By Rabbi Dovid Sapirman, Dean, Ani Maamin Foundation
In Yirmiyahu’s very first prophecy, he was told that the punishment of Eretz Yehuda would come from the north, a reference to Nevuchadnetzar, king of Bavel. However, this prophecy was made 21 years before Nevuchadnetzar ever rose to power.
The reigns of the last three kings of Yehuda, in the decades leading up to the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash, were chaotic. Yehoyakim, a vicious rasha, sat on the throne for 11 years, committing sins not out of mere appetite but out of spite against Hashem. In the third year of his reign, Nevuchadnetzar became king. A year later, Bavel conquered Yerushalayim and turned Yehuda into a vassal state.
At this time, Yirmiyahu was in prison. He had been arrested for publicly making prophecies that the people did not want to hear. In fact, it was at this very time, in the fourth year of Yehoyakim’s reign, that Megillas Eicha was written. Yirmiyahu dictated it to his talmid Baruch ben Neriyah from in jail, with the punishments written in the past tense as directed by Hashem. He instructed Baruch to wait until a public fast day, when all the people of the surrounding cities would come to the Beis Hamikdash to daven. Then he was to read the Megillah publicly.
It was a long wait, but finally a public fast was proclaimed due to the impending threat of Nevuchadnetzar. Baruch did as he had been instructed, reading Megillas Eicha to the assembled crowd. Some government ministers were in the crowd, and were frightened by what they heard. Eventually, the Megillah was brought before the king.
The first four pesukim made no impact. As the king heard descriptions of the desolation that would befall Eretz Yehuda, he shrugged it off, saying, “I will still be king.” The fifth pasuk—hayu tzareha l’rosh, her enemies will become her master—infuriated him. “So I will not be king anymore?” In his anger, he took a blade and cut up the Megillah, then threw it into the fireplace. He was ready to execute both Yirmiyahu and Baruch.
Sadly, these were the depths of wickedness to which a descendant of David Hamelech had sunk. Although Yehoyakim was more evil than most, the resistance to change and the reluctance to take the nevi’im seriously was typical of the generation. It was still 18 years before the churban, and there was still time to do teshuvah.
