{"id":55454,"date":"2019-05-14T13:26:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T10:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=55454"},"modified":"2022-12-06T09:15:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T07:15:46","slug":"to-kill-a-mocking-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/to-kill-a-mocking-king\/","title":{"rendered":"To Kill A Mocking King"},"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":[373,625,428,463],"acf":{"old_id":"55454","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":54149,"related_cahpter":"219","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Some parenting lessons on violence from Gideon and Atticus Finch","content":"

Judges 8:20-21 reports: \u201cAnd he commanded his oldest son Jether, \u2018Go kill them!\u2019 But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was timid, being still a boy. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, \u2018Come, you slay us; for strength comes with manhood.\u2019 So Gideon went over and killed Zebah and Zalmunna\u2026 .\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After capturing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian, Gideon does something unexpected. Rather than kill them, he instructs his son Jether to do it. Jether refuses and Gideon ultimately does it himself. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This calls to mind two similar parenting decisions in <\/span>To Kill A Mockingbird<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first, Bob Ewell forces his daughter Mayella to accuse an innocent Tom Robinson of raping her to protect the reputation of Mayella and her family. This seems like unambiguously bad parenting. Mayella learns that lying to protect yourself is fine, even if it means ruining another person\u2019s life. There are hints in the book that, left to her own devices, Mayella <\/span>had potential and was better than her surroundings and upbringing. <\/span>“Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly\u2026 People said they were Mayella Ewell’s.”<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In contrast, Atticus Finch is faced with a similar but more ethically ambiguous scenario. Bob Ewell tries to kill Atticus\u2019s children, Scout and Jem but Boo Radley, the Finch\u2019s mysterious neighbor, defends the children. In the process, Bob ends up dead with his own knife in his side. Wanting to protect the reclusive Radley from the spectacle of a trial, the sheriff tells Atticus that he is going to conclude that Bob fell on his own knife. Atticus is troubled by the message this will send to his children, who are smart enough to know that this may not be true. However, at the insistence of the sheriff, Atticus relents. In many ways, Atticus is acting similarly to Bob Ewell by expecting his children to keep silent to preserve a falsehood.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, I think there is an important distinction between the actions of Bob Ewell and Atticus. Bob Ewell forced Mayella to go against her nature at the expense of an innocent third party. Atticus is asking Scout and Jem to go against their nature <\/span>to protect<\/span><\/i> an innocent third party. The situations are similar but the lessons are different.<\/span><\/p>\n

While distinct in some respects from both Atticus and Bob Ewell, Gideon\u2019s lesson to Jether seems more similar to Atticus than Bob Ewell. Gideon is a famous warrior, whose main accomplishments in life were achieved by the sword. In asking Jether to kill Zebah and Zalmunna, against Jether\u2019s nature, Gideon was trying to make Jether a better person, at least in the way Gideon saw the world. Gideon was acting with Jether\u2019s wellbeing in mind, and not out of self-interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Written by Aviva Schilowitz together with her father Eli Schilowitz<\/span><\/p>\n

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