{"id":65125,"date":"2019-11-03T13:59:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-03T11:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65125"},"modified":"2023-05-28T18:46:06","modified_gmt":"2023-05-28T15:46:06","slug":"warnings-against-conspiracy-theories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/warnings-against-conspiracy-theories\/","title":{"rendered":"Warnings Against Conspiracy Theories"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":[938,813],"acf":{"old_id":"65125","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"342","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"They are stones and rocks, traps and snares...","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our comments throughout the Book of Kings, we had several opportunities to note the prevalence of conspiracies (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">kesher<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, literally a knot). The subject shows up again in this chapter, as God warns Isaiah, \u201cYou must not call conspiracy all that that people calls conspiracy, nor revere what it reveres, nor hold it in awe\u201d (12). Rather, \u201cNone but the LORD of Hosts shall you account holy; give reverence to Him alone, hold Him alone in awe\u201d (13), for \u201cHe shall be for a sanctuary, a stone men strike against (<em>\u2018<\/em><\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">even negef<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">): a rock men stumble (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tzur mikhshol<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) over for the two Houses of Israel, and a trap (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pach<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and a snare (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mokesh<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) for those who dwell in Jerusalem\u201d (14).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Malbim* began by drawing his characteristic distinctions between synonyms, noting that a <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tzur<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (flint) is harder than an ordinary rock (<em>\u2018<\/em><\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">even<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">negef<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> inflicts injury while <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mikhshol<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> produces harm only indirectly by causing one to stumble, and traps imprison their prey while snares also cause them harm. On this basis, he explained the meaning of the simile as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The objective of the conspiracy\u2014i.e., to rebel\u2014will become a stumbling block causing only minor injury because the rebellion will be futile. However, the injury that will follow from the conspiracy\u2014namely, that the King of Assyria will come and exile them\u2014will be like a flint stone. For this very reason, [Isaiah] repeated the simile in terms of the trap and the snare. The snare causes greater harm because it kills its prey\u2026 but, on the other hand, the trap is manipulated by the hunter while the snare, once set out, acts by itself.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our earlier remarks on conspiracies (see, e.g., 2 Kings 14), we noted that they most often contained an element of self-destruction. Here, Malbim explained that the people\u2019s desire to conspire (with Aram) in order to preserve their independence would only backfire and hasten their defeat at the hands of Assyria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.929.org.il\/lang\/en\/page\/335\/post\/64640\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65126,"id":65126,"title":"is8-trap","filename":"is8-trap.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-trap.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/warnings-against-conspiracy-theories\/is8-trap\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is8-trap","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65125,"date":"2019-11-03 11:59:29","modified":"2021-05-23 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