In the beginning of this week, we looked at what messages can be taken from the גלות שומרון by the Assyrians and by בני ישראל. The message to the people was that since they sinned, Hashem will send the Assyrians to attack them until only 1/10 of the nation remains. Eventually, the 1/10 remnant will return to Hashem, when they realize He is the one with true power and control. This reassures יהודה that there will be a "light at the end of the tunnel". There will ample amounts of destruction but there will come a time when they return to Hashem.
The message to the Assyrians was similar: that they are just Hashem's puppets, his pawns. Hashem is the "puppeteer". They are successful because Hashem is allowing them to be in order to punish יהודה. Their haughtiness in thinking they were the cause of their conquest of יהודה will be their destruction- they will be conquered by the Babylonians and sent out of the land.
A question that could be asked would be that since the people haven't listened to any of the messages given before, why would they listen to this one? They probably won't, which begs the question, if Hashem knows this, why would He send this message? A possible answer could be that when the attack comes, יהודה would upset to learn they had not been warned and turn their back completely on Hashem.
We also discussed the qualities of a good bad leader. The leaders of יהודה were highly corrupted; they were arrogant, they mistreated the downtrodden, and had no care for Hashem. They embraced revelry and hedonism. An ideal leader would judge fairly- reward the righteous, punish evil, etc. They would have the spirit of wisdom from Hashem and fear Hashem. Their actions would be to influence the people to follow Hashem. They would act with יראת ה instead of their own intentions. This would counterbalance the actions of the people; it is a direct contrast to the skewed perspective of the people. Instead of using military weapons (sheer force, etc.), he will use צדק and אמונה as his weapons.
Looking into פרק יא-יב we saw the prediction for an ideal world. In it a descendant of ישי is described as an ideal leader- Hashem's spirit of wisdom rests on him, fears Hashem, etc. Continuing on it describes an ideal world where enemies and foes live together in peace because Hashem's spirit rests on the land. It then says that Hashem is going to gather the dispersed among the nations from all over the world. אפרים and יהודה will no longer fight. This is when Hashem will allow the remnant to return to Him. Hashem will be highly praised and thanked throughout all of the lands and the people will celebrated in joy. This entire description can be depicted as the coming of משיח, although the Christians take this description as the coming of Jesus.
This vision completely contrasts the situation of the people then and even our situation today. The people then are on the brink of destruction and pain and suffering. Sadly, our world today is hardly different. Countries all of the world are constantly at war with each other, the easiest example of which would be the Middle East. This does not even come close to the vision described in these פרקים. The "lion and lamb" certainly are not living together in harmony. The circumstances of our world are our fault just as much as the people of יהודה's situation was theirs. Our constant battle with those who wish to destroy us should be our wake-up call. That we are the cause of our exile and destruction. We must change our ways so משיח will come and Hashem will return us to Him.
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