{"id":57048,"date":"2019-06-06T17:21:57","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T14:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57048"},"modified":"2023-01-01T14:50:21","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T12:50:21","slug":"national-tragedy-and-moral-malaise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/national-tragedy-and-moral-malaise\/","title":{"rendered":"National Tragedy and Moral Malaise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[884,480,436],"acf":{"old_id":"57048","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":56960,"related_cahpter":"236","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"When the external situation finally matches the internal reality","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter depicts Israel going to war against the Philistines, and enduring national tragedies upon its defeat. Israel lost thirty-four thousand fighting men \u2013 sons, fathers, and brothers, who represented the potential of their generation. Israel lost the heirs to the priesthood, and the High Priest himself, the men who served as ritual intermediaries between God and the people. And Israel lost the Ark of the Covenant, that labor of love from the desert wanderings that signified the covenant between God and Israel, that symbolized God as <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adonai Tzva\u2019ot<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013God of Hosts who fights for Israel. That day, our ancestors might easily have concluded that our God was defeated on the field of battle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And yet, this defeat did not occur in a vacuum. A common trope depicted throughout Judges, Samuel, and Kings suggests that national disaster reflects the disastrous nature of Israel\u2019s moral character. In comment to our story, the Ralbag hints at this moral decline when he comments (1 Sam 4:1) that Israel failed to follow procedure by consulting the Urim and Thumim before marching to war, suggesting that their failure to consult God before war led to God\u2019s withdrawal of favor and subsequent defeat. But we know that this failure was just a symptom of a larger problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first three chapters of 1 Samuel introduce the state of the world in which he serves. As with the Israelite leaders who preceded him, Samuel began his mission during a time of moral decay. Chapter 2 describes Hophni and Phinehas, the High Priest\u2019s sons, as thugs, with Eli their father as little able or willing to curb their extortion and bullying. When access to the Holy One of Blessing is mediated by leaders who abuse their position and enrich themselves, then how much holiness and Divine presence was there in Israel to begin with?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This backdrop of priestly corruption and moral malaise, which reflected upon the deficient moral character of Israel as a whole, finally manifested itself in national tragedy. The external situation finally matched the internal reality.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":57050,"id":57050,"title":"isam4-inout","filename":"isam4-inout.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam4-inout.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/national-tragedy-and-moral-malaise\/isam4-inout\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam4-inout","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57048,"date":"2019-06-06 15:21:53","modified":"2019-06-06 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