{"id":64888,"date":"2019-10-28T22:17:08","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T20:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=64888"},"modified":"2023-05-22T17:04:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T14:04:42","slug":"looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places?"},"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":[522,854,434,600],"acf":{"old_id":"64888","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"338","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Despondent widowhood as metaphor for the travails of the nation","content":"

\u201cIn that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, \u2018We will eat our own food and wear our own clothes; Only let us be called by your name\u2014 Take away our disgrace!\u2019\u201d (Isaiah 4:1)<\/span><\/p>\n

Why are these independent women, with the means by which to provide their own food and clothing, so desperate to snag a husband, in name only?<\/span><\/p>\n

Is this just a prophecy about the desperation of single womanhood?<\/span><\/p>\n

On one level, the verse does reflect a social reality in which \u201cit is a disgrace for a woman, that she sits without a husband\u201d (Radak). More specifically, marriage serves a protective function. As Rashi puts it, \u201ca woman, when she is married, they don\u2019t treat her as <\/span>hefker<\/em> <\/span>(ownerless, a free-for-all); Abarbanel adds \u201cand no one helps her\u201d \u2013 for even those with food and clothing might have other needs. (Have we, today, improved on these social realities?)<\/span><\/p>\n

The desperation is heightened, of course, by the context: what is it about \u201cthat day\u201d in particular?<\/span><\/p>\n

We heard in 3:25 of the deaths of many (male) soldiers \u2013 leading, presumably, to a rise in the number of widows. This context may shed some light on both the women\u2019s self-sufficiency and their desperation: perhaps they have inherited their husbands\u2019 property and can care for themselves, but feel emotionally lost without the marriage relationships they once enjoyed. Perhaps that personal sense of estrangement, rather than social \u201cdisgrace,\u201d is what they are really looking to alleviate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing both points together \u2013 the societal benefits of a man\u2019s protection, and the context of war \u2013 a midrash suggests the enemy king had forbidden his soldiers from assaulting married women, which naturally increased desperation to grab a husband.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is another element to the context as well. The prophet had earlier described \u201carrogant\u201d women, now stripped of their jewels and everything that supported their arrogance (3:18-24) \u2013 including, perhaps, their husbands.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abarbanel argues that the arrogant women were actually a <\/span>mashal<\/span><\/em>, a metaphor for the destruction of everything that had previously made the <\/span>nation<\/b> proud. We might suggest that our verse continues the metaphor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the time of the Jewish kingdoms, the prophets frequently scolded the people and its kings for running to other kings, or other gods, for protection. The challenges facing women of the times offer a poignant metaphor for those who, though believing to some degree in their own self-sufficiency, realized they needed <\/span>something<\/span><\/em> from someone else and would go running to a king or god as if desperate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In their desperation, they never realized that everything they already had was from God, and everything they still longed for could be found with Him as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or perhaps they realized, but also knew a relationship with God requires substance and mutual responsibility. It could never be in name only, but presents a constant challenge. And so the people looked elsewhere \u2013 and find that their Protector has left them \u201cwidowed,\u201d desperately looking for love in all the wrong places.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64889,"id":64889,"title":"is4-widow","filename":"is4-widow.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places\/is4-widow\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is4-widow","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64888,"date":"2019-10-28 20:16:52","modified":"2021-08-09 15:18:24","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1293,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-202x300.jpg","medium-width":202,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-690x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":690,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-690x1024.jpg","large-width":690,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow.jpg","1536x1536-width":1034,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow.jpg","2048x2048-width":1293,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-808x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":808,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-283x420.jpg","home_baner-width":283,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Despondent widowhood as metaphor for the travails of the nation","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":64889,"id":64889,"title":"is4-widow","filename":"is4-widow.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places\/is4-widow\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is4-widow","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64888,"date":"2019-10-28 20:16:52","modified":"2021-08-09 15:18:24","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1293,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-202x300.jpg","medium-width":202,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-690x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":690,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-690x1024.jpg","large-width":690,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow.jpg","1536x1536-width":1034,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow.jpg","2048x2048-width":1293,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-808x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":808,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is4-widow-283x420.jpg","home_baner-width":283,"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\/64888"}],"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=64888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115259,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64888\/revisions\/115259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}