{"id":63603,"date":"2019-09-27T16:54:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T13:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63603"},"modified":"2023-04-24T09:15:06","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T06:15:06","slug":"macbeth-with-a-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/macbeth-with-a-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"Macbeth With A Twist"},"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":[931,373,506],"acf":{"old_id":"63603","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36277,"related_cahpter":"317","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Why did Elisha weep? In giving his horrifying decree, Elisha may have helped prevent the worst","content":"

Today\u2019s chapter finds Elisha in Damascus, where he prophecies to Hazael, a court official, that King Ben-Hadad of Aram will soon die, and Hazael will become king instead. Then Elisha bursts out crying.<\/span><\/p>\n

What was Elisha doing in Damascus anyway? Why did he visit this courtier? And why did he weep in mid-prophecy – something unparalleled in the Bible?<\/span><\/p>\n

In his brilliant Hebrew book on the Elisha stories, Rabbi Elchanan Samet deciphers these mysteries. He shows that the dramatic heart of the story is Elisha\u2019s weeping; \u201cThe man of God kept his face expressionless for a long time, and then he wept\u201d (8:11). Elisha\u2019s crying comes after he has prophesied that the king will die, and before he predicts that Hazael will usurp the throne.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why did Elisha cry? That\u2019s exactly what Hazael asked him. Radak points out the obvious meaning of the question, coming after the prophecy of the old king\u2019s death: \u201chow come you are so upset about the king dying?\u201d He had been a long-standing scourge of Israel. Why shed tears about his demise?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This ironic misapprehension heightens the force of Elisha\u2019s actual answer to Hazael: \u201cBecause I know\u2026what harm you will do to the Israelite people; you will put their young men to the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.\u201d (V.12) In other words, \u201cyou are a monster.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This man of God foresaw his ascent to the throne, thus validating his legitimacy and then wept with dismay at the abysmal evil he sees in the future king. Rav Samet argues that this prophecy would have had a shattering effect on Hazael.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, he shows that Elisha\u2019s prediction was not fully fulfilled. We read of Hazael\u2019s later career in Chronicles and Amos. Indeed, he remained an enemy of Israel and decimated its army. But we hear nothing of the atrocities against women and children that Elisha predicted. Rav Samet, suggests that meeting the prophet was a turning point in Hazael\u2019s life. It didn\u2019t exactly turn him into a pacifist, but it did moderate his brutality.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this was precisely the point of Elisha\u2019s visit to Damascus. It was a sort of a secret diplomatic mission. Seeing the evil that the future King of Aram could do, Elisha confronted him with his inhuman potential and so saved Israel from the worst of which Hazael was capable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many have pointed out the similarities between the story of Saul and Shakespeare\u2019s Macbeth. Both live with the knowledge of supernatural prophecies about their ultimate downfalls yet were powerless to escape the preordained end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s story, in Rav Samet\u2019s reading, is like Macbeth with a hopeful twist. Hearing the prophet\u2019s prediction about his awful future, the soon-to-be king steps back from the full horror that awaits him. A prophecy, as the Rambam (<\/span>Hilchot Yesodei Ha\u2019Torah 10:4<\/span><\/em>) writes, need not be an exorable prediction. It may be a warning that, if heeded, can avert the feared-for future.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: R. Nevison \/ CC 3.0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63608,"id":63608,"title":"2kings8-weeping prophet2","filename":"2kings8-weeping-prophet2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/macbeth-with-a-twist\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings8-weeping-prophet2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63603,"date":"2019-09-27 13:53:52","modified":"2023-09-14 04:35:51","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1800,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2.jpg","2048x2048-width":1800,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings8-weeping-prophet2-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Macbeth With A Twist","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Why did Elisha weep? 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