{"id":43343,"date":"2018-11-04T19:13:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-04T17:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=43343"},"modified":"2022-05-29T17:54:22","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T14:54:22","slug":"not-his-finest-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/not-his-finest-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Not His Finest Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[620,695,469,390],"acf":{"old_id":"43343","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34235,"related_cahpter":"82","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Aaron didn\u2019t break the mold - but perhaps he should\u2019ve ","content":"<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aaron took the gold from them, cast it into a mold and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed \u201cThis is your god Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.\u201d Not our finest moment as a people. Not the finest moment for the future high priest, not the finest reaction by Joshua who, from a distance, can\u2019t determine the naughtiness of the noise. Not the finest moment for God, who denies his relationship with the Israel: \u201cThe Lord said to Moses \u2018Hurry down Moses for your people, who you brought out of Egypt have acted basely.<\/span><b>\u2019\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is perhaps the finest moment for Moses, whose intervention as defender of Israel in front of an enraged God saved the people from destruction. The chapter in its entirety perfectly illustrates the precarious position of the prophet, simultaneously God\u2019s prosecutor and the people\u2019s defendant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the Israelites would continue to challenge both Moses and God for the next forty years, constantly complaining about the poor service they will receive, this monumental mistake is different. It is far worse, and not just because of the timing, also because of the mold: <em>c<\/em><\/span><em>heret<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The commentaries debate the exact meaning of the word. The majority render it as some sort of mold in which the gold was fashioned into its calf-like appearance, others in the sense of binding a garment together. But the true significance of the word is related to a group of people that we met earlier in Exodus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During his second confrontation with Pharaoh, Moses starts showing off God\u2019s wonders. Aaron throws his staff onto the ground and it transforms into a serpent. Apparently unimpressed, and not scared of snakes, Pharaoh calls for his wise men and sorceress \u201cand the Egyptian magicians (<em>c<\/em><\/span><em>hartumim<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) in turn, did the same with their spells. (Exodus 7:11) Four more times over the course of chapters seven and eight the <em>chartumim<\/em> are mentioned, successfully turning water into blood, and bringing frogs form the Nile. When they can\u2019t replicate the third plague of lice the magicians proclaim, \u201cthis is the finger of God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"direction: ltr;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What the \u201c<em>cheret<\/em>\u201d in our chapter is doesn\u2019t really matter, but by using a familiar root the text is telling us that Aaron is employing the tricks of Pharaoh\u2019s <em>chartumim<\/em>. Without Moses he has regressed to Egyptian life. It was not the Almighty God who took you out of Egypt, it was the <em>cheret<\/em>, it was a power akin to Pharaoh\u2019s magicians \u2018this is your god who took you out of Egypt.\u2019 It is no wonder that God is enraged, that perhaps He was ready to throw the people into a <em>cheret<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63680,"id":63680,"title":"2kings10-golden-calf","filename":"2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/holy-cows\/2kings10-golden-calf\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings10-golden-calf","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63679,"date":"2019-10-01 05:05:05","modified":"2022-05-29 14:54:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":640,"height":426,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":426,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":426,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":426,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":426,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":426,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf-631x420.jpg","home_baner-width":631,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Not His Finest Moment","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Aaron didn\u2019t break the mold - 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