{"id":64535,"date":"2019-10-21T19:10:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T16:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64535"},"modified":"2023-05-16T09:26:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T06:26:56","slug":"the-blood-of-the-innocent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-blood-of-the-innocent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blood Of The Innocent"},"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":[395,423,616],"acf":{"old_id":"64535","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36277,"related_cahpter":"333","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Murder, rather than idolatry, sealed the fate of Jerusalem","content":"

One of the hallmarks of the books of Kings is the interweaving of political reportage with covenantal history. The narrative faithfully records the lineage of the Kings of Judah and Israel, their successes, failures, alliances, political intrigues, sieges wars, dynastic marriages births and deaths. The authors understood statecraft. Events have a recognizable political logic to them. And at the same time the story is interspersed with the vignettes and prophetic observations about the moral and spiritual history of the times: This king did good in God\u2019s eyes, that king did evil; God blessed the people accordingly, with peace and prosperity for the good and punished them with war and upheaval for the bad.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The vicissitudes of nations and empires that may have seemed either politically predictable or chaotic and arbitrary to those enmeshed in them are presented in the light of prophetic hindsight – as the moral consequences of inexorable spiritual laws.<\/span><\/p>\n

The beginning of Chapter 24 is a fine example of this. As the Bible prepares to narrate the catastrophic end of the First Jewish Commonwealth, it tells us:<\/span><\/p>\n

In his days, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him\u2026 All this befell Judah at the command of the LORD, who banished from His presence because of all the sins that Manasseh had committed, and also because of the blood of the innocent that he shed. For he filled Jerusalem with the blood of the innocent, and the Lord would not forgive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The authorial aside informs us why the disasters that are about to strike really transpired. The shifting power structures of the Middle East, the decline of Egypt and the rise of Babylon as the dominant regional power are the veil behind which the deeper drama of Israel\u2019s struggles to be true to the covenant with God unfolded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The reason given for the destruction is striking. God still has not forgiven the massive bloodshed perpetrated by King Manasseh decades earlier. Murder, rather than idolatry, sealed the fate of Jerusalem. As Rambam writes in the Laws of Killing and Saving Life, (9:4) murder is uniquely pernicious in its destruction of society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today we also live in turbulent times. We don\u2019t have prophets to explain to us the divine logic behind seemingly random and inexplicable events. Yet the Book of Kings stands as a record that deeper laws are at work in the history of Israel and our surroundings. It invites us to listen closely, and to try to discern beneath the incessant noise of political commentary, the spiritual principles underlying our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64536,"id":64536,"title":"2kings24-blood","filename":"2kings24-blood.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings24-blood.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-blood-of-the-innocent\/2kings24-blood\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings24-blood","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64535,"date":"2019-10-21 16:10:39","modified":"2021-12-01 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