{"id":47383,"date":"2019-01-13T10:54:02","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T08:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=47383"},"modified":"2022-08-01T16:54:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T13:54:22","slug":"complaining-and-desiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/complaining-and-desiring\/","title":{"rendered":"Complaining And Desiring"},"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":[803,547,400],"acf":{"old_id":"47383","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34004,"related_cahpter":"128","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The intensified presence of God after Sinai makes demands that expose the people to the hazards of intimacy with the sacred","content":"

Even though it is ultimately the sin of the Spies that decides their fate, the earlier sins, which are recorded immediately after Moses\u2019 ecstatic speech to Jethro, have the immediate effect of disrupting the three-day fantasy of instant arrival. There are two such narratives: they \u201ccomplain,\u201d or \u201cbewail themselves\u201d (Num. 11:1), and they are \u201cfilled with desire\u201d (11:4). From this point until the narrative of the Spies and the loss of the generation–that is, over ten weeks–the history of that catastrophe unfolds.<\/span><\/p>\n

The narrative of the Spies, I suggest, has its roots much earlier in the story. But beginnings are always elusive; they recede as we pursue them. It is possible to conceive of many histories, many beginnings and endings. We are pursuing the particular history that is framed within the \u00a0book of Numbers-a history that flares destructively with the narrative of the Spies but that neither begins nor ends there.<\/span><\/p>\n

This narrative begins with the sins recorded in our chapter. Complaint and desire speak here. Indeed, it is striking that these sins are exclusively sins of <\/span>speech<\/span><\/em>. Nothing actually happens. But their complaints are \u201cevil\u201d (<\/span>ra<\/span><\/em>) in the ears of God, and their desire is \u201cevil\u201d in the eyes of Moses, who then complains to God about the \u201cevil\u201d that He has done to Moses (Num. 11:11). The atmosphere is full of words, and tears, and cries. A sense of evil pervades.<\/span><\/p>\n

The people\u2019s actual complaint is not recorded; it is evoked by the word <\/span>mit\u2019onenim<\/span><\/em>, which suggests a posturing dissatisfaction, suffused with <\/span>ra<\/span><\/em>, a querulous, reflexive tonality that penetrates \u201cGod\u2019s ears.\u201d They are instantly punished.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps, suggests Ha\u2019amek Davar, because of their recent encounter with God, they are still trailing clouds of glory from Sinai; God\u2019s presence is still palpable, with its attendant hazards. In this heightened state, every word, every whisper of <\/span>ra<\/span><\/em>, is instantly registered and exacts its immediate retribution.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this reading, Ha\u2019amek Davar is pursuing a theme that he sees as pervasive in the book of Numbers. The intensified presence of God after Sinai makes demands that expose the people to the hazards of intimacy with the sacred. A world visited by Revelation creates a combustible atmosphere for human complexity. And indeed, fire breaks out, and subsides only after Moses prays.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Complaining And Desiring","main_caption":"The intensified presence of God after Sinai makes demands that expose the people to the hazards of intimacy with the sacred","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","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":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47383"}],"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=47383"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106903,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47383\/revisions\/106903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}