MATOS
Yirmiyahu 1:1–2:3

Intense Prophetic Messages
This week begins a series of Haftarah readings that reflect the Jewish nation’s feelings each year during its last quarter. The series begins with intense visions of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash and the Jewish nation’s exile and concludes with an ongoing dialogue between Hashem and His people regarding His ultimate return to them in Zion.

Yirmiyahu’s Grounded Fears
Our Haftarah begins with Yirmiyahu’s reluctance to assume the role of prophet to his people. Yirmiyahu’s concern was based on his young age and inexperience to speak to an entire nation. Since he sensed the horrifying nature of the catastrophic messages he would be sent to deliver, he greatly feared the people’s livid response to his predictions. Hashem answered Yirmiyahu’s well-grounded fears and guaranteed his protection from strong opposition and harmful actions.
After that assurance, Yirmiyahu received his initial prophecy with the following introduction. “Hashem said to me, ’Behold I’ve placed My words in your mouth. I have appointed you today over the people and over the kingdoms: to uproot; to smash; to destroy; to overturn; to build and to plant’” (1:9,10)
This startling appointment and its introductory words suggest a uniqueness in Yirmiyahu’s prophetic nature. The phrase, “placed in your mouth” reflects a sense of exactness and that Yirmiyahu, on some level, would be speaking to the people and world nations as Hashem’s emissary sent to convey His exact message to its listeners. Radak sheds some light on this and explains that Yirmiyahu envisioned Hashem’s angel touching his mouth with a corrective property that enabled him to speak with clarity in a flowing fashion without fearing the reaction he would evoke.

Yirmiyahu’s Prophetic Resemblance to Moshe
To appreciate this point, let us view the uniqueness of Yirmiyahu’s prophetic nature through the Torah’s words and Chazal’s interpretation. The Torah in Parshas Shoftim recounts Moshe saying in Hashem’s name, “I will arrange a prophet from amongst them likened to you [Moshe] and I will place My words in his mouth, and he will speak to them that which I will command him.” (Devarim 18:15) Chazal raise a strong question regarding the wording “likened to you”. The Torah explicitly states at the end of Parshas V’zos Hab’racha that no one will ever attain Moshe’s exalted level of prophecy. If so, how could Hashem instruct Moshe to tell the Jewish people that He will arrange a prophet likened to Moshe, himself?
Chazal answer this and explain that Moshe was referring to one specific aspect of his prophecy, his rebuke. He revealed to the Jewish people that Hashem would ultimately charge a prophet with a similar role to that of Moshe. They explain that Moshe was undoubtedly referring to Yirmiyahu whose consistent, sharp words of rebuke were unparalleled by any prophet. They continue and compare the life-experiences of the two prophets. Each devoutly served his people for forty years and each was responsible for the entire nation’s ethical conduct. In addition, each faced severe opposition from their people for their harsh stand when defending Hashem’s honor. (Yalkut Shimoni 919)
One could question the high priority the Torah places on Yirmiyahu’s role of rebuke. Why did Hashem instruct Moshe Rabbeinu when informing the Jewish people of His prophecy program to isolate Yirmiyahu from all prophets and to make his prophecy Moshe’s primary focus?

Hashem’s Perfect Emissaries
A brief review of the introduction to prophecy stated in the Torah’s previous verses will clarify this matter. Moshe told the people, “Hashem will establish a prophet… as you requested… at Sinai saying, [that] ‘I should not continue envisioning Hashem’s voice and should never see this great fire, [so that] I will not perish.’ Hashem said… ‘They acted properly saying as they did.’” (Devarim 18:15-17)
Ramban explains that after the Jewish people’s overwhelming experience when receiving the Torah at Sinai, they felt incapable of enduring prophetic visions of that intense nature, and they therefore requested for all subsequent messages to be transmitted through a prophet. Ramban adds that in truth, their words were directed towards Moshe, as the Torah states, “You [Moshe] draw near and listen to all that Hashem says and you convey to us all that Hashem tells you and we will listen and do.” (Va’eschanan 5:2) Yet, since they requested never to collectively experience prophecy, in effect, they committed themselves to listen to any qualified prophet and to hearken to his words in the same manner they committed themselves to relate to Moshe’s words.
Ramban explains that Moshe, before parting from his people, explained to them the enormity of their commitment after receiving the Torah. In essence, they committed themselves to trusting any pious, holy person who would speak to them in Hashem’s Name. Since they requested from Hashem to transmit His messages through Moshe and committed to follow his words, their request, in effect, included the transmittal of all subsequent messages in the same manner. Accordingly, they committed to trust every pious, holy person to be Hashem’s emissary and to follow his words as if spoken by Hashem. (Ramban on Devarim 5:24, 18:16)

Yirmiyahu’s Exact and Piercing Words
We can now uncover Moshe’s hidden message about prophecy and his specific reference to Yirmiyahu. In fact, Mahari Kra points out here that the phrase “I will place My words in his mouth”, is the exact one the Torah uses when describing their future prophet of rebuke. We can explain that although during Moshe’s era the Jewish people committed themselves to listening to all his intense messages in place of envisioning Hashem’s penetrating words, in later generations their commitment would be subject to strong violation. After severely straying from Torah principle, the Jewish people would be prone to silencing their prophets and inhibiting them from transmitting their piercing words. Moshe was gravely concerned about this and warned them from the outset that their commitment to prophecy was eternally binding. To illustrate this point, he informed them in Hashem’s Name, that He would send a prophet whose piercing messages would be likened to those of Moshe, himself.
We now appreciate Yirmiyahu’s opening words and his ability to speak in a flowing fashion without fearing the reaction his words would evoke. He realized that his predictions of destruction and exile would require exact transmittal of Hashem’s piercing words, as if said directly by Him. Because of their severity, Yirmiyahu realized how difficult it would be to accurately present them and the extent of denial he would face. Once Hashem guaranteed his safety and endowed him with the ability of speaking with clarity in a flowing fashion without fear, he readily and faithfully accepted his mission.

Reactions to Rebuke
Providentially, our Haftarah is generally read in conjunction with Parshas Matos wherein the Torah records an encounter between Moshe Rabbeinu and two of the tribes of Israel. They innocently approached him after the Jewish people conquered the vast empire of Sichon and Og and requested those areas for their portion in the Promised Land. Moshe immediately rebuked them for the potential loss of morale their request would cause to the rest of the people and its devastating outcome. They accepted their rebuke and immediately committed themselves to lead the conquer of the rest of the Promised Land and only after its apportioning to its respective tribes, to return to their requested portion.
It seems that we read this Parsha together with our Haftarah to demonstrate the potential of the Jewish people’s response to rebuke. Although Yirmiyahu’s piercing messages were Hashem’s last resort to awaken His children to return to Him, the Jewish people had the potential within themselves to accept their rebuke, as was evidenced by two of the tribes’ earliest response to Moshe stilling words.
In our days, although the Jewish people no longer merit receiving prophetic messages of reprimand, Hashem continues to send messages to His beloved people through their collective experiences. May Hashem grace His nation to hearken to the stilling messages that He presently sends them and may we merit His overt salvation from the hands of all His foes, in the nearest future.