Yirmiyahu 27 | The Yoke and the Bars

The idea of submission to Babylon has already been mentioned, but our chapter lays out the theology behind it in a structured and comprehensive manner. Yirmeyahu is commanded to take the reins and bars of a yoke and use them to demonstrate to all the nations — including Yehuda — God’s decree to submit to the king of Babylon.

Harav Yaakov Medan often references this prophecy in connection with Rashi’s famous first comment on the Torah. Rashi explains that the Torah begins with Bereishit to proclaim that God created the world and, by that right, chose to give the Land of Israel to His people. Harav Medan points out that this concept is actually derived from Yirmiyahu’s prophecy — not regarding Israel’s right to the land, but rather Nevukhadnetzar’s right to rule it: “It is I who made the earth - the humans and the animals upon the face of the earth – with My great might and My arm stretched forth … And now, I have delivered all these lands into the hands of Nevukhadnetzar, king of Babylon, My servant” (27:5-6).

In ordinary times, God granted the land to the people of Israel. However, as Harav Medan explains, Israel do not have a right to the land but rather a responsibility toward it. When they fail in their obligation to uphold the covenant with God while dwelling in the land, their sovereignty is revoked and transferred to others, as is happening in our chapter.

The prophecy of the reigns and bars marks the most dramatic turning point in Sefer Yirmiyahu. In the first part of the book, the prophet’s call was to repent and return to God, thereby preventing the coming calamity. However, the prophecy of the reigns and bars now assumes the calamity as a given fact. The expectation from the righteous is no longer to avert the catastrophe but to align with it. God expects those who obey Him to submit to the rule of the king of Babylon as the proper course of action for the time being. If Israel heeds Yirmiyahu’s words and surrenders to Nevukhadnetzar, their condition will be better: “‘But the nation that will submit its neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will leave upon its soil,’ declares the Lord. ‘They shall till it and dwell on it’” (27:11). This suggests that exile is not an inevitable fate. The decree of living under Nevukhadnetzar’s rule has already been set, but if the people of Israel listen to Yirmiyahu and cooperate with Babylon’s dominion, they will be able to remain in their land.

Of course, in this prophecy, Yirmiyahu must cope with the false prophets, who proclaim the exact opposite: “Do not listen to your prophets and diviners, your dreamers and soothsayers and sorcerers, who tell you not to serve the king of Babylon. For what they prophesy to you is false, with the result that it will remove you from your land. I will drive you away, and you will be lost. But the nation that will submit its neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will leave upon its soil," declares the Lord. ‘They shall till it and dwell on it’” (27:9-11).