Yehu ben Nimshi
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Eliyahu in Horev (Part 7)
The Mission (Part 1)
Rabbi Elchanan SametThe three destructive forces of wind, earthquake, and fire in Eliyahu’s revelation parallel the destructive swords of Haza’el, Yehu and Elisha, which Eliyahu is instructed to appoint as a result of his zealotry. The forth element – the small silent voice – parallels God’s mercy on the core of people who are not defiled by idolatry and are therefore spared.
Eliyahu in Horev (Part 8)
Was the Mission Fulfilled? (Part 2)
Rabbi Elchanan SametEliyahu does not execute God's mission to appoint Haza’el and Yehu. The appointments are ultimately executed by Elisha - but with many discrepancies from God’s original command. Transferring the appointments from Eliyahu to Elisha is not the rejection of an unpleasant command; rather, it transforms the mission and softens it through the milder personality of the prophet Elisha.
Prophet in Distress
Rabbi Alex IsraelEliyahu had orchestrated a three-year drought that had brought the nation to its knees. This had culminated in the decisive religious contest at Mt. Carmel that had exposed the falsity of the Baal, bringing king and country to proclaim faith in God alone. It had been an excruciating process, with Eliyahu living in exile for three years. Indeed, he had succeeding in turning the king around. But now the entire project, this huge educational endeavor, lay shattered, in ruins. It was not Izevel's death threat alone. Izevel's confidence highlighted the understanding that she was in control, and that the transformation of national priorities would be a more arduous, complex, and protracted process. All of this leads to Eliyahu's feeling of dejection and his rejection of his role as a prophet. Unlike Moshe, he is unable to be zealous towards the sinner but to invoke God's mercy on the nation as a whole.
Elisha's Tears
Rabbi Alex IsraelEliyahu's mission to avenge the sinful kingdom of Israel and the House of Ahav by appointing Hazael as King of Aram, Yehu as King of Israel is not preformed by him, but by Elisha who is also part of this mission. Elisha instigates Hazael's reign in this chapter, but his character is a non-vindictive figure. Elisha's role is to mitigate the force of Aram and to ultimately prophesy the reversal of the tables in favor of Israel.
The Yehu Revolution
Rabbi Alex IsraelAt first glance Yehu seems to adopt the zealotry of Eliyahu in destroying the house of Ahav and the worship of Ba'al. Elisha removes himself from this episode by sending one of his disciples to anoint Yehu and begin the rebellion. However, are all the people killed by Yehu justified? Are the violent and gory methods which he utilizes to execute his plans justified? Is Yehu to be remembered as a righteous king?
The Fall and Rise of Yisrael
Rabbi Alex IsraelDuring Yehu's reign Aram, headed by Hazael occupy the Eastern bank of the Jordan. In Yehoahaz's time the situation becomes direr as Aram imposes a full demilitarization of Israel. The turnaround begins in the days of Yoash who receives a deathbed prophecy from Elisha of a victory over Aram and peaks in the time of Yerovam ben Yoash who receives a prophecy from Yona ben Amitai and restores the Northern border to a magnitude previously witnessed only during the days of David and Shlomo. While historians describe the decline of Aram due to the rise of Assyria, the book of Kings describes a divine process which is surprisingly almost entirely devoid of any repentance.
Does the outcome of the prophetic action that Elisha preforms with Yoash on his deathbed actually have an impact on the outcome in reality?
Is the resurrection from death of the man who came in contact with Elisha's buried bones just another miracle of Elisha or does it symbolize a national resurrection?
The Descendants of Rekhav
Rabbi David SabatoThe descendants of Rekhav, who abstain from drinking wine and do not settle down permanently, symbolize absolute adherence to the ancient ancestral command. This is a lesson for Israel, that they must keep God's commands. But why does this adherence deserve an extreme Divine promise?
The prohibition against settling down might not stem from a nomadic perception, but rather from experience that teaches that settling down leads by necessity to forgetting God and ultimately to idol worship, as the book of Devarim warns many times in anticipation of Israel's entry into the land.
Additionally, farmers whose lives were dependent on the seasons of the year and on the forces of nature deified these forces and worshipped them. Therefore, the Torah is concerned about the dangers of agricultural life in the land of Israel, the chief of which is immersion in idolatry, which will lead to the removal of the people from their land.
The Assassination of Gedalya
Part 1
Rabbi David SabatoYirmiyahu decided to join Gedalya out of religious-prophetic motives, since he saw in his appointment God's desire to rebuild the nation. The military personal decided to join him for political motives, relying on Gedalya's official status vis-à-vis the Babylonian kingdom, which they feared. And the Diaspora Jews joined Gedalya out of nationalistic-popular motives and a desire to return to their own country.
Yohanan ben Kareah and his men attempt to convince Gedalya of the assassination plot of Yishmael ben Netanya. Gedalya's refusal to heed the warning is not merely complacency on the personal plane regarding the danger posed to his life, but also a great risk on the public-national level. The political struggle against Gedalya has widespread national consequences.
Having failed to heed the warning of Yohanan, Gedalya falls into a trap that was set for him by Yishmael the son of Netanya and his men; he is killed in his house in Mitzpa in the course of a Rosh Hashana dinner that he hosted for them. Here Gedalya's naiveté reveals itself in a most striking manner – not only did he not agree to prevent the assassination, but he did not even take any precautions against Yishmael.
What were the motives of Yishmael the son of Netanya? It is likely that this murder is just the tip of the iceberg of the fierce political struggle that took place in the kingdom of Yehuda prior to the destruction. The royal family and most of the ministers supported the rebellion against Babylon, and apparently received support from the people of Ammon in the east, who opposed Babylonian rule. Against them stood the "pro-Babylonian" faction, with Yirmiyahu's support and led by members of the family of Shafan the scribe. Thus, the assassination plot stems from deep political memories and from the tension between the royal family of Yishmael and the family of Shafan, to which Gedalya belonged. Apart from this, there is also a deeply personal cause: Yishmael, who was of royal descent, cannot accept the possibility that Gedalya, who came from a family of scribes, should become the political leader of the people of Yehuda.
Three biblical events are alluded to as the backdrop for the story of the murder of Gedalya: the massacres of Yehu, the war between Asa and Basha, and the story of the meeting between Avner and Yoav at Givon. These events paint Yishmael's deed with the red color of mass murder and civil war, and turn it into another link in the chain of internal civil wars in the history of the people of Israel that led to the destruction. Internal strife and narrow personal and political motivations joined together in the story of the assassination of Gedalya to become the fatal blow to the last chance to rebuild the nation in its land.
The Destruction of the City
Dr. Tova GanzelThe prophecy concerning the imminent fate of the city resembles the destruction that Yehezkel had prophesied in the past, but he no longer reacts with cries of surprise or distress, as he had earlier; now he is apathetic. From now on, his pre-destruction prophetic mission is limited to describing the situation in the city.
The description begins presenting a city that is full of bloodshed. Yehezkel’s accusation is against all of Jerusalem’s inhabitants – all classes and positions. Throughout the book Yehezkel avoids using the name Jerusalem altogether. Perhaps this is that the actions of the nation have not only led to the defiling of the name, but have also caused a rupture in God’s attitude towards the eternity of the city.
Chapter 24 contains two accounts of loss: the loss of Yehezkel’s wife, and the loss of the Temple. The connection between Yehezkel’s private loss and the nation’s loss of the Temple indicates that the profaning of the Temple is irreversible: in other words, the Temples that will be built after the destruction of the First Temple represent a new creation, not a recreation of the Temple that existed.
Yehezkel is commanded not to mourn for his wife as a sign to the people. Why, then, is Am Yisrael commanded not to mourn over the Temple?
The withholding of mourning may represent a sort of Divine punishment – or, alternatively, an act of acceptance of God’s will. Perhaps mourning is only significant for the comfort that others give to the mourner and the commandment not to mourn signifies that there are none to comfort.
This prophecy concludes Yehezkel’s prophecies of rebuke uttered before the destruction and ends his term of silence.
ARAM
Shomron
Gilad
Ramot Gilead
Megiddo
Yizre'el
Yivleam
Beit HaGan (Ein Ganim)
Shomrón
וֶאֱלִישָׁע֙ הַנָּבִ֔יא קָרָ֕א לְאַחַ֖ד מִבְּנֵ֣י הַנְּבִיאִ֑ים וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ל֜וֹ חֲגֹ֣ר מָתְנֶ֗יךָ וְ֠קַח פַּ֣ךְ הַשֶּׁ֤מֶן הַזֶּה֙ בְּיָדֶ֔ךָ וְלֵ֖ךְ רָמֹ֥ת גִּלְעָֽד׃
II Kings 9, verse 1
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֵלָ֔יו קְרָ֥א שְׁמ֖וֹ יִזְרְעֶ֑אל כִּי־ע֣וֹד מְעַ֗ט וּפָ֨קַדְתִּ֜י אֶת־דְּמֵ֤י יִזְרְעֶאל֙ עַל־בֵּ֣ית יֵה֔וּא וְהִ֨שְׁבַּתִּ֔י מַמְלְכ֖וּת בֵּ֥ית יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Hosea 1, verse 4
וַיַּמְלִיכוּ֩ יוֹשְׁבֵ֨י יְרוּשָׁלִַ֜ם אֶת־אֲחַזְיָ֨הוּ בְנ֤וֹ הַקָּטֹן֙ תַּחְתָּ֔יו כִּ֤י כָל־הָרִאשֹׁנִים֙ הָרַ֣ג הַגְּד֔וּד הַבָּ֥א בָֽעַרְבִ֖ים לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ אֲחַזְיָ֥הוּ בֶן־יְהוֹרָ֖ם מֶ֥לֶךְ יְהוּדָֽה׃ (פ)
II Chronicles 22, verse 1
וַיַּגֵּ֤ד אַחְאָב֙ לְאִיזֶ֔בֶל אֵ֛ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָׂ֖ה אֵלִיָּ֑הוּ וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר הָרַ֛ג אֶת־כָּל־הַנְּבִיאִ֖ים בֶּחָֽרֶב׃
I Kings 19, verse 1