{"id":63679,"date":"2019-10-01T08:05:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T05:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63679"},"modified":"2023-04-24T18:41:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T15:41:57","slug":"holy-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/holy-cows\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHoly\u201d Cow(s)!?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[695,429,835],"acf":{"old_id":"63679","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":40788,"related_cahpter":"319","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Once again, golden calves would be the downfall of Israel","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the death of Jezebel, the next King of Israel, Jehu, makes it his mission to destroy all of the remaining family of Ahab and to wipe out any remnant of Baal worship in the land. Knowing that he is a military captain and not part of the royal lineage, Jehu sets up a loyalty test to solidify his rule. This test involves the people decapitating the remaining 70 children and grandchildren of Ahab and delivering their heads to Jehu. He then moves on to eliminating the many devotees of Baal, the prophets, priests and lay people, along with their places of worship, all of which are summarily destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, after all of this drama and effort to eliminate the pervasive presence of Baal, Jehu ultimately fails to end his reign as a \u201cgood King\u201d. In two consecutive verses we hear both of his great victory and his great failure. Verse 28 celebrates that Jehu has successfully accomplished the daunting feat of abolishing Baal from Israel, however this is immediately followed by a big \u201cbut\u201d in verse 29. But, Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam\u2026 and did not remove the Golden Calves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Really? Jehu, who describes himself as \u201czealous for God\u201d (v. 15) doesn\u2019t know better than to finish off the task? What is it about these Golden Calves? Abarbanel explains that the calves were not intended as idols or worshipped as such by their creator, Jeroboam, and likewise Jehu did not see them as a threat. Jeroboam simply created them as symbols of his tribe, Ephraim. However, over time, the people began to worship them. And such was the case with Jehu, who we are told in the next verses was not able to continue to walk in the path of God, despite having shed so much blood in his attempt to do so.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Much as with the original Golden Calf of Exodus, the people in the time of Jehu, who were accustomed to a life of idolatry, could not make such an abrupt shift to a new life of monotheism overnight. Simply destroying the infrastructure of Baal worship could not change their hearts and undermine their temptations. As with all ingrained behaviors, addictions and beliefs, change is a process and having options for regression, such as golden calves laying around, makes that process even harder. While Jehu\u2019s zealous intentions may have been good, he failed to know his audience and even to know himself. Golden Calves would once again be the downfall of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Bull in Istanbul Ancient Orient Museum Ishtar Gate \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63680,"id":63680,"title":"2kings10-golden-calf","filename":"2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings10-golden-calf.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/holy-cows\/2kings10-golden-calf\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings10-golden-calf","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63679,"date":"2019-10-01 05:05:05","modified":"2022-05-29 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