{"id":65192,"date":"2019-11-05T00:12:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T22:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65192"},"modified":"2023-05-30T10:03:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T07:03:35","slug":"do-we-ever-really-learn-from-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/do-we-ever-really-learn-from-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Do We Ever Really Learn From The Past?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As a college student, I took a course with Professor Ernest May, a specialist in international relations, who argued that nations often mess up their current struggles because they always read them through the crisis that they most recently botched in the past. Using the example of the USA, he argued that generals and politicians tried to fix the mistakes of the Korean War in the Vietnamese War, hence applying the wrong standards and goals to the current struggle. He argued that American did the same with the Korean War, fighting it with the modified policies of World War Two. And we fought World War Two as though it were a chance to get World War One right. Time after time, we apply the wrong lessons, the wrong implications, to a subsequent challenge, thereby assuring that we will get it wrong in all new ways \u2026 again.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same seems to be true of Biblical history as well. The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah are called to repent of their many shortcomings and errors. Time and again they are urged to return to the path of righteousness and justice, to remain faithful to the covenant between God and the people. Yet again and again their corrupt leaders and false prophets fan the flames of idolatry, greed, and power. And each time they do, disaster results.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah refuses to give up on the people, and in Chapter 9 he reminds them three times of God\u2019s warning of what will come if they do not change their ways. Yet time and again, the response remains the same: \u201cthe people has not returned to the One \u2026 they do not seek the Lord.\u201d With each renewed warning, the level of desperation grows, and the creeping despair that the people will not learn from their mistakes. \u201cThe guides of this people mislead, and the guided ones are corrupted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The sacred literature of ancient Israel is extraordinary in many ways, but never more so than in its brutal honesty, its willingness to offer self-condemnation when it is due, to hold highest loyalty for the standards God expects of us, even when the people themselves fail to rise to that standard. Core to the prophetic call is a willingness to be a traitor in the eyes of the people because they won\u2019t betray God\u2019s vision of what Israel is called to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

And we, heirs both to the prophets and the people, readers of the Scripture that records both the popular greed and mendacity, but also the lofty vision of what a just and righteous people could be in the world \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 are we prepared to show ultimate loyalty to what is right and true and good, even if that means calling out the people or the nations that we love?<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Do We Ever Really Learn From The Past?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"And we, heirs both to the prophets and the people, readers of the Scripture that records both the popular greed and mendacity, but also the lofty vision of what a just and righteous people could be in the world \u2026 are we prepared to show ultimate loyalty to what is right and true and good, even if that means calling out the people or the nations that we love?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"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\/65192"}],"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=65192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65193,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65192\/revisions\/65193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}