{"id":64325,"date":"2019-10-14T07:03:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T04:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64325"},"modified":"2023-05-07T09:58:16","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T06:58:16","slug":"leaving-room-for-idolatry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leaving-room-for-idolatry\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaving Room For Idolatry"},"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":[898,429,397,621],"acf":{"old_id":"64325","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":42746,"related_cahpter":"327","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Why did no other righteous king before Hezekiah destroy the snake?","content":"

Hezekiah was so righteous that he\u2019s described as King David\u2019s son (this chapter, verse 2), although he\u2019s the 13<\/span>th<\/span> king of Judea since the split of the Kingdom. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 94:a) explains that when Isaiah talks about \u201ca child is born to us who\u2026 has been named \u201cThe Mighty God, planning grace; The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler\u201d (9:5) he talks about Hezekiah.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezekiah has done so many good things, including saving the kingdom from Sennacherib\u2019s siege in 701BCE at a time that the kingdom of Israel up north was conquered, and the Ten Tribes exiled. He even <\/span><\/p>\n

…abolished the shrines and smashed the pillars and cut down the sacred post. He also broke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until that time the Israelites had been offering sacrifices to it; it was called Nehushtan\u201d (verse 4). <\/span><\/p>\n

Nehushtan is t<\/span>he derogatory name given to the bronze serpent on a pole first described in the Book of Numbers which God told Moses to erect so that the Israelites who saw it would be protected from dying and healed (Numbers 21:4-9).<\/span><\/p>\n

Hezekiah removing it raises many questions, like, for example, how could a later king remove something Moses himself made by God\u2019s command, in order to heal the people? And, if Moses fashioned it, by God\u2019s instructions, how could it be idolatry in the first place?<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he Gemara (Chullin 7:a) further asks: <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it <\/span>possible<\/b> that they burned incense to it and <\/span>Asa,<\/b> a righteous king, <\/span>came and did not eradicate it,<\/b> and <\/span>Jehoshaphat,<\/b> a righteous king, <\/span>came and did not eradicate it,<\/b> and it remained until the time of Hezekiah? <\/span>But didn\u2019t Asa and Jehoshaphat eradicate all<\/b> objects of <\/span>idol worship in the world?<\/b><\/p>\n

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi gives us a most surprising answer: \u201cRather, it must be that in not eradicating the serpent, his (Hezekiah\u2019s) ancestors left him room through which to achieve prominence [<\/span>lehitgader bo<\/span><\/em>]\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow. We learn from Hezekiah eradicating the serpent while the others who came before him did not do so, that the same item which was not idolatrous (and even commanded by God) during Moses\u2019 days and after, can become so by the time of Hezekiah. If so, potential idolatry was allowed some space, as much as would be ok so as not to cause too much harm. It also means that idolatry is not the thing itself, but the importance and attitude given to a particular item. Which means that if our current definition of idols is what it was 2000 years ago, we might be missing something. Indeed, in spite of Hezekiah\u2019s just and successful fight at the time, the healing snake, of course, did not disappear. It showed up in Greek mythology too and still symbolizes health and healing throughout the world. Whether we worship it and what it stands for or not, is another question.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64326,"id":64326,"title":"2kings18-hez and snake","filename":"2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leaving-room-for-idolatry\/2kings18-hez-and-snake\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings18-hez-and-snake","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64325,"date":"2019-10-14 04:03:08","modified":"2022-04-24 14:54:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":738,"height":513,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","medium_large-width":738,"medium_large-height":513,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","large-width":738,"large-height":513,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","1536x1536-width":738,"1536x1536-height":513,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","2048x2048-width":738,"2048x2048-height":513,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","post_full_size-width":738,"post_full_size-height":513,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake-604x420.jpg","home_baner-width":604,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Leaving Room For Idolatry","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Why did no other righteous king before Hezekiah destroy the snake?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":64326,"id":64326,"title":"2kings18-hez and snake","filename":"2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leaving-room-for-idolatry\/2kings18-hez-and-snake\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings18-hez-and-snake","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64325,"date":"2019-10-14 04:03:08","modified":"2022-04-24 14:54:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":738,"height":513,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","medium_large-width":738,"medium_large-height":513,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","large-width":738,"large-height":513,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","1536x1536-width":738,"1536x1536-height":513,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","2048x2048-width":738,"2048x2048-height":513,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake.jpg","post_full_size-width":738,"post_full_size-height":513,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings18-hez-and-snake-604x420.jpg","home_baner-width":604,"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\/64325"}],"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=64325"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114694,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64325\/revisions\/114694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}