{"id":63365,"date":"2019-09-24T15:12:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63365"},"modified":"2019-09-24T15:12:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:12:15","slug":"of-axe-heads-and-coffins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/of-axe-heads-and-coffins\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Axe-Heads and Coffins"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"63365","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33692,"related_cahpter":"315","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A suggestive inter-textual connection between Moses and Elisha, and their respective \u201cmiracles\u201d","content":"

The miracle wrought by Elisha in this chapter finds a fascinating echo in a midrashic source concerning Moses:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut how did Moses know where Joseph was buried? It is told that Serah, the daughter of Asher, survived from that generation, and she showed Moses the grave of Joseph. She said to him. “The Egyptians put him in a metal coffin which they sunk into the Nile.” So Moses went and stood by the Nile. He took a tablet of gold on which he engraved the Tetragrammaton, and throwing it into the Nile, he cried out and said, “Joseph, son of Jacob! The oath to redeem His children which God swore to our father Abraham has reached its fulfillment. If you come up, well and good. But if not, we shall be guiltless of your oath.” Immediately, Joseph’s coffin came to the surface and Moses took it.<\/span>
\n<\/span>And you need not be surprised at this. Behold it says, “As one was cutting down a tree…. And the man of God said, ‘Where did it fall?'” (II Kings 6:5-6). Now, if Elisha, the disciple of Elijah, could make iron come to the surface, how much more so could Moses, the master of Elijah, do it! (Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Beshalah; Tosefta Sota 4:3)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand, the midrash is suggesting that Elisha bears Moses’ prophetic powers and employ the selfsame technique.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, it is possible that this midrashic analogy develops a wider connection between the two stories. The story that follows Moses extracting Joseph\u2019s casket is the crossing of the Reed Sea. There we witness the pursuit by “All the chariot horses of Pharaoh, [and] his horsemen…\u201d (Ex. 13:9-10), and Israel’s terror at the sight of their military forces. Moses responds, “Have no fear! Stand by, and witness the deliverance which the Lord will work for you today” (Ex. 13:12).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The same pattern and language is manifest in the very next story of our chapter. The king of Aram sends a force of “horses and chariots….” Elisha’s assistant sees the horses and chariots and cries out. Elisha responds, “Have no fear! Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (II Kings 6:14-16).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In both stories we see an attack of horses and chariots, a cry of fright, a reassurance by the prophet, and miraculous salvation which eliminates the military threat. The intertextual connection is not merely the miraculous raising of metallic objects from a riverbed. For Elisha, as for Moses, the force of horses and chariots need not be intimidating \u2014 because after all, it is not the laws of nature, but rather the power of God, that controls nature.’\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Israel, II Kings: In a Whirlwind, Maggid Books, 2019, A Floating Ax-Head\u00a0<\/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 - 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