God Testifies for Harm but Never for Good

Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Yose the Galilean said: Israel said before the Holy One, "Master of the worlds, if we repent, who will testify on our behalf?" He said to them, "For harm I will become a witness for you, but for good I will not become a witness for you." For harm I will become a witness for you: "And I will come near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness" (Malachi 3:5). But for good I will not become a witness for you. Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah were false prophets, and they would commit adultery with the wives of their fellows, as it is written, "Because they have committed villainy in Israel, and committed adultery with their neighbors' wives" (Jeremiah 29:23). And what would they do? One of them would go to a woman and say, "I have seen in my prophecy that your fellow [Zedekiah] will come to you, and you will raise up a prophet in Israel." And this one would act as go-between for that one, and that one for this one. And when their time came to fall, they went to the wife of Nebuchadnezzar. They said to her thus and so. She said, "I can do nothing without the king's knowledge." And when Nebuchadnezzar came, she told him thus and so. He said, "Is it possible? The God of this nation hates lewdness. Rather, I will test them as I tested Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. If they are saved, well; and if not, they are false prophets." What did he do? He made for them a kind of bronze frying pan, full of holes, and put them into it and kindled a fire beneath them. And when they saw that their trouble was real, they associated Joshua son of Jehozadak the High Priest with them, saying, "Perhaps by his merit we will be saved." What did the Holy One do to them? They were burned and he was saved, "Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" (Zechariah 3:2). This is what is written, "And from them shall be taken up a curse for all the captivity of Judah" (Jeremiah 29:22) - it does not say "whom the king of Babylon burned," but "whom the king of Babylon roasted (kalam) in the fire" (Jeremiah 29:22) - roasted like these roasted grains (kelayot).