{"id":62666,"date":"2019-09-10T10:52:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T07:52:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62666"},"modified":"2023-04-05T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:06:09","slug":"elijahs-cruel-indifference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elijahs-cruel-indifference\/","title":{"rendered":"Elijah\u2019s Cruel Indifference"},"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":[858,461,780],"acf":{"old_id":"62666","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33692,"related_cahpter":"304","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"God tries to teach him that it\u2019s time for compassion. Does he get the message?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The choice of the raven as the conveyor of food to Elijah demands some probing. On the one hand, the raven&#8217;s large size makes it ideal for transporting food. Furthermore, Noah also sends out a raven in search of a means of subsistence. Yet this parallel may point to a shared trait of Noah and Elijah \u2014 their extreme disengagement from society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the raven is an &#8220;unclean&#8221; bird (Lev. 11:15) and widely viewed in folklore as cruel. Psalms 147:9 speaks of the &#8220;offspring of the raven that call out,&#8221; and Job 38:41 adds that the raven fails to feed its young, leaving them hungry. Why does God choose this callous bird as His messenger? Malbim explains: [God] orchestrates His sustenance through ravens, which are cruel by nature, so [Elijah] should remember that he similarly has been cruel to the nation, killing them by famine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashi adopts a similar approach regarding the drying of the water in the wadi: &#8220;The wadi dried up&#8221; (17:7) \u2014 So [Elijah] would understand the need for rain&#8230;for it was severe in God&#8217;s eyes that Israel was dying by famine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These commentators view Elijah as actively withholding the rainfall; God utilizes a variety of media to indicate to him that the time has come to exercise compassion. Elijah, however, appears to be impervious God&#8217;s prompting. This line of thinking is valid regarding the widow in Zarephath as well. In the introductory scene, we are witness to a dreadful image, as the widow collects a few twigs in order to cook her last meager rations \u2014 a little flour and oil. Elijah arrives and requests water, then food. He adds insult to injury by insisting that she &#8220;make me a small cake first, and bring it to me, and for you and your son afterward&#8221; (17:13). How can Elijah be so insensitive? Does he not see the woman&#8217;s suffering? Even if he knows God will perform a miracle (17:14), is this emotional indifference necessary?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alex Israel, <em>1 Kings: Torn in Two<\/em>, Maggid Books, 2013, Three Years of Drought and Three Miracles\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61437,"id":61437,"title":"alex israel - kings 1","filename":"alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/adonijahs-scheme-to-ascend-the-throne\/alex-israel-kings-1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-kings-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61414,"date":"2019-08-19 12:13:44","modified":"2019-08-19 12:13:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1020,"height":1304,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-235x300.jpg","medium-width":235,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-768x982.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":982,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-801x1024.jpg","large-width":801,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1020,"1536x1536-height":1304,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1020,"2048x2048-height":1304,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-939x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":939,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-329x420.jpg","home_baner-width":329,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Excerpts from: 1 Kings - Torn in Two","main_caption":"Elijah\u2019s Cruel Indifference","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"God tries to teach him that it\u2019s time for compassion. Does he get the message?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":61437,"id":61437,"title":"alex israel - kings 1","filename":"alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/adonijahs-scheme-to-ascend-the-throne\/alex-israel-kings-1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-kings-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61414,"date":"2019-08-19 12:13:44","modified":"2019-08-19 12:13:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1020,"height":1304,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-235x300.jpg","medium-width":235,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-768x982.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":982,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-801x1024.jpg","large-width":801,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1020,"1536x1536-height":1304,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1020,"2048x2048-height":1304,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-939x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":939,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-329x420.jpg","home_baner-width":329,"home_baner-height":420}},"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\/62666"}],"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=62666"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114011,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62666\/revisions\/114011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}