{"id":65512,"date":"2019-11-10T14:04:54","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T12:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65512"},"modified":"2023-06-04T15:31:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T12:31:22","slug":"as-gazelles-and-sheep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/as-gazelles-and-sheep\/","title":{"rendered":"As Gazelles And Sheep"},"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":[660,366],"acf":{"old_id":"65512","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"347","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"They shall flee and turn back to their people","content":"

In our comments on 2 Kings 20, which reports on the reign of Hezekiah, we observed that the Babylonians made their initial appearance there as an up-and-coming world power. We also noted that Isaiah made an appearance and predicted that those same Babylonians would empty the treasuries he had shown them and take Hezekiah\u2019s royal descendants captive. Now, we have a formal prophecy of Isaiah on the eventual displacement of Babylonia by Medea.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his detailed description of the Babylonian downfall, Isaiah offered the following simile:<\/span><\/p>\n

Then like gazelles that are chased, and like sheep that no man gathers, each man shall turn back to his people, they shall flee every one to his land (14).<\/span><\/p>\n

Radak, typifying the <\/span>peshat<\/span><\/em> approach, commented: “<\/span>When disaster comes, the foreigners residing in Babylonia will be like a displaced gazelle that is being chased to capture it and runs with all its strength [to evade pursuit]. So all the foreigners will rush to leave Babylon, each turning to his own nation and his own land.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim* splits the following linguistic hairs (so to speak) between pursued gazelles and straying sheep.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sheep need to flock together so their shepherd can protect them from danger, and then they are secure even while grazing in a field or forest, but if they scatter they get lost and become prey for wolves. The gazelle, however, usually goes alone and deer do not generally flock together\u2026 rather they need a special place to reside\u2026 and be protected from stronger animals\u2026 Therefore, the chased gazelle seeks his special place while stray sheep seek to gather with their flock.<\/span><\/p>\n

So it will be with the foreigners in Babylon who, up until now, have regarded it as their own land and the Chaldeans their own people. When the city will be captured, they will be like chased gazelles seeking their own land and like stray sheep seeking their own kind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim\u2019s distinction strikes a familiar contemporary chord with respect to minorities\u2014which is what the foreigners were in Babylon. They generally retain some affinity for their places of origin; however, some feel a greater kinship based on territory while others feel it towards ethnicity. Either way, when their lives are disrupted, they often need to migrate lest the indigenous people turn on them as a fifth column.<\/span><\/p>\n

*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65515,"id":65515,"title":"is13-gazelles and sheep","filename":"is13-gazelles-and-sheep.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-gazelles-and-sheep.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/as-gazelles-and-sheep\/is13-gazelles-and-sheep\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is13-gazelles-and-sheep","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65512,"date":"2019-11-10 12:05:47","modified":"2019-11-10 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