In פרק ג, we have the epicenter of the entire book. So, פרק ג clearly has a pretty important message for us, lets see what it is.
It starts of talking about this גבר. Who is the גבר? There are a few answers: Rashi says that it's ירמיהו giving a first person account of the destruction. The גבר uses similar words that ירמיהו has used to describe himself. The Ibn Ezra says that it's the universal man - any man and every man. It's coming to teach us how people react to trauma. I think either one really makes sense, but I like the Ibn Ezras idea because we're always told that the Torah relates to our lives, yet we rarely see that this is true. The idea of a universal man, that could really be any of us, makes it seem more relatable.
The first section, פסוקים א–כ, portrays the גבר as a complete individualist. He's totally self-absorbed, and it's all about him. He thinks that everything is happening to him arbitrarily and it's totally random. His affliction indicates the arbitrariness in the world. But he starts to evolve - he starts to realize he's being targeted, and it's not totally arbitrary. It's here that he accidentally says G-d's name - he's reminded of G-d and the floodgates open up. He's starting to remember that there is a G-d...
In the second section, פסוקים כא–לט, the גבר realizes that if G-d does the bad things, then he also does the good things. He realizes that the relationship is mendable. Once he remembers that there are characteristics of G-d that are good he realizes he can reconnect as well. He's starting to get his hope back. He realizes that sometimes people have to suffer and that it can be good. Through this we can recognize that everything comes from G-d. It takes him 39 פסוקים to realize that the destruction could've happened because of his sins.
In the third section, פסוקים מ–סו, we see the transformed man. His perspective/mentality has totally changed, even though the situation's the same. He's going back over what happened - but in a different context - he's saying "I get it, you're merciful, not evil." He switches to we - he rejoins the community and refers to the ברית between G-d and the people - that they would never be destroyed. He's telling everyone - let's do תשובה! He's saying that G-d was angry and destructive, but it was because we sinned, we deserved the destruction! He's asking G-d to be merciful even though we don't deserve it. He really wants the relationship with G-d and he asks Him to destroy his enemies as well.
The message is that we don't always see G-d's presence. Especially nowadays, it's really hard to find G-d in our busy, 21st century lives. We daven to him, but he doesn't really respond. It's difficult to have a relationship without Him responding, but we still do it. Also - it tells us something about תשובה - we deserve pain and suffering if we sin, but we can always repent and try to reconnect with G-d. Even though he doesn't answer, things always get better after a tragedy - isn't that a sign that He is there, listening to us?
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