{"id":64276,"date":"2019-10-13T00:36:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T21:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64276"},"modified":"2023-05-05T16:52:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T13:52:41","slug":"who-gets-the-blame-and-who-the-credit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-gets-the-blame-and-who-the-credit\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Gets The Blame And Who The Credit?"},"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":[402,363,547,412],"acf":{"old_id":"64276","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"326","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Sometimes it\u2019s complicated...","content":"

Throughout the years of the two Jewish kingdoms, we hear about the rulers of the northern kingdom who followed in the footsteps of its founder, Jeroboam. Time and again, we hear that he \u2013 and they \u2013 caused others to sin (e.g. I Kings 14:16) by maintaining golden calves for local worship to replace required pilgrimages to the Holy Temple in the other kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

When a king finally rises who resists the lure of that precedent, however, we discover some complexities regarding both blame and credit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not get too excited; Hoshea son of Elah also \u201cdid what was displeasing to the LORD.\u201d But his sins were \u201cnot as much as the kings of Israel who preceded him\u201d (17:2).<\/span><\/p>\n

Classical commentaries turn to midrashic tradition to explain in what way he wasn\u2019t quite as evil as his predecessors: he removed the guards who had previously ensured no one could make those pilgrimages.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Talmudic passage (Gittin 88a) these commentators are quoting, however, the question isn\u2019t \u201cwhat was less bad about Hoshea?\u201d but \u201cWhy, if he was less bad, was the kingdom lost in his day?\u201d For the very next verse emphasizes that it was against him that King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched \u2013 the beginning of the end for the Kingdom of Israel. The Talmud explains this juxtaposition by saying he removed the guards: the biblical commentators point out that this concession was a point in the king\u2019s favor, but the Talmud itself is more interested in what it said about his people \u2013 because they still didn\u2019t go on those pilgrimages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whose fault was it really, all those years that the northern Jews avoided the Temple? We are told it was the fault of Jeroboam, and of his successors \u2013 until the day Hoshea son of Elah stopped the trend and revealed that somewhere along the way, the people gave in, not just in action but in spirit. Once the people demonstrated they didn\u2019t care to worship God even when no one was stopping them, their fate was sealed.<\/span><\/p>\n

So maybe Hoshea son of Elah wasn\u2019t as bad as his predecessors because he didn\u2019t \u201chave\u201d to be; by then, the people were fully capable of sinning on their own.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the flip side, Rashi claims he only removed the guards because the golden calves (intended as alternatives to the Temple) had been lost during the first waves of exile to Assyria \u2013 which implies we shouldn\u2019t give the king too much credit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who was to blame for the years of inertia? Jeroboam \u2013 at first. Who gets credit for allowing the people to go back to the Temple? King Hoshea \u2013 sort of.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we tell ourselves we couldn\u2019t help doing something we shouldn\u2019t \u2013 could we, though? Should that blame we ascribe to others, or circumstances, really fall on us?\u00a0<\/span>When we tell ourselves we\u2019ve done a great thing \u2013 is it really us? How much of the credit do we really deserve, and how much is due to others, or circumstances?<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, it\u2019s complicated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Neo-Assyrian Black Limestone Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, Nimrud, 825 BCE, photo:\u00a0 Gary Todd (public domain)<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64277,"id":64277,"title":"2kings17-shalmaneser","filename":"2kings17-shalmaneser.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings17-shalmaneser.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-gets-the-blame-and-who-the-credit\/2kings17-shalmaneser\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings17-shalmaneser","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64276,"date":"2019-10-12 21:35:49","modified":"2019-10-12 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