Parshat Bo

As was mentioned in last week’s article, the prophets Yirmiyahu and Yechezkel were contemporaries who prophesied at the time of churban Bayit Rishon, the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians: Yirmiyahu in Eretz Yisrael and Yechezkel in Bavel. Both the haftarah of this parsha and that of last week are words directed at Egypt and her treacherous behavior toward Israel. This week’s selection from Sefer Yirmiyahu is a nevuah given even before the Babylonian siege of Yerushalayim began and before the perfidious behavior of Judea’s supposed ally. The navi’s words were not, however, addressed to the Babylonian enemy but, as mentioned, to the Egyptian empire.

The criticism is based upon the mistaken reliance Yehuda had placed upon the might of the great Egyptian empire. Despite the repeated warning of Yirmiyahu that only Israel’s return to Hashem could save them from the Babylonian onslaught, the leaders of Yehuda chose to form an alliance with Egypt in the misguided assumption that Egypt’s might would save them from Bavel. But when the invasion, the siege and the ultimate defeat came, Egypt was nowhere to be found. For this reason, both nevi’im of the time directed their harsh words to Egypt and its leaders.

In this 46th perek of Sefer Yirmiyahu, the navi prophesizes two overwhelming defeats of Egypt that would be wrought by Bavel. The first defeat, described in the pesukim that precede the haftarah, would take place at Carchemish, when the Pharaoh would attempt to extend his power northward. The second, and more complete, defeat would come at the hands of the Babylonians when they invade Egypt. In the description of the defeat, Yirmiyahu includes the taunts of the Babylonians who describe the Egyptians as frightened and cowardly, and their boasts of military might as no more than pure bluster—something Israel learned when the Egyptian army failed to help them.

The description of the defeat of Egypt is reminiscent of the defeat it suffered by the hand of Hashem in the Torah reading, and the suffering they would endure connects to the plagues they received in the time of Moshe—especially as the Babylonian army is compared to “arbeh” locust, one of the plagues we read of in our parsha.

In closing, Yirmiyahu comforts and reassures Israel with the idea that, though she will suffer for her sins, God will never destroy her. The history of our nation stands as testimony to the veracity of the prophet’s words, both our suffering and our survival, as today we witness the fruition of the glorious prophetic visions of the final geula.

By Rabbi Neil N. Winkler

 Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.