{"id":66165,"date":"2019-11-25T18:47:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T16:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66165"},"modified":"2023-06-19T12:42:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T09:42:48","slug":"emptying-the-earth-and-destroying-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/emptying-the-earth-and-destroying-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Emptying The Earth And Destroying It"},"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":[444,940,497,360,573,372],"acf":{"old_id":"66165","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"358","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Terrifying ancient prophecies and terrifying current realities","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Readers of 929 will have noticed by now that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of prophets roaming the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, but only a few dozen are remembered by name, and even fewer of them have attributed sayings that we still cite. What distinguishes the ones we are able to quote from the others whom we only glimpse fleetingly is that their words were still extraordinarily relevant after they spoke them. Predictions that came to pass, warnings that were right on the mark, insights that prevented calamity or enabled recovery \u2013 these are the distinguishing traits of the named prophets whose words continue to resonate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are none greater than Isaiah, and none of his words are more prescient than the uncanny ways that this chapter speaks to a context that could not have been imagined in ancient Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the level of <em>peshat<\/em> (the contextual level) Isaiah is speaking of the intimate connection between the inhabitants of the land of Israel and the land itself. As the inhabitants harvest the consequences of their greed, short-sightedness, and brutality, the land itself grows incapable of sustaining life. It literally dries up in the implacable onslaught of their wrongdoing. What had been a paradise becomes a desolation. The first ears to hear these words had to reflect on the Exile and the ways that our ancestors distanced themselves from the land they had been promised.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But we now read those ancient words through the reality of our own times. In an age in which humanity has become the primary global influence on climate, on atmosphere, on sustainability, is it possible to read these words and not think about the precipitous ways we are hurling the planet earth into extreme fluctuations of wet and dry, hot and cold, melting the ice caps and drowning islands and coastlands in the rising seas? Is it possible not to stare in horror at the rapid extinction of rare and precious species, at the desertification of the forests that function as our planet\u2019s lungs?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBehold, God is emptying the earth and destroying it \u2026 the earth will be utterly emptied and utterly despoiled. \u2026 The earth will become desolate and withered; the world will be wretched and withered \u2026 the land will be unfaithful because of its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings and violated laws; they have abrogated the everlasting covenant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our ancestors let greed drive them into exile from the land of Israel, despite Isaiah\u2019s keen warnings of the link between righteous living and dwelling in the land. We today are letting greed render our blue-green planet incapable of sustaining life, with no possibility of survival in exile for us or any living thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May we have the wisdom and courage to read Isaiah more carefully this time.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":66166,"id":66166,"title":"is24-artson","filename":"is24-artson.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is24-artson.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/emptying-the-earth-and-destroying-it\/is24-artson\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is24-artson","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":66165,"date":"2019-11-25 16:47:14","modified":"2019-11-25 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