Be Comforted: Haftarah Shabbat Nachamu

(1) Comfort, oh comfort My people, Says your God. (2) Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, And declare to her That her term of service is over, That her iniquity is expiated; For she has received at the hand of the Lord Double for all her sins. (3) A voice rings out: “Clear in the desert A road for the Lord! Level in the wilderness A highway for our God! (4) Let every valley be raised, Every hill and mount made low. Let the rugged ground become level And the ridges become a plain. (5) The Presence of the Lord shall appear, And all flesh, as one, shall behold— For the Lord Godself has spoken.” (6) A voice rings out: “Proclaim!” Another asks, “What shall I proclaim?” “All flesh is grass, All its goodness like flowers of the field: (7) Grass withers, flowers fade When the breath of the Lord blows on them. Indeed, man is but grass: (8) Grass withers, flowers fade— But the word of our God is always fulfilled!” (9) Ascend a lofty mountain, O herald of joy to Zion; Raise your voice with power, O herald of joy to Jerusalem— Raise it, have no fear; Announce to the cities of Judah: Behold your God! (10) Behold, the Lord GOD comes in might, And His arm wins triumph for God; See, His reward is with God, His recompense before God. (11) Like a shepherd God pastures God's flock: God gathers the lambs in God's arms And carries them in God's bosom; Gently God drives the mother sheep. (12) Who measured the waters with the hollow of God hand, And gauged the skies with a span, And meted earth’s dust with a measure, And weighed the mountains with a scale And the hills with a balance? (13) Who has plumbed the mind of the Lord, What man could tell Him His plan? (14) Whom did He consult, and who taught Him, Guided Him in the way of right? Who guided Him in knowledge And showed Him the path of wisdom? (15) The nations are but a drop in a bucket, Reckoned as dust on a balance; The very coastlands He lifts like motes. (16) Lebanon is not fuel enough, Nor its beasts enough for sacrifice. (17) All nations are as naught in His sight; He accounts them as less than nothing. (18) To whom, then, can you liken God, What form compare to Him? (19) The idol? A woodworker shaped it, And a smith overlaid it with gold, Forging links of silver. (20) As a gift, he chooses the mulberry— A wood that does not rot— Then seeks a skillful woodworker To make a firm idol, That will not topple. (21) Do you not know? Have you not heard? Have you not been told From the very first? Have you not discerned How the earth was founded? (22) It is He who is enthroned above the vault of the earth, So that its inhabitants seem as grasshoppers; Who spread out the skies like gauze, Stretched them out like a tent to dwell in. (23) He brings potentates to naught, Makes rulers of the earth as nothing. (24) Hardly are they planted, Hardly are they sown, Hardly has their stem Taken root in earth, When He blows upon them and they dry up, And the storm bears them off like straw. (25) To whom, then, can you liken Me, To whom can I be compared? —says the Holy One. (26) Lift high your eyes and see: Who created these? He who sends out their host by count, Who calls them each by name: Because of His great might and vast power, Not one fails to appear.

(3) Comfort, etc. God addresses God's prophet or the chiefs of the people. The repetition of the words Comfort ye is to indicate, that the comfort is to be administered immediately or repeatedly.

It is written in Psalms a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear Him." In the eyes of humans, it is understood that the compassion of mothers is greater as we learn in the Midrash that it is the practice of mothers to comfort and fathers to have compassion. That compassion serves the purpose of giving direction and it is why a father pushes their child to school and doesn't pay much attention to the pain of the child. But the mother empathizes with that pain and tries to remove it, and this is called nechama. This is why the prophet says that it is really the will of God to make it good for them in the end, as it is written "Bear in mind that the LORD your God disciplines you just as a man disciplines his son." Yet, at certain moments, God also comes as a comforter, to speak to our hearts, to remove our pain, and to give us compassion. This is why it says here nachamu nachamu...

(1) The description here is of Zion herself as the herald, and so too Jerusalem. It says - you Zion the herald go up on a high mountain and you Jerusalem raise your voice with strength, don't be afraid lest the thing which you announce not come to pass, because it certainly will come. Not only this but also say to the cities of Yehudah 'here is your Gd' as if you are pointing to something which has already come and exists. I already explained in many places that in Zion was the seat of the king, the Sanhedrin and the place of the Holy Temple, while in Jerusalem dwelt the masses. Zion announces that He has returned His Presence to Zion and the kingship and the priesthood. Therefore the prophet advised him to ascend a high mountain. Jerusalem announces the ingathering of the exiles, therefore the prophet advised her to raise her voice in strength in order that those driven away hear and be gathered from the four corners of the heavens.

A certain heretic said to Rabbi Avina: It is written: “And who is like Your people, Israel, one nation in the earth” (II Samuel 7:23). The heretic asked: What is your greatness? You are also mixed together with us, as it is written: “All nations before Him are as nothing; they are counted by Him less than nothing and vanity” (Isaiah 40:17). Rabbi Avina said to him: One of yours, the gentile prophet Balaam, has already testified for us, as it is written: “It is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9), teaching that where the verse mentions “the nations,” the Jewish people are not included.

For they are nullified in reality against God because God is operating with wisdom that does not require the help of rulers. There is a distinction between potentates and judges, for the potentates are the princes of advice and the Judges are appointed for issues of justice. A king of flesh and blood who has limits in their wisdom requires sage advice and the people of the state require the judges discretion to solve their miscarriages of justice...but God is the exact opposite.