{"id":62759,"date":"2019-09-11T17:28:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T14:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62759"},"modified":"2023-04-05T17:23:46","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:23:46","slug":"answer-me-o-god-answer-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/answer-me-o-god-answer-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Answer Me, O God, Answer Me"},"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":[858,375,895,437],"acf":{"old_id":"62759","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36277,"related_cahpter":"305","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Elijah has a dual task, and a dual goal. Only one, though, can be said to have worked","content":"

The story of Elijah\u2019s epic showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, is recounted through dualities, as Rabbi Elchanan Samet shows in his brilliant book on the Elijah narratives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elijah challenges the people to cease straddling two positions and choose once and for all \u2013 are they with God or Ba\u2019al. He brings two bulls as sacrifices, the prophets of Ba\u2019al twice call on their idol for help and twice their pleas are rejected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Samet points out that when Elijah comes to pray to God, he also offers two prayers, that have linguistic parallels but are very different in their content.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first, he says: \u201cOh Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel! Let it be known today that You are God in Israel and I am your servant\u201d (v.36). Elijah appeals here to the covenantal history of God and Israel and his own special status as God\u2019s prophet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the next verse however, Elijah says: \u201cAnswer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you are God\u201d (v. 37). Here there is no reference to God\u2019s particular history with Israel \u2013 or with Elijah. The claim at stake here is God\u2019s universal rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

Samet shows that these prayers parallel two purposes to the trial that Elijah has built into its setup. The first is a sort of clinical test. To resolve the confusion that has arisen over whether Ba\u2019al or God is the true God, Elijah proposes an experiment: whichever God responds to his followers prayers by sending down fire on the altar is the true God. The question is framed empirically, susceptible to a definite, evidenced-based answer, that will be acceptable to all.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, interwoven with this quasi-scientific procedure are very particularist themes of restoring the loyalty of the people to God, and the fractured unity of Israel. Elijah rebuilds the altar that had been smashed by the prophets of Ba\u2019al, does so \u201cin God\u2019s name,\u201d and gathers together twelve stones symbolising the warring tribes of Israel. Behind the veneer of even-handedness, there is a passionate national-religious purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elijah\u2019s tragedy is that while the first purpose, the empirical demonstration of God\u2019s existence and power succeeds magnificently, the hoped for healing of the people and return of Israel to God are fleeting, and soon dissipate. By the next chapter, King Ahab, who had appeared impressed by the test results, is pursuing Elijah to kill him once again.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talmud identifies the profound duality at work here, interpreting Elijah\u2019s doubled appeal, \u201cAnswer me God, answer me\u201d (v.37) thus: \u201canswer me \u2013 so that fire will come down from heaven, and answer me that their minds won\u2019t say that it is witchcraft\u201d (Berachot 9a.).<\/span><\/p>\n

Here, Elijah is painfully aware that incontrovertible \u201cocular proof\u201d through a miracle is not enough; the perversity of human minds may still interpret the miracle away. Reforming the people’s hearts to be whole with God again is a harder task than momentarily demonstrating His reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Elijah and Baal\u2019s Priests, Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1545, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":62760,"id":62760,"title":"1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas","filename":"1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/answer-me-o-god-answer-me\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-lucas\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings18-elijah-carmel-lucas","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":62759,"date":"2019-09-11 14:28:15","modified":"2019-09-11 14:28:24","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":616,"height":323,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas-300x157.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":157,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","medium_large-width":616,"medium_large-height":323,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","large-width":616,"large-height":323,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","1536x1536-width":616,"1536x1536-height":323,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","2048x2048-width":616,"2048x2048-height":323,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","post_full_size-width":616,"post_full_size-height":323,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings18-elijah-carmel-Lucas.png","home_baner-width":616,"home_baner-height":323}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Answer Me, O God, Answer Me","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Elijah has a dual task, and a dual goal. 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