Introduction: A Final Prophecy to Those Who Went Down to Egypt
Chapter 44 is Yirmiyahu's prophecy of rebuke to the remnant of Yehudah that went down to Egypt following the assassination of Gedaliah. They had scattered across the cities of Egypt - Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and the land of Pathros - and instead of learning from the destruction they had witnessed firsthand, they returned to burning incense to idols. The prophet comes to rebuke them, they respond with fully developed and rationalized claims, and he counters them - first of his own accord, and ultimately through an explicit prophecy in the name of Hashem.
הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר הָיָה אֶל יִרְמְיָהוּ אֶל כָּל הַיְּהוּדִים הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּמִגְדֹּל וּבְתַחְפַּנְחֵס וּבְנֹף וּבְאֶרֶץ פַּתְרוֹס לֵאמֹר. - The word that came to Yirmiyahu concerning all the Jews dwelling in the land of Egypt, who dwell in Migdol, in Tahpanhes, in Noph, and in the land of Pathros, saying:
When the Prophet Warned in Advance - There Is No Room to Doubt the Cause
כֹּה אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, אַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם אֵת כָּל הָרָעָה אֲשֶׁר הֵבֵאתִי עַל יְרוּשָׁלִַם וְעַל כָּל עָרֵי יְהוּדָה, וְהִנָּם חָרְבָּה הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וְאֵין בָּהֶם יוֹשֵׁב. - So said Hashem of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Yerushalayim and upon all the cities of Yehudah, and behold, this day they are in ruins, with no inhabitant in them.
When a person witnesses a tragedy or disaster, it is natural to investigate what caused it, and whether preexisting circumstances led to it. Even when an earlier cause is identified, doubt often lingers: perhaps this was the reason, or perhaps not. Suppose a car had worn tires - one cannot be certain that the worn tires caused the accident, since people also have accidents with brand-new tires. But when a prophet comes in advance and proclaims that if the issue is not corrected, such-and-such will happen, and indeed it happens - there is no longer room for speculation. The prophet announced it beforehand, and that is precisely what Yirmiyahu tells them here: you saw the wicked deeds they committed, and the great calamity that struck as a result.
מִפְּנֵי רָעָתָם אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ לְהַכְעִסֵנִי, לָלֶכֶת לְקַטֵּר לַעֲבֹד לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא יְדָעוּם הֵמָּה אַתֶּם וַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם. - Because of their wickedness that they committed to provoke Me, going to burn incense and serve other gods whom they did not know - neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.
Here there are no doubts. It was not that "there were geopolitical problems," nor that "they provoked Nebuchadnezzar, who was a megalomaniac and unwilling to tolerate it" - all of these are mere rationalizations. The sole cause is "because of their wickedness that they committed to provoke Me."
וָאֶשְׁלַח אֲלֵיכֶם אֶת כָּל עֲבָדַי הַנְּבִיאִים הַשְׁכֵּם וְשָׁלֹחַ לֵאמֹר: אַל נָא תַעֲשׂוּ אֵת דְּבַר הַתֹּעֵבָה הַזֹּאת אֲשֶׁר שָׂנֵאתִי. - And I sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them early and constantly, saying: Please do not commit this abominable thing that I hate!
There was a clear warning in advance: if you do A, you will receive B. Once it materialized, is there any room to doubt that this was the cause? After all, I cautioned you, I warned you, I stated beforehand that this conduct would bring devastating consequences.
וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ וְלֹא הִטּוּ אֶת אָזְנָם לָשׁוּב מֵרָעָתָם, לְבִלְתִּי קַטֵּר לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים. - But they did not listen and did not incline their ear to turn from their wickedness, not to burn incense to other gods.
There are three levels here. First, they did not listen. Second, they were not even willing to incline their ear and turn from their wickedness. And third, they went further and continued burning incense to other gods. There is a person who does not do teshuvah for his past deeds, but at least he does not persist in them; and there is a person who not only fails to repent, but continues to stumble in those very same sins. They belonged to this second category.
וַתִּתַּךְ חֲמָתִי וְאַפִּי וַתִּבְעַר בְּעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וּבְחֻצוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם, וַתִּהְיֶינָה לְחָרְבָּה לִשְׁמָמָה כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה. - "Therefore My fury and My anger were poured out, and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became a ruin and a desolation, as it is this day."
This, then, is the reason why the wrath and anger of the Holy One, blessed be He, burned in the cities of Judah. Behold, you see it - they have become a ruin and a desolation, and all of this was warned about in advance. There is no doubt here that it all came about because of their evil deeds.
There It Was Wood and Stone - Here the Blow Will Be to Life Itself
וְעַתָּה כֹּה אָמַר ה' אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: לָמָה אַתֶּם עֹשִׂים רָעָה גְדוֹלָה אֶל נַפְשֹׁתֵכֶם, לְהַכְרִית לָכֶם אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה עוֹלֵל וְיוֹנֵק מִתּוֹךְ יְהוּדָה, לְבִלְתִּי הוֹתִיר לָכֶם שְׁאֵרִית. - "And now, thus says the Lord, God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling, out of Judah, leaving yourselves no remnant?"
Through your present deeds, you are bringing a great evil upon your own souls, for now it will no longer be as it was before. In the past, the Holy One, blessed be He, poured out His wrath upon wood and stone, as we saw: "and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem" - the cities and the streets were destroyed. But here in Egypt, there is no longer wood and stone, and therefore the blow, Heaven forbid, will strike life itself: "to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling, out of Judah" - out of the exile of the people of Judah - "leaving yourselves no remnant."
לְהַכְעִסֵנִי בְּמַעֲשֵׂי יְדֵיכֶם לְקַטֵּר לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם בָּאִים לָגוּר שָׁם, לְמַעַן הַכְרִית לָכֶם וּלְמַעַן הֱיוֹתְכֶם לִקְלָלָה וּלְחֶרְפָּה בְּכֹל גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ. - "To provoke Me with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to dwell, so that you might be cut off, and that you might become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth."
You imagine that you are no longer obligated to observe the mitzvos of the Torah, since you are in Egypt and not in the Holy Land. Know that precisely for this reason, the evil is now twofold: first, "that you might be cut off" - that, Heaven forbid, you will be utterly wiped out. Second, now that you are among the nations, there is an added element of Chillul Hashem: "and that you might become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth." The nations will say: Is this the people that received the Torah? Is this the people that was supposed to be a light unto the nations? Here they arrive in Egypt - for what? To worship Egypt's idols! In this way, you multiply your sin many times over.
הַשְׁכַחְתֶּם אֶת רָעוֹת אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם וְאֶת רָעוֹת מַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה וְאֵת רָעוֹת נָשָׁיו וְאֵת רָעֹתֵכֶם וְאֵת רָעֹת נְשֵׁיכֶם אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ בְּאֶרֶץ יְהוּדָה וּבְחֻצוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם. - "Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?"
Have you forgotten what caused all the calamities that befell you there in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem? Have you forgotten the kings of Judah who sinned and caused others to sin publicly? Can there be any doubt that this was the cause of all the evil, and that everything that befell you was because of your iniquities? And if so, how can you continue doing the very same things here in Egypt?
לֹא דֻכְּאוּ עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה, וְלֹא יָרְאוּ וְלֹא הָלְכוּ בְתוֹרָתִי וּבְחֻקֹּתַי אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לִפְנֵיכֶם וְלִפְנֵי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם. - "They have not been humbled even unto this day, nor have they feared, nor have they walked in My law or in My statutes that I set before you and before your fathers."
Their hearts were not humbled by the misfortune they suffered. The principle of "You turn man back to contrition" - that when a person reaches crushed lowliness of spirit he repents - had no effect on them. "They have not been humbled even unto this day": all that they endured left them in their brazenness and stubbornness. They fled to Egypt out of fear of Nebuchadnezzar, lest he take vengeance on them because people from among them killed the governor he had appointed, and they expected to find protection there. Yet Yirmiyahu sees that even there, they continue to provoke the Creator of the universe.
"For Harm" - Not a Destruction for Sowing, but Utter Cutting Off
לָכֵן כֹּה אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל: הִנְנִי שָׂם פָּנַי בָּכֶם לְרָעָה וּלְהַכְרִית אֶת כָּל יְהוּדָה. - Therefore, so said Hashem, Master of Legions, the God of Israel: Behold, I am setting My face against you for evil, and to cut off all of Judah.
Setting one's face against a person is seemingly always for ill; what then is newly added by specifying "for evil"? Rather, as seen earlier, the Malbim explained that the destruction in Jerusalem was ultimately for the good, interpreting the phrase "He expended His wrath upon wood and stone" as a destruction whose ultimate purpose was beneficial. To what can this be compared? If someone knocks all the fruit from a tree, throwing it down to the ground and trampling it, it appears to be a great calamity - destroying all the fruit. Yet on the other hand, it is for the good, since the fruits decompose into the soil, the seeds sprout, and new trees grow from them. This is an apparent misfortune whose ultimate outcome is beneficial. Here, however, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Behold, I am setting My face against you for evil, and to cut off" - not like planting seeds, but as a total cutting off. Since you persist and cling to your evil ways, what happens here will be far harsher than what came before.
Two Factions Among Those Who Descended to Egypt
וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶת שְׁאֵרִית יְהוּדָה אֲשֶׁר שָׂמוּ פְנֵיהֶם לָבוֹא אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לָגוּר שָׁם, וְתַמּוּ כֹל בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם יִפֹּלוּ, בַּחֶרֶב בָּרָעָב יִתַּמּוּ מִקָּטֹן וְעַד גָּדוֹל, בַּחֶרֶב וּבָרָעָב יָמֻתוּ, וְהָיוּ לְאָלָה לְשַׁמָּה וְלִקְלָלָה וּלְחֶרְפָּה. - And I will take the remnant of Judah who set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed; in the land of Egypt they shall fall; by sword and by famine they shall be consumed, from small to great; by sword and by famine they shall die, and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach.
The Malbim explains: There were two distinct factions among them. One faction came to Egypt intending to settle down permanently - as if they had already gone to the Egyptian Interior Ministry to obtain residency and receive an Egyptian identity card. These were the military commanders and the arrogant men mentioned earlier. The other faction came against their will, out of fear and having no other choice, as it is written: "And Yochanan ben Kareiach took all the remnant of Judah." They said: We did not descend here to settle down permanently, but merely as a temporary measure to escape Nebuchadnezzar; once matters settle and the wrath passes, we will return to our land.
Regarding the first group, Scripture states: "who set their faces to come to the land of Egypt" - meaning their primary intention was to be in Egypt, and concerning them it is said: "to dwell there," referring to absolute permanent residence. Upon them it was decreed: "and they shall all be consumed in the land of Egypt" - complete annihilation, with nothing left of them. And what is meant by "from small to great"? The Malbim explains: Normally, through the sword of war it is the adults who die, not the children. But here the sword and famine will be of such intensity that the children will perish from starvation due to severe poverty, since they do not fight, and the small and great will be equalized. Typically, the young die in famine and the adults by the sword, but here all will die by sword and famine indiscriminately. Furthermore, they will become "an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach."
וּפָקַדְתִּי עַל הַיּוֹשְׁבִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם כַּאֲשֶׁר פָּקַדְתִּי עַל יְרוּשָׁלִָם, בַּחֶרֶב בָּרָעָב וּבַדָּבֶר. - And I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence.
Total destruction, accompanied by direct divine providence - not through the concealment of the divine countenance, but rather, as it were, Hashem will set His gaze upon them and scrutinize them; only instead of setting His face to do good, He will set His face to bring harm.
וְלֹא יִהְיֶה פָּלִיט וְשָׂרִיד לִשְׁאֵרִית יְהוּדָה הַבָּאִים לָגוּר שָׁם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם, וְלָשׁוּב אֶרֶץ יְהוּדָה אֲשֶׁר הֵמָּה מְנַשְּׂאִים אֶת נַפְשָׁם לָשׁוּב לָשֶׁבֶת שָׁם, כִּי לֹא יָשׁוּבוּ כִּי אִם פְּלֵטִים. - And none of the remnant of Judah who have come to dwell there in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, to which they yearn to return to dwell there; for none shall return except fugitives.
Here the verse refers to the second faction, who still held hope of returning to the land of Judah: "to which they yearn" - buoying their spirits and telling themselves, "We will yet return to Judah." The prophet tells them: You too, even though you will not be engaged in war with Nebuchadnezzar, will perish by sword, famine, and pestilence, and only "fugitives" - a tiny handful, those who barely manage to escape - will return from among you.
Who Answered Yirmiyahu
וַיַּעֲנוּ אֶת יִרְמְיָהוּ כָּל הָאֲנָשִׁים הַיֹּדְעִים כִּי מְקַטְּרוֹת נְשֵׁיהֶם לֵאלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים, וְכָל הַנָּשִׁים הָעֹמְדוֹת קָהָל גָּדוֹל, וְכָל הָעָם הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בְּפַתְרוֹס לֵאמֹר. - Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, and all the women standing by, a great assembly, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Yirmiyahu, saying:
The Malbim explains: all the women were burning incense to other gods, but there were husbands who knew about it and husbands who did not. Who answered Yirmiyahu? "All the men who knew that their wives were burning incense" - those husbands who knew, meaning that the act was done with their knowledge and approval, and therefore they were directly implicated. A person whose wife acts without his knowledge can say, "That is my wife's doing; I do not interfere." But when it is done with the husband's knowledge, it means he approves of it and it meets with his consent. Likewise, "all the women standing by, a great assembly" - they all answered, for they were all burning incense and the matter concerned them personally. However, the husbands whose wives did not burn incense, or who did not know about it, did not respond, as they did not feel the rebuke pertained to them.
The People's Claim: The Facts Prove the Opposite
הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ אֵלֵינוּ בְּשֵׁם ה' אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁמְעִים אֵלֶיךָ. - As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of Hashem, we will not listen to you.
כִּי עָשֹׂה נַעֲשֶׂה אֶת כָּל הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר יָצָא מִפִּינוּ, לְקַטֵּר לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהַסֵּיךְ לָהּ נְסָכִים, כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשִׂינוּ אֲנַחְנוּ וַאֲבֹתֵינוּ מְלָכֵינוּ וְשָׂרֵינוּ בְּעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וּבְחֻצוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם, וַנִּשְׂבַּע לֶחֶם וַנִּהְיֶה טוֹבִים וְרָעָה לֹא רָאִינוּ. - But we will certainly do whatever word has gone out of our mouth: to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, just as we did, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim; for then we had plenty of bread, were well-off, and saw no evil.
In simple terms: we reject this completely. And they explain their reasoning: What are you claiming, Yirmiyahu? That because we burned incense to idols, Hashem brought all these troubles upon us? We dispute your interpretation. Look, in the days of Achaz and Menasheh, idolatry was practiced at its peak; then they provoked the Creator of the world more than ever - yet in their days, the catastrophe did not come. And when did it come? In the days of Yehoyachin and after him Tzidkiyahu. And Tzidkiyahu was a righteous man, and at that time most of the people served Hashem and listened to the words of the prophets; true, there were still many idolaters, but the situation was certainly better than in the era of Achaz and Menasheh. And specifically then the troubles struck! From this, they reached the exact opposite conclusion: when one burns incense to idolatry, one prospers, and when one stops, one fails. Media pundits with this kind of commentary existed in their time as well, just like today.
Why Did They Believe in Idolatry? - "He Made Them Slip"
The Malbim explains: they had complete faith that by burning incense to idols they drew down bounty from heaven, and they had grounds to rely on, for they witnessed tangible results. The people who practiced idolatry in those days were not mentally unstable, even though on the surface it might seem that way - a person takes a block of wood, carves an image from it, and says to it, "You are my god and you created me." Such a person would seem to need hospitalization, not punishment. But they were not fools; rather, they were extremely intelligent, and they saw results. The Gemara recounts that idols would demand human sacrifice, and when they slaughtered the sacrifice, rain fell. Concerning this, Chazal said that the Holy One, blessed be He, "made them slip" - He smoothed the path for them, giving them room to err. In truth, rain was destined to fall, and we might have expected Hashem to withhold it so they would not attribute it to their worship; but the Holy One, blessed be He, says: You want to err? I will give you room to err. Indeed, through spiritual forces that descended into those images and statues, sometimes the idols would speak or react, even saying, "I am Hashem your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt" and the like, leading them to believe that these images possessed actual power and reality. The principle is: as the Gemara states, "One who comes to defile himself is opened up to it," and the holy Zohar says, "he is assisted" - "if one defiles himself a little, he is defiled much more from Above."
Furthermore, they argued: We do not bow down to the hosts of heaven - the stars and constellations - treating them as deities. We believe in Hashem, we believe in Divine Providence, we believe in prophecy. However, in our view, there is a segulah quality in burning incense to the queen of heaven that brings about success. And one cannot argue with the facts: as long as we burned incense, we prospered; once we stopped, we failed. The Malbim explains: their intention was not to worship it as a deity, but solely to draw down bounty, considering that the sun reigns over the heavenly host and over the ripening of produce, and everything that occurs in the world is seemingly carried out through it. Indeed, if a person were never exposed to the sun at all, he could, God forbid, even perish from a lack of vitamin D and the like; the sun is a source of life. And so they argued: We saw with our own eyes that when we burn incense to the queen of heaven, abundance flows into the world, "and we had plenty of bread" - there was produce.
And what is meant by "and were well-off" (venihyeh tovim)? Their intention was: even so, in our view this is not considered doing evil in the eyes of Hashem, but quite the contrary, it is pleasing in His eyes. For we believe in the God of the sun - the sun is the conduit of influence, but above it stands a supreme power, the Creator of the world, and in Him we believe. Therefore, in our view, there is nothing negative about serving Hashem while simultaneously sacrificing and burning incense to the hosts of heaven; this does not mean casting off our faith in Him, may He be blessed. "And saw no evil" - throughout that entire period we suffered no harm, because in Hashem's eyes as well, this was not evil.
וּמִן אָז חָדַלְנוּ לְקַטֵּר לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהַסֵּךְ לָהּ נְסָכִים, חָסַרְנוּ כֹל וּבַחֶרֶב וּבָרָעָב תָּמְנוּ. - But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.
That is to say: see for yourself, ever since we stopped, all the troubles began. In short - the facts prove the exact opposite of what you say.
The Women's Claim: Not Merely Folly
וְכִי אֲנַחְנוּ מְקַטְּרִים לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְהַסֵּךְ לָהּ נְסָכִים, הֲמִבַּלְעֲדֵי אֲנָשֵׁינוּ עָשִׂינוּ לָהּ כַּוָּנִים לְהַעֲצִבָה וְהַסֵּךְ לָהּ נְסָכִים. - "And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out libations to her, was it without our husbands that we made cakes for her to depict her and poured out libations to her?"
The women come forward and argue: Lest you think that only foolish women, lacking discernment and wisdom, were burning incense to the queen of heaven, so that no proof can be drawn from them? In those days, many women were indeed uneducated, remaining at home most of the time without acquiring wisdom or learning, and nearly all were illiterate. Therefore they answer: Did we do this without our husbands' knowledge? Our husbands were the initiators and partners, and everything we did was with their consent and will. And *kavanim* were special dough figures shaped to correspond to the influence of the celestial body, as if the star would project its influence upon the figure and make it capable of receiving its power. In other words: Do not look upon us with contempt; prominent, knowledgeable men did this as well.
Yirmiyahu's Response: The Measure Was Filled
וַיֹּאמֶר יִרְמְיָהוּ אֶל כָּל הָעָם, עַל הַגְּבָרִים וְעַל הַנָּשִׁים וְעַל כָּל הָעָם הָעֹנִים אֹתוֹ דָּבָר לֵאמֹר. - "Then Yirmiyahu said to all the people, to the men, to the women, and to all the people who had given him that answer, saying:"
"To the men" - those who knew that their wives were burning incense, who, as we have seen, were the primary spokesmen. "And to the women" - all of whom were burning incense. "And to all the people" - those dwelling in Pathros. "Who had given him that answer" - meaning that at this point, he is not delivering a prophecy to them, but replying from his own reasoning to the arguments they had raised.
הֲלוֹא אֶת הַקִּטֵּר אֲשֶׁר קִטַּרְתֶּם בְּעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וּבְחֻצוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם, אַתֶּם וַאֲבוֹתֵיכֶם מַלְכֵיכֶם וְשָׂרֵיכֶם וְעַם הָאָרֶץ - אֹתָם זָכַר ה' וַתַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבּוֹ. - "The incense that you burned in the cities of Yehudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim, you and your fathers, your kings and your leaders, and the people of the land - did not Hashem remember them, and did it not enter His mind?"
You claim that you were not burning incense to the sun and stars as independent deities, but merely as an astrological conduit, while still believing in the Creator of the World - yet that was precisely what took place in the cities of Yehudah, and Hashem's wrath burned against you. And as for your question of why you were not punished during the era when burning incense was far more prevalent, but only when it declined did troubles arrive - the answer is: "The incense that you burned, you and your fathers." Even though during the reigns of Yehoyakim and Tzidkiyahu the level of idolatry was not as extreme as in the days of Menasheh, you were their direct continuation, grasping the ways of your fathers in your hands. And when children cling to their fathers' deeds, the Holy One, Blessed is He, does not settle the account immediately with the fathers, but waits to see whether the children perpetuate their ways, and only then exacts retribution. This is the reality of "the measure being filled": in your fathers' time they provoked Him greatly, yet the measure was not yet full; in your time they provoked Him somewhat less, but the measure finally brimmed over, and once the measure is full, judgment can no longer be delayed.
To illustrate with a parable, not of filling a measure, but of emptying one: A person drives a car wastefully, stepping hard on the accelerator and over-revving the gears. Suddenly he notices the fuel gauge hovering right above empty, and from that moment on he begins driving very conservatively - yet two kilometers later, the engine cuts out. Would he say: "Look, when I drove wastefully the car ran fine, and only when I started driving conservatively did it stop!" Absurd, of course. Yet that is precisely their claim. Your fathers had already filled ninety percent of the measure, and you added the final ten percent that sealed the verdict. Had you not continued in your fathers' ways, it could have been said that yours was a righteous generation, and no harm would have come upon you. But you yourselves do not even claim to have been righteous, only that you were better than earlier generations - just like the driver who drove cautiously but did not stop: driving still burns fuel, perhaps not much, but it still consumes it. And one cannot rewrite history and claim that people were righteous in the days of Tzidkiyahu; Chazal teach that Tzidkiyahu was righteous, but his generation was wicked. A substantial portion were wicked; true, not to the degree of Achaz, Amon, and Menasheh, but wickedness existed in those generations as well.
וְלֹא יוּכַל ה' עוֹד לָשֵׂאת מִפְּנֵי רֹעַ מַעַלְלֵיכֶם מִפְּנֵי הַתּוֹעֵבֹת אֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם, וַתְּהִי אַרְצְכֶם לְחָרְבָּה וּלְשַׁמָּה וְלִקְלָלָה מֵאֵין יוֹשֵׁב כְּהַיּוֹם הַזֶּה. - "And Hashem could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your deeds and because of the abominations that you committed; therefore your land has become a ruin, a desolation, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day."
The Holy One, Blessed is He, waited until the measure was filled, and only in your generation did it fill completely, until "Hashem could no longer bear it" - He could no longer continue to show forbearance and overlook it.
Why Idolatry Is the Foundation of Everything
One must realize that idol worship served as the foundation for all other sins. Chazal teach: Israel served idols only to permit illicit relations in public. That is to say, the moment they abandoned idolatry, there would be no legitimacy for anything else. A person sought a pretext to violate everything. It is like someone who, as long as he remains observant, feels that the kippah constrains him; the moment he takes it off, he feels free. With a kippah on your head, you cannot go to inappropriate places; naturally, you feel restrained. But once he removes the kippah, he feels that everything is permissible. The people did not want the yoke of mitzvos, so they adopted idolatry. Without idol worship, they would have had no excuse. Idolatry allows a person to say: "I believe too, but there are other powers; and this idol is modern, accommodating, far less demanding, with no extensive set of commandments, no 613 mitzvos." A liberal deity that never complains and never sends prophets with warnings. So he chooses an idol, and in a single stroke exempts himself from all the commandments of the Creator of the World. That was the root cause of everything; without idol worship, they would never have sunk to where they did.
The Question Itself - Part of the Punishment
מִפְּנֵי אֲשֶׁר קִטַּרְתֶּם וַאֲשֶׁר חֲטָאתֶם לַה', וְלֹא שְׁמַעְתֶּם בְּקוֹל ה' וּבְתוֹרָתוֹ וּבְחֻקֹּתָיו וּבְעֵדְוֹתָיו לֹא הֲלַכְתֶּם, עַל כֵּן קָרָאת אֶתְכֶם הָרָעָה הַזֹּאת כַּיּוֹם הַזֶּה. - Because you have burned incense and sinned against Hashem, and did not obey the voice of Hashem, nor walk in His Torah, in His statutes, and in His testimonies; therefore this evil has befallen you, as is the case this day.
"Because you have burned incense" - this refers to idolatry; "and sinned against Hashem" - the rest of the sins; "and did not obey the voice of Hashem" - for there were warnings upon warnings, and prophets sent early and late.
And here lies a terrifying concept. They thought that the calamity came by chance, and on the contrary, because they had not burned enough incense; to this the prophet replies, "Because you have burned incense." When a person commits such a grave sin, burning incense to idolatry, the Holy One, Blessed be He, conceals the punishment from him and hardens his heart in order to destroy him. That is to say: the very conclusion you reached is part of the punishment, and the questions you ask are part of the punishment. The Holy One, Blessed be He, created a situation where the generation that was seemingly better suffered more than the generation that was worse - and this itself was a punishment for continuing in idolatry. Part of the punishment is that you would have the question, "How can this be?", and such a question hardens the heart, and hardening of the heart brings about an even greater punishment.
We find an example of this with Pharaoh: "And I will harden his heart," "For I have hardened his heart." Why did He harden it? Because Pharaoh reached a point where teshuvah was withheld from him. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: You did not want to repent, so from now on I will withhold repentance from you. So writes the Rambam, that from the fifth plague onward teshuvah was withheld from him, and that was the hardening of the heart. And if you ask: but does he not have free will? The answer is that free will exists up to a certain point, and beyond a certain point the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: from now on you are already beginning to receive your punishment. And so He says to them as well: I waited and waited, and from now on I will cause you not to want to repent - by leaving you with questions that will supposedly prove to you that it was good to burn incense to idolatry, and this itself will plunge you deeper into it and push you further away, so that you receive an even greater punishment.
From Here On - Prophecy in the Name of Hashem
וַיֹּאמֶר יִרְמְיָהוּ אֶל כָּל הָעָם וְאֶל כָּל הַנָּשִׁים: שִׁמְעוּ דְּבַר ה' כָּל יְהוּדָה אֲשֶׁר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם. - Then Yirmiyahu said to all the people, and to all the women: Hear the word of Hashem, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.
Until this point, Yirmiyahu spoke from his own heart, presenting his own arguments and explanations. From here on, he comes and declares: Now I am delivering to you a prophecy in the Name of Hashem.
כֹּה אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר: אַתֶּם וּנְשֵׁיכֶם וַתְּדַבֵּרְנָה בְּפִיכֶם וּבִידֵיכֶם מִלֵּאתֶם לֵאמֹר עָשֹׂה נַעֲשֶׂה אֶת נְדָרֵינוּ אֲשֶׁר נָדַרְנוּ לְקַטֵּר לִמְלֶכֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְהַסֵּךְ לָהּ נְסָכִים, הָקֵים תָּקִימְנָה אֶת נִדְרֵיכֶם וְעָשֹׂה תַעֲשֶׂינָה אֶת נִדְרֵיכֶם. - Thus said Hashem, Master of Legions, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying: "We will surely fulfill our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out libations to her"; you will surely confirm your vows, and surely fulfill your vows!
You have no excuse to claim that only your wives did this, for "You and your wives" - both you and they share in this iniquity. "And fulfilled with your hands, saying: We will surely fulfill our vows" - you agreed, you are the husbands, and you vowed to fulfill what you vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and you consented to the actions of the women, and you even believe this is a mitzvah. And "you will surely confirm your vows" - after all, if a wife makes a vow, the husband has the power to annul it for her, yet you did not annul your wives' vows; rather, you confirmed their vows, in accordance with the law of "and if he confirms it for her on the day he hears it, all her vows shall stand, and all her prohibitions that she bound upon herself." She says, "I hereby vow to pour out libations to the queen of heaven" - just like a person who says, "I hereby vow a log of oil to the Beit HaMikdash" - and the husband hears and confirms the vow for her. We are not discussing here the halachic validity of the vow, but rather what their mindset was.
לָכֵן שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר ה' כָּל יְהוּדָה הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם: הִנְנִי נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי בִּשְׁמִי הַגָּדוֹל אָמַר ה', אִם יִהְיֶה עוֹד שְׁמִי נִקְרָא בְּפִי כָּל אִישׁ יְהוּדָה אֹמֵר חַי אֲדֹנָי ה' בְּכָל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם. - Therefore hear the word of Hashem, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by My great Name, says Hashem, that My Name shall no longer be called in the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, "As the Lord Hashem lives," in all the land of Egypt.
This is a decree accompanied by an oath: I hereby swear that I will cause My Name to be forgotten from you, until you forget Hashem completely and become like gentiles in every respect.
הִנְנִי שֹׁקֵד עֲלֵיהֶם לְרָעָה וְלֹא לְטוֹבָה, וְתַמּוּ כָל אִישׁ יְהוּדָה אֲשֶׁר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בַּחֶרֶב וּבָרָעָב עַד כְּלוֹתָם. - Behold, I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine until they come to an end.
Addressing those who sought to go down from the Land of Israel to Egypt, He tells them: The calamity that strikes there in Egypt will overtake you, and I will bring upon you a unique disaster that will finish you off entirely.
וּפְלִיטֵי חֶרֶב יְשֻׁבוּן מִן אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם אֶרֶץ יְהוּדָה מְתֵי מִסְפָּר, וְיָדְעוּ כָּל שְׁאֵרִית יְהוּדָה הַבָּאִים לְאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לָגוּר שָׁם דְּבַר מִי יָקוּם - מִמֶּנִּי וּמֵהֶם. - And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose word will stand - Mine or theirs.
"Those who escape the sword" refers to the refugees mentioned above, the few survivors who slip away from the sword; those who return to Judah will be only "few in number" (mete mispar), easily counted, meaning very few indeed. Then they will see "whose word will stand" - the word of Hashem or their words. For they upheld the women's vows and insisted on burning incense to the queen of heaven; let us see whose word will be fulfilled.
The Sign: Pharaoh Hophra Like Tzidkiyahu
וְזֹאת לָכֶם הָאוֹת נְאֻם ה' כִּי פֹקֵד אֲנִי עֲלֵיכֶם בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה, לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ כִּי קוֹם יָקוּמוּ דְבָרַי עֲלֵיכֶם לְרָעָה. - And this shall be the sign for you, says Hashem, that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for evil.
כֹּה אָמַר ה': הִנְנִי נֹתֵן אֶת פַּרְעֹה חָפְרַע מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם בְּיַד אֹיְבָיו וּבְיַד מְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשׁוֹ, כַּאֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי אֶת צִדְקִיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה בְּיַד נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל אֹיְבוֹ וּמְבַקֵּשׁ נַפְשׁוֹ. - Thus says Hashem: Behold, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Tzidkiyahu king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.
What is this sign? The Malbim explains: If the king of Babylon had fought the king of Egypt outside the land of Egypt - for instance, had Pharaoh marched out to confront him in the Sinai desert and fought him there - he would not have wiped out the civilian inhabitants of the land, but at most the Egyptian royal army, since the war would have unfolded outside the country itself and the residents would have remained unharmed. But "I will punish you in this place" - Nebuchadnezzar will advance all the way into Egypt itself, and Pharaoh will be trapped under siege just as Tzidkiyahu was trapped under siege; and when he conquers the place, he will slaughter everyone just as the captain of the guard did in Jerusalem. This is the meaning of "Behold, I am giving Pharaoh... just as I gave Tzidkiyahu": you thought you had escaped to Egypt to find safety, but know that what took place here in the Holy Land will likewise happen in Egypt, and the war will rage within the very heart of Egypt rather than beyond its borders. It turns out you have fallen from the snare into the pit. Through this it will become clear whose word will stand - the word of Hashem or your words.
In summary:
The chapter opens with clear proof that there is no room to doubt the true cause of the Destruction, for the prophets gave advance warning. Yirmiyahu warns those who went down to Egypt that this time the blow will fall on human life rather than on mere wood and stone, and that they are compounding their guilt with a desecration of Hashem's Name among the nations. The people respond with the claim that the facts prove the contrary - that as long as they burned incense to the queen of heaven, they prospered - and Yirmiyahu replies to them: the measure of sin was filled to overflowing in your generation precisely because you held fast to the deeds of your ancestors, and the very challenge you raise is itself part of the punishment, a hardening of the heart just as Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Finally comes the decreed sentence sealed with an oath, along with a sign of its certainty: the fall of Pharaoh Hophra inside his own realm just as Tzidkiyahu fell in Jerusalem - so that all may know whose word will stand.