{"id":34850,"date":"2018-07-22T17:19:59","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T14:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=34850"},"modified":"2022-02-13T14:32:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T12:32:49","slug":"extreme-lawlessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/extreme-lawlessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Lawlessness"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[400],"acf":{"old_id":"34850","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34261,"related_cahpter":"7","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"What could justify total destruction?","content":"

“And all flesh that stirred on earth perished\u2026 and all mankind All in whose nostrils was the merest breath of life, all that was on dry land, died” (Genesis 7:21-22).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tanakh describes the reason for the harsh punishment that God placed on humanity in the generation of Noah.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with <\/span>lawlessness\u2026 <\/b>God said to Noah, \u2018I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with <\/span>lawlessness <\/b>because of them… \u2019.\u201d (6:11-13)<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems that moral corruption led to physical corruption. What, exactly, <\/span>was<\/em> <\/span>this moral corruption? <\/span><\/p>\n

In the original Hebrew, the moral corruption is called <\/span>chamas<\/span><\/em> (\u05d7\u05b8\u05de\u05b8\u05e1)<\/span>.<\/span><\/i> According to the JPS translation used here, the word <\/span>chamas<\/span><\/em> means \u201clawlessness\u201d. But according to Rashi and Ibn Ezra, it translates as a specific kind of lawlessness: \u201crapine\u201d, which means violent robbery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, their observation was based on certain verses that mention together the words \u201crapine\u201d (\u05e9\u05c1\u05b9\u05d3<\/span> shode<\/span><\/em> \u2013 “robbery”) and \u201clawlessness” (<\/span>chamas<\/span><\/em>), as in the following verses:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Lawlessness (chamas)<\/b> and <\/span>rapine <\/b>are heard in her…\u201d (Jeremiah 6:7)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThus said the Lord GOD: Enough, princes of Israel! Make an end of <\/span>lawlessness (chamas)<\/b> and <\/span>rapine<\/b>, and do what is right and just!…\u201d (Ezekiel 45:8)<\/span><\/p>\n

However, elsewhere in the Bible, the word <\/span>chamas<\/span><\/em> signifies another kind of lawlessness: <\/span>murder<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the Book of Judges describes the slaughter of the seventy sons of Judge Jerubbaal by their brother Abimelech by using the word <\/span>chamas<\/span><\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cto the end that the <\/span>crime <\/b>(chamas) <\/em>committed against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be avenged, and their <\/span>blood<\/b> recoil upon their brother Abimelech, who had <\/span>slain <\/b>them, and upon the citizens of Shechem, who had abetted him in the <\/span>slaying <\/b>of his brothers.\u201d (Judges 9:24).<\/span><\/p>\n

And, the book of Ezekiel compares the word chamas<\/em> to bloody crimes:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cForge the chain, for the land is full of <\/span>bloody crimes<\/b>, and the city is full of <\/span>lawlessness <\/b>(chamas)<\/em>\u201d (Ezekiel 7:23).<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, we see that in the Bible lawlessness known as <\/span>chamas<\/em> <\/span>is associated not only with crimes against property (rapine – robbery), but also with crimes against human lives (murder – bloodshed). <\/span><\/p>\n

Defining the lawlessness, in which the generation of Noah was involved, as including moral crimes against human lives (murder) <\/span>and not only against human property <\/b>(robbery) helps us understand the severe punishment handed down by God for their sins.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Extreme Lawlessness","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"What could justify total destruction?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"old_create_date":"","links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101964,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34850\/revisions\/101964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}