{"id":56315,"date":"2019-05-28T15:59:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T12:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=56315"},"modified":"2022-12-20T17:28:24","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T15:28:24","slug":"the-trauma-of-anarchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-trauma-of-anarchy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trauma of Anarchy"},"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":[606,588],"acf":{"old_id":"56315","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":49926,"related_cahpter":"229","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The traumas of Judges teach us that breaking out of the cycle of trauma can itself be traumatic","content":"

The theme of the last five chapters of Judges is, \u201cIn those days there was no king in Israel; every person did what was right in their own eyes.\u201d The two stories contained across these chapters are two of the most shocking, traumatic, violent, and twisted stories in all of Tanach. Chapter 18 starts off with the first half of this verse, and proceeds to tell the second and more disturbing half of the story of Micah, the operator of his very own cultic centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of these five chapters deals with a different kind of pain and suffering. In chapter 17, we have the breakdown of trust in a parent-child relationship, and earnest but flawed service of God. In chapter 19, we see trauma and violence perpetrated by poor hospitality and oppressive misogyny. In chapter 20, we witness the desolation and grief inherent in even a just civil war. In chapter 21, we experience the shock and sorrow of massacre, and the fraught and hopeless attempts to rebuild what was lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 18 is ultimately a story of the tribe of Dan\u2019s trauma: chased from their ancestral home, seeking security and peace, they stumbled upon Micah and his little temple. What catches their attention, what brings them to Micah, is in fact the voice of the Levite who is serving in Micah\u2019s temple. They hear something familiar, something safe. They latch on to that safety, but because they are in the midst of trauma, they decide to take that safety by force. They make this same decision again later in the chapter \u2013with much more violent consequences\u2013 when they capture and annihilate the inhabitants of pacifist Laish.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the traumas of \u201cthere was no king in Israel\u201d. These are the traumas of a divided nation, of tribes sundered from their kin, of living in fear and reaching out for safety, only to cause even more harm. The entire book of Judges is about the dangers of anarchy, and these chapters are the peak of that message.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what, ultimately, does the Tanach say is the reason for this? \u201cEvery person did what was right in their own eyes\u201d. Each person only did what was best for <\/span>them<\/span><\/i>, what <\/span>they<\/span><\/i> felt was right. There was no temporal king to guide them, and they forgot the guidance of the True King. The traumas of Judges teach us that breaking out of the cycle of trauma can itself be traumatic. <\/span><\/p>\n

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