even possess the strength to fight, but just as the wind easily sweeps away chaff and leaves, so will they all be blown away. And as Targum Yonasan translates: "they will be scattered to every wind." And then "you will be ashamed and humiliated" - when you see that you relied upon them and trusted in them, yet a mere wind carried them off, and you will ask yourself: Upon whom do I have left to rely?
The Malbim follows his consistent approach: we should have learned from the exile of the Ten Tribes, but we failed to do so. Behold, see the final outcome, that a wind will shepherd all your shepherds and kings: just as Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Ten Tribes, so too would he exile Yehoyachin along with the craftsmen and the smiths, and later Yehoyakim. All of this was meant to provide us with mussar, showing that what befell our brethren in Shomron was already beginning to happen to us. It was no longer a mere threat: first, it had already occurred in Shomron; second, the destroyer was already advancing against us. Nebuchadnezzar arrived and exiled Yehoyachin, the craftsmen, and the smiths, and how much mussar those who remained should have taken! How careful they should have been in their deeds, rather than continuing to corrupt their ways. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "For then you shall be ashamed and humiliated for all your wickedness": once the sword has reached the soul, in the words of the Malbim - when you already see that the threat directly imperils your life - you should have been ashamed of all your evil.
And what is the distinction between tevoshi (being ashamed) and nikhlamat (being humiliated)? The Malbim maintains a consistent principle regarding this: shame (boshah) comes from within oneself, the internal feeling of an individual who is ashamed of himself without an external force shaming him; humiliation (kelimah), on the other hand, comes from others, from being degraded by onlookers, as in "I did not hide my face from humiliation and spitting," and "they humiliated me (hikhlimuni)" - meaning others shamed him.
יֹשַׁבְתְּ בַּלְּבָנוֹן מְקֻנַּנְתְּ בָּאֲרָזִים, מַה־נֵּחַנְתְּ בְּבֹא־לָךְ חֲבָלִים חִיל כַּיֹּלֵדָה׃ - You who dwell in Lebanon, who nest in the cedars, how will you be pitied when pangs come upon you, agony like that of a woman in labor!
Rashi explains: "You who dwell in Lebanon and nest in the cedars" - you who placed your nest in towers of cedar houses, building for yourself grand mansions and great palaces. "How will you find favor (mah nechanat)" - how have you found favor in the eyes of your plunderers on account of your lofty towers, when birth pangs come upon you, when they come to plunder all that is yours? This expression can be understood in two ways: Do you really believe that through this you will find favor in his eyes? Or conversely: How much favor did you find in his eyes precisely because you built such towers, which he can now come and seize! This interpretation of nechanat as stemming from chen (favor) is that of Dunash ben Labrat. Menachem, however, explained nechanat as relating to chanayah (an encampment or resting place) - namely, what resting place and respite did you find for yourself when pangs and agony came upon you like a woman in travail? Chanayah implies rest, as in "the city where David encamped (chanah David)," a place where one halts and rests. And chavalim refers to labor pains.
The Malbim explains this according to his own approach. In the case of mammals, the nature is that the offspring at birth requires care and assistance (kinun). Because mammals give birth to live young, this birth is difficult: pulling a calf from its mother's womb is an arduous task, and farmers exert great effort to deliver cattle, sometimes even requiring a tractor to extract the calf when complications arise. After birth, the calf must be helped to its feet and cared for until it recovers. This is the meaning of the Rabbinic phrase, "animals go out chanunot" - that when an animal is in labor, two small flasks of oil are prepared for her. Birds that lay eggs, by contrast, receive no such assistance, and the chick experiences no difficulty emerging from the egg.
Accordingly, the prophet compares Jerusalem to a bird: "nesting in the cedars," from the word ken (nest), a bird nesting in the cedars. The conquest of the city is compared to childbirth and labor pangs, as it is written: "For I have heard a voice like that of a woman in labor, distress like that of one giving birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion groaning." The prophet declares that this birthing woman was shown no mercy or care (chaninah) when she reached the birthstool. When Jerusalem broke, it was like a woman in labor whose womb opened to bring forth the child: she was under siege until breached before her enemies, and this was like a birth - a painful, agonizing birth.
The Malbim explains that this refers to the exile of Yehoyachin. When Nebuchadnezzar advanced upon the city, Yehoyachin, his mother, and his servants went out to him. They believed this would stand in their favor: "We did not fight; we all came out to surrender to you - myself, my mother, and my servants" - hoping that in this merit he might allow him to retain his throne. But it did not help him, and ultimately, "He exiled Yehoyachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, the king's wives, and all the men of valor." The capture of the city is likened to the delivery of a newborn, and here it was like a bird laying an egg in a swift moment. Indeed, when wishing a woman an easy birth, people say, "May it be like a chicken's egg." Jerusalem, as it were, laid an egg: Yehoyachin emerged easily, without resistance, without any need for a midwife to breach Jerusalem, like someone raising a white flag.
Yet did you think this would benefit him? Come and see that Nebuchadnezzar showed him no mercy, just as no assistance is given to a bird at birth. The chick emerges easily and needs no care or recovery afterward. So too with Yehoyachin: his emergence was effortless, and Nebuchadnezzar showed him no compassion. Even though he deserved mercy, having surrendered willingly and spared him the battle and bloodshed of an assault on Jerusalem, nevertheless "pangs and agony came upon you like a woman in travail" - and what mercy was shown to you? They granted you nothing, and the surrender you offered availed you nothing.
חַי־אָנִי נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה, כִּי אִם־יִהְיֶה כׇּנְיָהוּ בֶן־יְהוֹיָקִים מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה חוֹתָם עַל־יַד יְמִינִי, כִּי מִשָּׁם אֶתְּקֶנְךָּ׃ - As I live, says Hashem, though Konyahu the son of Yehoyakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on My right hand, yet from there I would tear you off.
Rashi explains "a signet ring on My right hand" - engraved and sealed into the flesh of the arm, as people used to engrave seals directly into the flesh. And etkenka is equivalent to enetkenka ("I would tear you away"), where the letter nun is omitted between the alef and the tav. He cites examples of this: "Tear them out (hatikem) like sheep for slaughter," and "until we have drawn them away (hatikenu) from the city," stated regarding Yehoshua, where the root denotes tearing away and detaching.
The Midrash expounds both dimensions, deriving meaning both from the concept of tikkun (rectification) and from nituk (severance): "In the place where he was severed, there he was rectified" - for he repented in Babylon, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought annulment for His oath. For it is written, "Record this man childless, a man who will not prosper in his days" (Yirmiyahu 22:30), yet we see later on that Zerubbabel was born in Babylon. How could he be childless when Hashem's oath stands here? The Midrash explains that the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought annulment for His oath and dissolved it. Later, we will see other explanations for this difficulty presented by the verses: on the one hand, Scripture states that he would be childless all his days, while on the other, we see that he had offspring.
And corresponding to what was said to his ancestor, "Though [he] were a signet ring upon My right hand, yet would I tear you off," the Holy One, Blessed be He, says to the grandson: You, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, will indeed be like a signet ring - "On that day... I will take you, O Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, My servant... and I will set you as a signet ring" (Chaggai 2:23). How does this reconcile with the oath? Hashem annulled His oath, and therefore etkencha signifies both severance and rectification.
The Radak addresses the textual transition: How did the prophecy jump so abruptly from Jehoiakim to Jehoiachin? He explains that having rebuked Jehoiakim, the prophet transitioned directly to his son. As a mark of degradation, he refers to him as "Coniah" rather than Jehoiachin - for in his full name the letters of the Divine Name (Yud-Heh-Vav) stand at the beginning, whereas here they are relegated to the end as a sign of disgrace. The Radak interprets "a signet ring upon My right hand" according to its plain sense: a seal used to stamp official documents, as in "Set me as a seal upon your heart" (Shir HaShirim 8:6) and "your signet and your cord" (Bereishit 38:18) - a ring that is never removed from a person's hand, day or night. This differs from Rashi, who understood it as an engraving branded into the flesh of the arm; rather, it is a signet ring worn on the finger of the right hand. The verse declares to him: Even if you were like a signet ring upon My right hand that is never removed, I would tear you away. The Radak likewise interprets etkencha as deriving from the root of severance (nituk), where the dagesh in the letter tav indicates the omitted nun, and the final nun is redundant, as if written entakecha. Furthermore, the Radak adds explicitly, beyond Rashi's commentary, that Jehoiachin repented while in prison and the Holy One, Blessed be He, accepted him; a son was born to him in captivity, and his grandson Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel governed Judah and sat upon the throne of David. Regarding him it was said, "and I will set you as a signet ring": in contrast to what was said to your forebear, that even if he were a signet ring I would tear him off, you, the grandson, will merit to be that very ring.
The Malbim connects this verse to what preceded it. We read, "How pitied you will be when pangs come upon you" - meaning you received no clemency at all; you, Jehoiachin, went out to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, and instead of receiving you with honor, he exiled you. Why? Because a decree had already been sealed against him by an oath. According to the Malbim, on the contrary: precisely because the decree was sealed by an oath, Hashem did not relent, for an oath is an eternal, immutable decree. Therefore, even though Jehoiachin performed an act of appeasement before Nebuchadnezzar, the verdict had already been irrevocably sealed.
Let us clarify this, for there is a substantial difficulty here. After all, Jehoiachin's surrender to Nebuchadnezzar was the single righteous deed he performed. This was precisely what the prophet constantly demanded: do not rebel against Nebuchadnezzar! This was how he rebuked Zedekiah and all the kings, but their national pride prevented them from listening. He told them: The Holy One, Blessed be He, has granted him dominion, and if you submit to him, you will be able to remain here in the land for many more years. Yet they refused to listen and rebelled; he told them not to turn to Egypt, yet they turned to Egypt; and Zedekiah broke his oath and revealed that Nebuchadnezzar had eaten a live rabbit, and they rebelled against him. Had they listened to the prophet and accepted Nebuchadnezzar's sovereignty, Jewish governance and rule would have endured here for many years. If so, what is the grievance against Jehoiachin for surrendering? Was this not the correct step and precisely what the prophet had been urging all along? Even more perplexing: why, when he went out to him, did Nebuchadnezzar take him captive, when according to the prophet's assurance, if you surrender, he will receive you and leave you in your place?
To this, the Malbim resolves the matter directly from our verse: Why was his surrender of no avail? Because it came too late. Initially, you refused and would not consent for a moment; only when you felt the noose tightening and realized there was no hope left did you finally surrender. It turns out that you did not go out because Hashem commanded it. And when Hashem commanded and you refused to comply, "As I live, declares Hashem" - Hashem had already sworn that you would receive your punishment. Now you ask: Why was I exiled despite surrendering? Had you awakened before the oath was uttered, it would have availed; but once Hashem swore, it was already too late. The Malbim also notes that the decree came upon him partly on account of his father's sins, as indicated by the title "Coniah son of Jehoiakim."
And what is the meaning of "a signet ring upon My right hand"? The Malbim cites the prophecy of Chaggai (2:23), "On that day... I will take you, Zerubbabel... and I will set you as a signet ring," explaining that Melech HaMashiach is destined to be like a signet ring on Hashem's right hand. For the master's name is engraved upon the signet, and when it is stamped upon a servant, everyone knows to whom he belongs; the seal proclaims who the master is. In the same way, through the deeds of the Mashiach, all will know who the Master is - Hashem, the God of Israel - "For they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them" (Yirmiyahu 31:33), and "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem, as the waters cover the sea" (Yeshayahu 11:9). Melech HaMashiach will come to gather the dispersed of Israel, publicize Hashem's Name throughout the world, and reveal His sovereignty, like the servant's seal revealing the identity of the master. And He says to him: Although in the future Coniah's lineage will be like a signet ring upon My right hand - referring not to him personally, but to his descendants from whom Mashiach will emerge - nevertheless, for the present, "from there I will tear you off" (etkencha): I will detach the signet ring from the right hand, and you will not hold the status of a seal. Nor does the Malbim overlook the fact that the word also hints at tikkun (rectification): the rectification will come through the Babylonian exile, where they will be refined through suffering until a sprout emerges from Coniah's seed who will be "the seal of perfection" (chotam tochnit) upon Hashem's right hand.
Incidentally, the phrase "the seal of perfection" (chotam tochnit) might initially seem puzzling, prompting one to wonder if it is a misprint for chotam tavnit, referring to the form or pattern of a seal. Yet it is not an error at all: this is the precise wording used in the Book of Yechezkel (28:12), which the Malbim invokes here. This illustrates that to truly understand the Malbim, one must be thoroughly familiar with the verses of Tanach, for his language is woven from scriptural phrasing, assuming that the reader knows them all. One must often probe beneath the surface to appreciate his rich, poetic expressions.
וּנְתַתִּיךָ בְּיַד מְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשֶׁךָ וּבְיַד אֲשֶׁר־אַתָּה יָגוֹר מִפְּנֵיהֶם, וּבְיַד נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ־בָּבֶל וּבְיַד הַכַּשְׂדִּים׃ - "And I will deliver you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans."
The Radak explains: "Into the hand of those who seek your life" - who will show you no mercy; "of whom you are afraid" - against whom you will have no strength to stand; "and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon" - a fierce and merciless king, as it is said of him, "A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out from his place" (Yirmiyahu 4:7), a lion whom all feared. The Midrash relates a striking scene: when the Holy One, Blessed be He, cast Nebuchadnezzar down to Gehinnom, the inhabitants of Gehinnom began to tremble in terror. They realized that Gehinnom was like Gan Eden compared to Nebuchadnezzar! When he arrived, panic seized them: "Woe to us, Nebuchadnezzar is here; who knows what he will do to us!" Thus, being handed over to him was a profound calamity and a terrible catastrophe. "And into the hand of the Chaldeans" - a fierce and ruthless nation that shows no favor, of whom it is said, "that bitter and impetuous nation" (Chavakuk 1:6). Into the hands of all these wicked forces will I deliver you.
The Malbim adds that there was a faction in Judah that favored Zedekiah - and the Malbim's phrasing here is somewhat obscure, sounding as though they favored him as king, and consequently sought to kill Coniah. Nebuchadnezzar therefore exiled him to satisfy the demands of that faction: they sought to kill him, and Nebuchadnezzar exiled him to them so they could eliminate him, effectively delivering the prey into their hands. This is the meaning of "And I will deliver you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those of whom you are afraid": while they were in exile you felt secure and far from their reach, but now Nebuchadnezzar will seize you and deliver you straight into their hands.
וְהֵטַלְתִּי אֹתְךָ וְאֶת־אִמְּךָ אֲשֶׁר יְלָדַתְךָ עַל הָאָרֶץ אַחֶרֶת אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יֻלַּדְתֶּם שָׁם, וְשָׁם תָּמוּתוּ׃ - And I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die.
Radak explains that "Vehetalti" (and I will cast) means "and I will hurl," as in "and they hurled (vayattilu) the cargo." And what is the meaning of "your mother who bore you"? Malbim explains: your biological mother, not the nurse who raised you, for a foster mother is also called a mother; therefore, the verse specifies "who bore you" - the actual birth mother. Radak explains differently: "who bore you" means you resemble her, for she bore you as though replicating herself; just as she was wicked, so you were born wicked. Therefore, it is said of him in the Book of Kings, "and his mother's name was...", to tell you that she had a prominent reputation and he followed in her footsteps, the son resembling the mother in his corrupt conduct.
"Where you were not born" - in the place where a person is born, he has relatives who will take pity on him and assist him in a time of distress, but you were not born there, and you will find no family to help. "And there you shall die" - and this is a curse in its own right, for as we have already seen, the very fact of dying in an impure land is a curse.
Malbim examines the unusual phrasing "al ha'aretz acheret" (upon the land, another): the definitive letter "hei" is grammatically irregular, like "et hakeves echad ta'aseh vaboker" (the lamb, one, you shall offer in the morning), where it should properly have said "hakeves ha'echad." Therefore, he interprets it as if there were a pause after "ha'aretz": "And I will cast you and your mother who bore you down to the earth (al ha'aretz)," and furthermore, this will be into "another land" (eretz acheret). Why these two stages? Because earlier he was compared to a bird nesting in the cedars, and now the prophet tells him: your downfall will be twofold. The first downfall - you will be cast down like a bird from the high place where you established your nest in the cedar, down to the ground. And not only that, but from the ground, they will cast you further into another land. Fall after fall.
וְעַל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הֵם מְנַשְּׂאִים אֶת־נַפְשָׁם לָשׁוּב שָׁם, שָׁמָּה לֹא יָשׁוּבוּ׃ - But to the land to which they lift up their soul to return, there they shall not return.
"They lift up their soul" - they console themselves, as Rashi explains: their soul is lifted up in comfort, saying, "We will yet return to our land." But the prophet says to them: "there they shall not return" - to this place they will not merit to return, meaning the Holy Land, the Land of Israel.
Radak explains that those who "lift up their soul" are the false prophets. For it is known that the false prophets always prophesied good, pleasing prophecies to them: initially that the Beit HaMikdash would not be destroyed, and later that the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash would be returned, that the exiled ministers would return to their land, and that nothing would happen to us. They always had comforting promises, always reassuring the people, as we have explained and mentioned many times. Regarding this, the prophet says: the land to which they lift up their soul to return, promising that all the exiles will return shortly and the vessels of the House of Hashem will soon be returned from Babylon - hear the true prophecy: there they shall not return. Everything they lift up their soul for is trust in a falsehood and yearning for a futile salvation, and it will not come to pass.
Malbim adds that this thought was awakened in Coniah after Zedekiah rebelled. He said to himself: "Zedekiah rebelled, and now whom does the king of Babylon have to install as king if not me?" And as is known, the political bug - the craving for high office - never leaves a person; one sees this all the time in politics, without naming names. Whoever is infected by it never rids himself of it. Therefore, he was confident that they would now bring him back, for who else could replace the king here? To this, it had to be said to him: "to the land to which they lift up their soul to return, there they shall not return." There is no chance; you will not return.
הַעֶצֶב נִבְזֶה נָפוּץ הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה כׇּנְיָהוּ, אִם־כְּלִי אֵין חֵפֶץ בּוֹ, מַדּוּעַ הוּטְלוּ הוּא וְזַרְעוֹ וְהֻשְׁלְכוּ עַל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדָעוּ׃ - Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered idol, or a vessel wherein there is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his offspring, and hurled into a land that they do not know?
Malbim asks on behalf of the verse: Why indeed was this done to him? Is he like a despised, broken idol that is inherently unworthy of kingship? Radak explains that "etzev" comes from the word "atzabbim," meaning idols. And Chazal taught why idols are called atzabbim - because they bring grief (atzabbim) to those who worship them. Not in the sense of nervousness, but in the sense of causing sorrow (ha'atzavah): they bring sadness to their worshippers, who cry out and cry out, and there is no response. And "nafotz" is related to shattering (niputz), as in "and shattered by the east wind," where when something is cast down, it breaks. If so, the question is: Is this man Coniah a broken, shattered idol?
"Is he a vessel in which there is no pleasure?" - and what does the verse add with this? The Malbim explains that even if a vessel is whole, it is sometimes considered cheap and worthless, so that no one desires it, even in its intact state. In the nimshal, the metaphor's deeper meaning, the question is: Did he rebel against Nevuchadnezzar so severely that Nevuchadnezzar has no desire for him? After all, as the Malbim noted above, he went out to surrender to him - he, his wife, his mother, and all his servants. If so, why were "he and his offspring cast out and hurled into a land they did not know"?
The Malbim notes the precise distinction between "cast down" (hutlu) and "hurled" (hushlechu): *hatala* denotes falling from high to low, as in "Lift me up and cast me into the sea" and "Though he falls, he will not be cast down"; whereas *hashlacha* denotes being cast far away, as in "and cast them into another land, as it is this day." This aligns with what we saw earlier, that there were two stages here: first he was cast down to the earth from his exalted nest, and then he was also hurled away to a distant land.
אֶרֶץ אֶרֶץ אָרֶץ, שִׁמְעִי דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה׃ - O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!
Here the commentators seek to understand: why is "land" repeated three times? Rashi offers a first explanation: He was exiled from his land to another land, and you, Land of Israel - hear the word of Hashem. Three lands: the land from which he was exiled, the land to which he was exiled (Bavel), and now he addresses the Land of Israel to hear the word of Hashem. Another explanation: A land that is the land of lands, the choicest of the choice, the most exalted of all lands.
Someone once made a witty remark: in the past, when people wanted to describe something of prime quality, they would call it "Aleph-Aleph" (Grade A). Today, when they want to describe something first-rate, they say "Aleph-Aleph-Aleph" (Triple-A). What is the difference? "Aleph-Aleph" stands for *Anshei Emunah* (people of faith) - and indeed, men of faith have vanished; whereas "Aleph-Aleph-Aleph" is immediately "Made in China," and you just have to hope it does not fall apart before you get home.
Rashi brings a third explanation: this refers to Eretz Yisrael, which comprised three regions - Yehudah, the Transjordan, and the Galilee, as we learned in the Mishnah in Seder Zera'im, "There are three regions regarding the Sabbatical year," for the land was divided into three districts. Radak explains that the repetition serves to emphasize the matter, as it is the idiom of scripture to repeat words twice or three times: twice, as in "Whoever comes near, comes near to the Tabernacle of the Lord," or "Comfort, comfort My people"; and three times, as in "O land, land, land," "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these," and "A ruin, a ruin, a ruin will I make it." And when he says "land," Radak explains, he does not mean the soil itself, but rather the inhabitants of the land, just as "and all the earth came to Egypt" means all the people of the land.
The Malbim explains that here comes the answer to the question asked earlier: "Is this man Coniah a despised, broken idol, or a vessel in which there is no pleasure?" Why did Nevuchadnezzar treat him this way, seeing that he waved a white flag and went out to surrender to him? The answer is: "O land, land, land" - this was the decree of Hashem, Who commanded the land of Bavel and spoke to it thus.
כֹּה אָמַר יְהֹוָה: כִּתְבוּ אֶת־הָאִישׁ הַזֶּה עֲרִירִי, גֶּבֶר לֹא־יִצְלַח בְּיָמָיו, כִּי לֹא יִצְלַח מִזַּרְעוֹ אִישׁ יֹשֵׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא דָוִד וּמֹשֵׁל עוֹד בִּיהוּדָה׃ - Thus said the Lord: Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days, for no man of his offspring shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.
Do you wish to know why it happened this way? Because there was an oath here, as explained, and Hashem said in advance, "Record this man as childless." And what is the meaning of "record"? The Malbim explains: let them write this into the state laws, that this man should be considered as if he is childless and has no sons. What is the practical legal difference (*nafka mina*)? That the sons would not be able to stake an inheritance claim to the monarchy. This is "Record this man as childless": you cannot come and say, "We are the king's sons," for this king is regarded as childless, as one who has no line of succession.
Notice that this provides another answer to the question we already encountered: How could it say, "Record this man as childless," when Shealtiel and Zerubbabel were later born to him? One explanation we mentioned was that Hashem was released from His oath. A second explanation, from the Malbim: "Childless" does not mean he would have no biological children, but rather that his children would not inherit his kingdom; he is considered childless with respect to the monarchy, for they would not inherit it from their fathers. And why? "For a man who will not prosper in his days" - meaning that throughout his lifetime he will not succeed in kingship, and no man of his offspring will prosper sitting upon the throne of David. Thus it was to be inscribed into law in the statutes of the land of Bavel: that no king from Coniah's offspring would reign, and his sons forfeited their royal rights as long as he lived. Through this, it is explained how they could rule afterward: this entire statute applied only during the lifetime of Yehoyachin, and after his death we find that Zerubbabel served as a prince and governor.
Radak explains "childless" in another way: that if he had sons, they would die during his lifetime, and if he had none, he would never have any. Others resolve the question in yet another way: that the intention is that he would have no children from that point forward, but prior to that he did have children. Thus everything is harmonized: "Record this man as childless" - from that point on he would father no more children; and as for Shealtiel whom we find mentioned, he had already been born to him beforehand, and Shealtiel later fathered Zerubbabel.
The conclusion of the chapter is a succession of prophecies of disgrace: Yehoyakim, who will not be eulogized and will receive only the burial of a donkey outside the gates of Jerusalem; a call to the nation to ascend the mountains and cry out to its "lovers" - Assyria and Egypt - and see that they have all been broken and scattered to the wind; and a rebuke for failing to learn from the exile of his brothers and feeling no shame over his wickedness. From here the prophet turns to Konyahu: the city surrendered to him like a bird laying an egg without birth pangs, yet he was not shown mercy, for the decree had already been sealed with an oath and by the iniquity of his father. He and his mother will be hurled and cast away into a land they did not know; the hopes of return harbored by the false prophets will not come to pass; and he will be recorded as childless - in that his offspring will have no claim to kingship in his lifetime. Yet within all this darkness, light is concealed: "From there I will tear you away" - in the very place where he was severed, he is rectified, as from the crucible of exile Zerubbabel will sprout from his seed, and in the ultimate future, the King Mashiach, who will be like a signet ring upon the right hand of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and make known to the entire world Who is the Master of the earth.