ירמיהו, פרק י״ז, פסוק ג׳

The impending punishment of Judah and Jerusalem brings a devastating wave of economic and religious ruin. As the prophet delivers his harsh rebuke, he paints a vivid picture of a nation about to lose its wealth and its centers of worship to enemy plunder. The prophet's address to a mountain in a field is understood by the primary approach among commentators as a poetic reference to Jerusalem or the mountainous region of Judah, which is surrounded by broad plains [רש״י, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. A more tragic perspective views this as an image of Mount Zion left entirely isolated, standing alone like an open field after all the neighboring cities have been reduced to rubble [מלבי״ם]. Alternatively, this description may not be geographical at all, but rather a reference to the people themselves. The inhabitants of Judah and Israel are characterized by this imagery because of their widespread practice of worshiping idols on the hilltops and in the open fields [רש״י, רד״ק, מצודת דוד, צאינה וראינה].

Because of these deep-seated sins, a severe penalty is decreed. All of the nation's financial resources, wealth, and accumulated treasures will be handed over to the enemy as spoil [רוב הפרשנים]. Connecting this punishment back to the imagery of the field, the invading armies will unearth the nation's hidden riches and drag them out into the open plains where their military camps are stationed. There, the enemy will divide the plundered wealth among themselves [רד״ק, מצודת דוד].

The root cause of this total devastation is the vast network of altars built for idol worship [מצודת ציון]. The destruction serves as a direct punishment for the sin of erecting these foreign altars, which were scattered across every border of the land until not a single area was free of them [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, רש״י]. Furthermore, because these altars are inherently bound up with corruption, they will not be spared. The altars and the foreign idols placed upon them will be completely destroyed and hauled away as loot, suffering the exact same fate as the rest of the nation's treasured wealth [מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ, צאינה וראינה].