Torah Reading is Mattot-Mase’ei Numbers 30:2-36:13; Haftorah is Jeremiah 2: 4-28, 3:4
By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — These two non-continuous extracts, all in verse, form the second of the three Haftorahs of admonition, recited between the 17th of Tammuz and Tish-a b’ Av. Each has no literary connection to its accompanying Torah portion.
In these verses, Jeremiah poetically goes after the southern nation’s universal violations against God’s law, in a ‘jeremiad.’ [1] The northern nation of Israel had already been destroyed over 100 years earlier, by Assyria.
The Haftorah starts:
Listen to the word of the Lord, House of Jacob,
and all the clans of at the House of Israel.
Thus said the Lord:
What wrong did your fathers find in Me
that they grew distant from Me
went after mere breath and turned into mere breath? [2]
And they did not say, “Where is the Lord,,
Who brought us up from the land of Egypt
and led us through the wilderness
in a land of parched earth and deaths shadow…” [3]
And I brought you to a country of farmland
to eat its fruit and its bounty,
and you came and defiled My land…
The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
And those skilled in the Teaching did not know Me,
and the shepherds rebelled against Me, [4]
and the prophets prophesied for Baal…
Therefore will I yet dispute with you—
said the Lord—and with the sons of your sons will I dispute…
…see, has there been (anywhere) the like of this?
Has (any) nation given up its gods
though they are ungods?
But My people exchange its Glory
for what cannot avail…
For two evils My people (have) done:
Me they forsook, the source of living waters,
to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns…[5]
Is Israel a slave…
Why has he become plunder? [6]
Lions roar over him…[7]
and they have made his land a desolation…
Is not this how you fare
for forsaking the Lord your God…
And now, why go in the way of Egypt
to drink the waters of the Nile,
and why go in the way of Assyria
to drink the Euphrates’ waters? [8]
Let your evil chastise you…
For of old you broke your yoke…
and you said, “I will not serve.” [9]
and under every lush tree
you lean back, a whore. [10]
And I, I planted you as a choice vine…
and how have you turned against Me
into a wayward alien vine?
Though you scrub with natron [11]
and use abundant lye,
your crime is stained before Me,
said the Master, the Lord.
Know what you have done.
(Like a female animal in heat, you lured pagan mates.)…
Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,
thus the house of Israel acted shamefully,
they, their kings, and their nobles
and their priests, and their prophets.
They say to a tree, “You are my father.”
and to a stone, “You gave birth to me. [12]…
And when disaster befalls them, they say,
“Arise and rescue us.”
And where are your gods that you made for yourself?
Let them rise and rescue when disaster befalls you.
(Here the rabbis leap ahead (out of context) to a later verse (Jeremiah 3:4) for the mandatory upbeat Haftorah ending.)
Have you now not called Me, “My father,”
You are the guide of my youth.
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Jeremiah here has written impressive Hebrew poetry. However to keep this essay under 1000 words, I have paraphrased and edited out a number of poetic lines, hopefully still securing Jeremiah’s message.
I have to say, in his criticism of the nation Judah, he unfairly blames its impending demise on its sinfulness. Realistically the fall to Babylon was inevitable, Judah being no match to that power. Jeremiah is too simple, i.e. ‘sinfulness alone causes downfall.’
Ironically, Jeremiah went into exile in Egypt, where he died.
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NOTES
[1] Etz Hayim,The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 972 An extensive indictment of widespread faithlessness, ingratitude, and apostasy, addressed to the entire nation. Reference to political alliances with Assyria and Egypt fit the final days of the Judean state, i.e. attempts at protection against conquest by mighty Babylon.
[2] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, p. 856 Mere breath is a pejorative epithet for foreign gods, who have no real existence. The idea is that those who worship emptiness turn themselves into emptiness.
[3] Ibid, Alter, p. 856 He takes license to claim Israel followed God willingly through the wilderness of Sinai. The book of Numbers indicates otherwise.
[4] Ibid, Alter, p. 857 Those with teaching skills taught erroneously. ‘Shepherds’ refers to rulers.
[5] Ibid, Alter, p. 858 Stored water, alas even from cracked cisterns, isn’t equivalent to the fresh fountain flow from God.
[6] Ibid, Alter, p. 858 Israel has become subject to foreign powers.
[7] Ibid, Alter p. 858 A metaphor for invading foreign armies.
[8] Ibid, Alter p. 858 This prophecy was probably proclaimed before 612 BCE, the year of final destruction of Assyria by Babylon. Some leaders in Judah imagined that an alliance with Assyria could save them fro Babylon.
[9] Christians adopted the Hebrew e-evoer to show willingness to serve.
[10] Op. Cit., Alter p. 859 Whoring is a metaphorical representation of idol worship. Note also that sexual acts were performed in pagan rites.
[11] A sodium carbonate compound used in laundering. This reminds of Lady Macbeth, “Out, Out damned spot.”
[12] Wood and stones were used to make idols.
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.