{"id":64583,"date":"2019-10-22T15:42:04","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T12:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64583"},"modified":"2023-05-16T12:40:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T09:40:13","slug":"remaining-in-the-rulers-good-graces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/remaining-in-the-rulers-good-graces\/","title":{"rendered":"Remaining In The Ruler\u2019s Good Graces"},"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":[948,432,523],"acf":{"old_id":"64583","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"334","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Like Joseph, Jehoiachin is released, and with him - hope for a return to grandeur.","content":"

The very end of the book of Kings might seem anticlimactic. We\u2019ve read chapter after chapter about prophets and kings, royal intrigue, wars and miracles, exile and destruction. The Holy Temple, so deeply longed for and celebrated at the beginning of Kings I, has just been conquered and destroyed by foreign rulers.<\/span><\/p>\n

We might expect the book to end with a powerful lament, or perhaps a prophecy of hope for the nation\u2019s future. Something on a grand enough scale to match the disaster that befell the people.\u00a0<\/span>But instead, we read somewhat mundanely that Jehoiachin, the defeated king of Judah, was released from prison. The end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then again, perhaps we shouldn\u2019t knock the small stuff; there can be important takeaways on every level.<\/span><\/p>\n

For whatever reason the Babylonian king decided to release Jehoiachin, he didn\u2019t <\/span>only<\/span><\/em> release him. If we want to be metaphorically-literal about it, he \u201craised his head.\u201d In the much earlier story of Joseph, that phrase is used to describe both the baker\u2019s beheading and the butler\u2019s reinstatement (Genesis 40: 13, 19); in verse 27, we (and Jehoiachin himself?) may not be sure which sort of head-raising experience awaits. But as we read on, we discover what else the king did, that it was a reinstatement of sorts \u2013 not as king, but as a person of dignity. We also get some clues as to what it takes to create a sense of dignity for a person: kind words, social recognition, nice clothing, and food \u2013 not just a meal or two, but real food security. The parallels to Joseph\u2019s own release from prison are also quite striking!<\/span><\/p>\n

The inclusion of each of those details seems designed to highlight the necessity of them all; we might particularly note the apparently superfluous mention of kind words, without which even official status, nice clothing, and food security could leave a person feeling somewhat empty.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, what the conquered Judaean king experiences on an individual level might indeed offer a message of hope on a grander scale. Jehoiachin\u2019s survival means there is hope for the survival of the Davidic line, and his survival with restored dignity signifies the hope that the dignity of the Jewish people will be restored. In fact, Jehoiachin\u2019s survival led to the birth of Zerubbabel \u2013 who ultimately leads the people back to their land.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jehoiachin\u2019s Babylonian imprisonment was temporary, and so was his people\u2019s Babylonian exile. Like him, the people will be restored, if not to their former glory, at least to a degree of dignity and security.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, one wonders whether Jehoiachin could ever have felt completely secure, or whether he would have been constantly watching his step to remain in the Babylonian ruler\u2019s good graces \u2013 and it will be up to the Jewish people, when they do return to their land, to determine by their actions whether they will remain in their Ruler\u2019s good graces. The grand scale of Jewish history is far from complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

image:\u00a0Engraving of “Manasseh Led Away Captive” published in The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation,<\/em>\u00a0published by Charles Foster in 1883.\u00a0<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64584,"id":64584,"title":"Manasseh Led Away Captive","filename":"2kings25-king-prison.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/remaining-in-the-rulers-good-graces\/manasseh-led-away-captive\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"manasseh-led-away-captive","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64583,"date":"2019-10-22 12:41:51","modified":"2019-10-22 13:05:31","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1500,"height":844,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison.jpg","1536x1536-width":1500,"1536x1536-height":844,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison.jpg","2048x2048-width":1500,"2048x2048-height":844,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/2kings25-king-prison-746x420.jpg","home_baner-width":746,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Remaining In The Ruler\u2019s Good Graces","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Like Joseph, Jehoiachin is released, and with him - 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