{"id":62870,"date":"2019-09-13T15:28:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T12:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62870"},"modified":"2023-04-09T12:31:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T09:31:57","slug":"god-models-gentleness-and-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-models-gentleness-and-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"God Models Gentleness And Compassion"},"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":[476,858,581,397,645],"acf":{"old_id":"62870","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36277,"related_cahpter":"306","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"But Elijah can not be moved from judgment to mercy","content":"

Elijah in the cave was bewildered and broken. He prayed to God to die. Despite his zeal for God and the pyrotechnics on Mount Carmel he was still hunted by the queen and her henchmen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The manifest miracle of bringing the first rain in two years, had had little lasting effect on the spiritual state of Israel or its leaders. After falling on their faces in awe of God, the people had not overthrown Ahab and Jezebel, nor returned <\/span>en masse<\/span><\/i> to monotheism.<\/span><\/p>\n

The violence of the storm failed to convince. Elijah\u2019s bold seizing of the keys of rain to enforce the Torah\u2019s message that there are consequences for disobedience, had brought no long-term educational reform.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elijah\u2019s flight to the desert ends at Horeb, Mount Sinai, the site of God\u2019s revelation to Moses. Commentators point out the textual parallels between Elijah\u2019s standing here in a crevice in the rock and Moses standing in a cleft in the rock praying for compassion on Israel after the sin of the Golden calf and receiving the revelation of God\u2019s attributes of mercy and forgiveness. (Exodus 34.) Malbim suggests that this choice of location is a hint and a gentle rebuke to Elijah, that he too must let go of his righteous anger towards the people and pray for them out of compassion.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As if to underline this message, God appeared to Elijah not in the sound and fury of earthquake, wind or fire, but in a \u201c<\/span>kol d\u2019mamah dakah.<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0God\u2019s presence was expressed in the softness of a still, small voice. Elijah was taught to hear God through a quieter medium, similar to the almost imperceptible gentleness of dew, that Elijah\u2019s intervention had not withheld.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet in response, Elijah can only repeat his anguished refrain from verse 10, \u201cI am moved by zeal for the Lord, God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant\u2026\u201d (v.14). Elijah cannot or will not move from judgement to mercy. To which God tells Elijah to go back the way he came, and when he meets Elisha, to anoint him as his successor. (v.16) Elijah is being fired.<\/span><\/p>\n

The subtlety of this removal is poignant. God does not criticize Elijah for his failure, not express disappointment, nor even tell him directly that he must step aside. Having implicitly urged the prophet to be compassionate with his backsliding people, God Himself is infinitely compassionate with the prophet in his moment of breaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who other than God could know the depths of Elijah\u2019s courage, the loneliness that he suffered, the pain of being harried and oppressed over many years for speaking God\u2019s truth and his desolate bewilderment when his greatest triumph turned to defeat? When Elijah, despite his greatness, being persecuted beyond endurance, will not transcend his justified, righteous indignation, God models the gentleness and forbearance that he has urged Elijah to embrace.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":62871,"id":62871,"title":"1kings19-fire mercy","filename":"1kings19-fire-mercy.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings19-fire-mercy.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/god-models-gentleness-and-compassion\/1kings19-fire-mercy\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings19-fire-mercy","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":62870,"date":"2019-09-13 12:27:59","modified":"2019-09-13 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