{"id":62670,"date":"2019-09-10T11:11:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T08:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62670"},"modified":"2023-04-05T17:21:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:21:05","slug":"elijahs-dramatic-pedagogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elijahs-dramatic-pedagogy\/","title":{"rendered":"Elijah\u2019s Dramatic Pedagogy"},"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":[929,858,429,387],"acf":{"old_id":"62670","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33692,"related_cahpter":"305","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"His repair of the altar teaches unity and repentance","content":"

Elijah masterminds the day in order to manipulate its events to maximal advantage. For the first half of the day, Elijah remains passive, simply waiting, allowing the prophets of Baal to occupy the audience’s attention. The prophets dance all morning, and the text describes this movement with the verb <\/span>p-s-h\u0302<\/span><\/i> (18:26), the same language used to describe Israel’s religious oscillation (18:21), indicating that the nation’s “wavering between two opinions” is tantamount to Baal worship.<\/span><\/p>\n

By noon, the Baal worship has yielded no heavenly fire, and the Israelites are bored. Now Elijah has everyone’s attention. He taunts the priests of Baal, using cynicism and comedy; his stand-up routine is something new and entertaining. This tactic throws the Baal prophets into a desperate frenzy, as they raise their voices and slash themselves with sharp blades until they bleed (18:28).<\/span><\/p>\n

The text highlights the absence of any response to the antics of these prophets. In the morning, we are told that “there was no voice and no response” (18:26). By late afternoon, the lack of response is stronger: “…no voice, no response, no one listening” (18:29).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elijah has exhausted the opposition and exposed its inability to produce fire from heaven. But he is not interested merely in proving God’s power; he seeks to heal the nation, spurring it to respond. Late in the day, he beckons the people with the same verb, <\/span>vayigash<\/span><\/em>, that was previously met with silence: “Approach me!” he says. This time, without hesitation, “the entire nation approached him” (18:30). Elijah uses symbols to represent the heritage and unity of Israel:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. He repairs the altar with twelve stones (18:31).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. He instructs the people to pour twelve jugs of water (four jugs, three times) (18:33-34).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. He prays to “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel” (18:36).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Continuing the education of his audience, Elijah repairs the altar rather than building a new one; thus he conveys that there is room for <\/span>teshuva<\/span><\/em>, repentance and rehabilitation. The number twelve is particularly interesting, given that we are discussing a kingdom split into two, with only a fraction of the tribes belonging to the northern kingdom. Nonetheless, Elijah establishes that the nation is one, all descended from a single Jacob. And ever since Jacob, God has not changed His relationship to His people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Alex Israel, 1 Kings: Torn in Two<\/em>, Maggid Books, 2013, Showdown at Mount Carmel\u00a0\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 - 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