{"id":63239,"date":"2019-09-22T12:15:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T09:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63239"},"modified":"2023-04-17T08:54:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T05:54:28","slug":"why-total-devastation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/why-total-devastation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Total Devastation?"},"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":[555,444,434],"acf":{"old_id":"63239","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33692,"related_cahpter":"312","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The Mesha Stele confirms and explains the biblical account","content":"

You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones. (3:19)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This prophetic injunction is problematic, however, in that it seems to contravene an explicit ordinance that guides the Torah’s ethics of war: The mitzva of<\/span> bal tashhit<\/span><\/i> (do not destroy) (Deut. 20:19) mandates a besieging army to respect the countryside, and specifically to preserve the fruit trees. Why would Elisha issue a policy of total devastation, making the Moabite landscape absolutely uninhabitable, in contravention of a Torah law?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi, Radak and Ralbag assert that the war against Moab was anomalous in its aggression, demanding nonstandard rules of engagement. But why? Rashi suggests that there was something “disgraceful,” unusually degenerate, about Moab. What could it be?<\/span><\/p>\n

The answer may be found in a stunning archaeological discovery, the Mesha Stele. In 1868, a Prussian missionary named Fredrik Klein identified a remarkable historical artifact some twenty miles east of the Dead Sea, at Dibhan, Jordan. When it was assembled and deciphered, archaeologists determined that this was a victory tablet in which King Mesha records the Moabite revolt against the dynasty of Ahab, king of Israel. It is a remarkable piece of textual evidence, if only because it corroborates the Tanakh so strongly \u2014 mentioning Mesha and Ahab, and also the Tetragrammaton. The stele narrates Moab’s vicious revolution against Israel in which Moab attacks Israelite towns and villages throughout the Transjordan, killing the Israelite inhabitants and humiliating Israel’s God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We may propose the following reconstruction of the events: After Ahab’s death and during Ahaziah’s reign, Mesha stages his bloody rebellion against Israel as recorded in the Mesha Stele. This revolution is characterized by widespread slaughter of the Israelites living in Transjordan as well as the abasement of the God of Israel. Jehoram launches a war to regain control. If Moab’s strength is concentrated in the northern territories, as recorded by the Mesha Stele, this goes some way to explain why the Israelite force attacks specifically from the south. However, whereas for the king, the campaign is about regaining prestige, recovering lost territory, and recouping tax monies, the motivation for the prophet and for God is most certainly about avenging the religious insult wielded by Moab. And so, as prophesied by Elisha, God issues a writ of devastation to Moab to avenge Moab’s blasphemy and disgrace of God.’<\/span><\/p>\n

This war is indeed extraordinary, and only on this basis can we better comprehend the inconsonant divine directive to destroy fields, trees, and water sources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Israel, II Kings: In a Whirlwind<\/em>, Maggid Books, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63310,"id":63310,"title":"Alex Israel - 2_kings_cover","filename":"Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-hairy-prophet\/alex-israel-2_kings_cover\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-2_kings_cover","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63117,"date":"2019-09-23 13:43:41","modified":"2019-09-23 13:53:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1711,"height":1821,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-282x300.jpg","medium-width":282,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-768x817.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":817,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-962x1024.jpg","large-width":962,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1443,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1711,"2048x2048-height":1821,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-1128x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1128,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-395x420.jpg","home_baner-width":395,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Excerpts from: II Kings - In A Whirlwind","main_caption":"Why Total Devastation?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The Mesha Stele confirms and explains the biblical account","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":63310,"id":63310,"title":"Alex Israel - 2_kings_cover","filename":"Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-hairy-prophet\/alex-israel-2_kings_cover\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-2_kings_cover","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63117,"date":"2019-09-23 13:43:41","modified":"2019-09-23 13:53:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1711,"height":1821,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-282x300.jpg","medium-width":282,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-768x817.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":817,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-962x1024.jpg","large-width":962,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1443,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1711,"2048x2048-height":1821,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-1128x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1128,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Alex-Israel-2_kings_cover-395x420.jpg","home_baner-width":395,"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\/63239"}],"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=63239"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114194,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63239\/revisions\/114194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}