The haftara for Parshat Mishpatim describes the particularly desperate and tragic circumstances that preceded the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash. The connection to the parsha is by way of the mitzvot concerning Hebrew slaves, and the message of the navi Yirmiyahu emphasizes how and why we brought such terrible destruction upon ourselves.
Tzidkiyahu tried, as his father Yoshiyahu did before him, to return to the faithful service of Hashem and to lead Israel back on the path of righteousness. However, unfortunately, by this time the decadence and corruption of Israel was too deep and widespread and their efforts were doomed to failure. To an even greater extent than Yoshiyahu, Tzidkiyahu was compromised by reliance upon and trust in foreign rulers and their political machinations. He sought on the one hand to preserve his prerogative as the King of Israel and scion of the Davidic line, while on the other he groveled before his foreign masters and was also beholden to powerful interest groups among the elites of Israel. He was never truly at liberty to follow his own conscience, and he would not or could not be led by the counsel of Yirmiyahu.
Needless to say, things ended horribly for Tzidkiyahu, for the elites, and for all of Israel.
In the circumstances described by our haftara (Yirmiyahu 34:8-22), Tzidkiyahu has decreed that all Jewish slaves must be released in keeping with the laws introduced in our parsha. By this late stage of the first Judean commonwealth, these laws were no longer being obeyed and many people found themselves trapped in interminable, debasing servitude. In his commentary on the opening pasuk of the haftara, Malbim points out that most of the inhabitants of Judea at this time lived in fear of financial misfortune that would lead them to penury and ultimately to them and their families being sold into slavery.
When Tzidkiyahu decreed the freeing of the slaves, this wasn’t guided so much by sudden pangs of conscience but by cynical political opportunism. Malbim finds evidence of this in the description of the decree of Yirmiyahu as applying to the general inhabitants of Yerushalyim. The formulation “all the nation” seems calculated to exploit the upper classes and nobility. Malbim says this exemplifies how the nation had become divided into castes, separating the super-wealthy who didn’t fear impoverishment and a middle class who constantly confronted the fear of enslavement to their creditors.
The commentary of the Roke’ach on the haftara points out that the use of the term “Yehudi,” i.e., Jew, in this historical context is anachronistic and also unsuited to the subject matter. Traditionally the Israelite slave is described as “Eved Ivri,” the Hebrew slave, and not “Jewish” as in this passage. The Roke’ach sees in this an emphasis of the debasement of the glory of Hashem as embodied in His chosen people. Yehudi contains within it the letters of the Divine Name, and the very next word in the pasuk (ibid. 9) is an unusual term – “achihu” – which is taken to mean literally, “he is my brother.” That is to say, when Israel enslaves their own brothers, they are also enslaving the brothers of G-d and His very image and likeness on earth.
The navi Yirmiyahu is compelled to express that it is fitting that the nation stands to endure the tribulations and catastrophe that lie in store as they are all about to be treated in the ways they have treated each other. When, immediately upon being freed, the slaves are all returned to their servitude, the language used is “conquest,” as in, “they were conquered by their former masters.” This foreshadows the conquest of Yehuda and Yerushalayim by Nevuchadnezzar. When that event occurred, all of Israel was carried away as slaves and there was no longer a meaningful distinction to be made between the nobles and princes and the common people.
Furthermore, Tzidkiyahu’s attempts to curry the favor of foreign potentates and to be a clever politician did not avail him or us in any way. When the moral and spiritual level of Israel, and our willingness to be wantonly cruel to one another, required the remedy of exile, there was no possible solution short of complete teshuva – repentance. This was something that the leaders of Israel at that time were unequipped to inspire and “all the nation” lacked the tools to achieve in any event.
It is a gift to future generations that the navi Yirmiyahu took pains to record all these events in such detail, so that we might avoid making the same mistakes. When we are struck by misfortune, G-d forbid, since we don’t have prophets to lead us we should pay close attention to the circumstances and find ways that we can take personal responsibility to do better, so that matters don’t come to an even more horrible and tragic outcome.
