{"id":36652,"date":"2018-08-01T23:23:07","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T20:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=36652"},"modified":"2022-02-22T17:26:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T15:26:10","slug":"whats-so-special-about-the-patriarchs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/whats-so-special-about-the-patriarchs\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s So Special About The Patriarchs?"},"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":[375,354,400],"acf":{"old_id":"36652","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33923,"related_cahpter":"15","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"There is an answer - but it is an unexpected one...","content":"

So what is special about the patriarchs?<\/span><\/p>\n

They seem to teach no new principle of faith. Other than childbirth and rescue from danger, God performs no world-transforming miracles through them. They deliver no prophecies to the people of their generation. Other than an ambiguous hint when the Torah says that Abraham took with him on his journey \u201cthe souls they had gathered\u201d (12:5), which may refer to converts they had made, but may equally merely refer to their servants, they attracted no disciples. There is nothing explicit in the text that says they sought to persuade people of the truth of monotheism or that they did battle against idolatry. At most there is a story about how Rachel stole her father\u2019s teraphim (31:19) which may or may not have been idols.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be sure, a persistent theme of the patriarchal stories is the two promises God made to each of them, [1] that they would have many descendants and [2] they would inherit the land of Canaan. But God also makes promises to Ishmael and Esau, and the Torah seems to go out of its way to tell us that these promises were fulfilled for them before they were fulfilled for the children of the covenant (see Gen. 25:12-18 for the account of Ishmael\u2019s children, and Gen. 36 for those of Esau). About Esau\u2019s children, for example, it says, \u201cThese are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the Israelites\u201d (36:31).<\/span><\/p>\n

So the question is real and puzzling. What was different about the patriarchs? What new did they bring to the world? What difference did monotheism make in their day?<\/span><\/p>\n

There is an answer but it is an unexpected one. One theme appears no less than six (possibly even seven) times. Whenever a member of the covenantal family leaves his or her own space and enters the wider world of their contemporaries, they encounter a world of sexual free-for-all.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, there is a continuing theme in Genesis 12-50, a contrast between the people of the Abrahamic covenant and their neighbours, but it is not about idolatry, but rather about adultery, promiscuity, sexual license, seduction, rape and sexually motivated violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

This gives us an entirely new way of thinking about Abrahamic faith. Emunah, the Hebrew word normally translated as faith, does not mean what it is taken to mean in English: a body of dogma, a set of principles, or a cluster of beliefs often held on non-rational grounds. Emunah means faithfulness, loyalty, fidelity, honouring your commitments, doing what you said you would do and acting in such a way as to inspire trust. It has to do with relationships, first and foremost with marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":47984,"id":47984,"title":"Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit","filename":"Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/patriarchal-and-matriarchal-merit\/num23-patriarchal-and-matriarchal-merit\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"num23-patriarchal-and-matriarchal-merit","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":47983,"date":"2019-01-23 08:42:47","modified":"2022-02-22 15:26:08","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit.jpg","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit.jpg","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit.jpg","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit.jpg","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit.jpg","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Num23-Patriarchal-and-Matriarchal-Merit-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"What's So Special About The Patriarchs?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"There is an answer - 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