Siege

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Siege and Salvation in Shomron
Rabbi Alex Israel
Judaism does not always present redemption as flawless. We learn about the story of the siege and salvation of Shomron via characters who are ethically compromised: the cruel child-eating mothers and the selfish leprous outcasts. Moreover, God's salvation is discovered almost by accident. The study of this chapter leads to contemporary thought on a flawed redemption in modern day Israel.
Sanheriv’s Siege of Jerusalem
Rabbi Alex Israel
Hizkiyahu takes advantage of a gap in Assyrian rule and joins Egypt and Babylon in rebellion against Assyria. He fortifies Jerusalem and channels water into the walled city, while cutting off the water supply outside of the city. However, the new Assyrian king Sanheriv fights back, destroying 46 fortified cities in Yehuda, and sets his sights on Jerusalem. Sanheriv sends emissaries to Jerusalem to deflate the moral of the people and encourage them to surrender while boasting that God cannot stop him. After Yishayahu first prophecy sends Sanheriv away temporarily, Sanheriv returns to Jerusalem once again. This time Hizkiyahu prays to God and miraculously the entire Assyrian army is killed in one night. This description has an indirect corroboration in Assyrian historical documents that describe the war against Hizkiyahu in a manner which is jarringly inconsistent with other battles. This miracle led to the concept of Jerusalem's invincibility, a concept that the prophet Yirmiyahu could not change when he prophesied its destruction over a century later.
The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Fate of Yirmiyahu
Rabbi David Sabato
The account of the capture and the destruction of Jerusalem parallel – both linguistically and substantively – Yirmiyahu's prophecy of consecration, in which he predicted the destruction already at the beginning of his mission. This parallel indicates that Nevukhadnetzar's rebuke of Tzidkiyahu for rebellion and treachery represents, as it were, God's rebuke of him for his spiritual rebellion.

Chapter 39 is the direct continuation of chapter 38, and it describes the fulfillment of Yirmiyahu's prophecy in two directions. It emphasizes the contrast between the fate of the heads of the kingdom – Tzidkiyahu and his princes who failed to heed Yirmiyahu's prophecy and even tried to kill him – to the fate of Yirmiyahu, the prophet who remained faithful to God's word. Yirmiyahu was saved by Nevuzar'adan on the direct order of Nevukhadnetzar himself and Tzidkiyahu and his princes are severely punished. Therefore in this chapter the remaining of Yirmiyahu in Eretz Yisrael is not described as his choice.

In the account in chapter 40, Yirmiyahu chooses to remain in Eretz Yisrael and not be under Nevukhadnetzar’s care in Babylon. This action clarifies the fact that Yirmiyahu's support for surrender did not stem from political motives or from excessive closeness to Babylon, but was rather a result of his prophecy. It seems that after the destruction, Yirmiyahu thinks that that there is hope for reestablishing national life in Eretz Yisrael through Gedalya. Therefore, it is stressed in this chapter that the remaining of Yirmiyahu in Eretz Yisrael was by his choice.

Insisting upon the honor due to the Father and the honor due to the son characterizes the entire length of Yirmiyahu's mission. This duality underlies the two accounts of Yirmiyahu's fate: On the one hand, chapter 39 describes Yirmiyahu's rescue at the hand of the king of Babylon owing to his "pro-Babylonian" loyalty, as it were, and his prophecies of calamity and rebuke of the people – and his call for surrender. All these are the result of his prophetic mission from God. On the other hand, chapter 40 emphasizes that Yirmiyahu tied his fate of his own free will to the fate of the nation that he so greatly loved.
The Destruction of the City
Dr. Tova Ganzel
The 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.
Chapters 39 and 40: Yirmiyahu's Fate and Free Will
Rabbi David Sabato
Ending Liberty and Breaking the Covenant
Rabbi David Sabato
Praying for Jerusalem: Yirmiyahu and Tzidkiyahu vs. Yeshayahu and Hizkiyahu
Rabbi David Sabato
Yirmiyahu 33-34
Matan Al Haperek
Rabbi David Sabato
The section of the prophecies of consolation in Yirmiyahu ends in perek 33, with a prophecy which foretells the return of Judah and Israel and the revival of Jerusalem (1-13). This prophecy is given in the court of the guard, and appears to be a continuation to the prophecy of Yirmiyahu about the purchase of the field of Chanamel and the message of consolation which follows that. The second half of the prophecy deals with the eternal covenant between God and the house of Levi and the house of David. In contrast to the people's understanding, this covenant will not be broken with the destruction of the Temple, rather will continue eternally (14-26).

The historical background to the prophecy is described in the first pesukim in perek 34 (1-2): the siege on Jerusalem in the tenth year of Tzidkiyahu's reign. Immediately afterwards we see a personal prophecy of calamity for Tzidkiyahu which is mixed with a small amount of consolation (3-5). The main section of the perek tells us how during the siege, about a year and a half before the destruction, the people of Jerusalem made a covenant agreeing to free their slaves. When the siege was removed due to the victory of Pharaoh over the Babylonians (which turned out to be a temporary respite), the people of Jerusalem took back their slaves, thus breaking the covenant. Yirmiyahu rebukes the nation strongly for this act, prophesying that the destruction will come because of this infringement.
Yirmiyahu 39-40
Matan Al Haperek
Rabbi David Sabato
Perek 39 describes the bitter end of Jerusalem, when after a prolonged siege of about a year and a half the walls are breached. Yirmiyahu's attempts to convince the nation to surrender, to accept the yoke of Babylonia and to save the city from destruction have been unsuccessful, and the city has fallen to the hands of the Babylonians. Yirmiyahu's prophecies have been fulfilled: the city, and within it the Temple, have been burnt and destroyed, the remainder of the residents of Jerusalem who were in the besieged city have been exiled to Babylonia, and Tzidkiyahu, who tried to escape the Babylonians, has been caught and punished cruelly. But even within the harsh description of destruction we can see signs of hope: Nevuzaradan leaves a remnant of the nation under the authority of Gedalyahu ben Achikam (10), and by command of Nevuchadnezzar saves Yirmiyahu (11-14). The perek ends with a prophecy of rescue about Eved-Melech the Kushi who saved him from death in the mud pit which Yirmiyahu prophesied before the destruction, in the court of the guard (15-18).

Perek 40 describes what happens among those left in the land after the destruction. The perek opens with the story of Yirmiyahu, who chooses to stay in the land after the destruction and join forces with Gedalyahu ben Achikam, who is appointed by the king of Babylonia over the meager group of people who are left in the land (1-6). Perakim 40-43 deal with the gloomy story of this group led by Gedalya, which was the hope for reconstruction after the destruction; a hope which disappeared with the murder of Gedalya.