{"id":66245,"date":"2019-11-26T14:26:42","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T12:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=66245"},"modified":"2023-06-19T17:10:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T14:10:59","slug":"death-and-the-body-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/death-and-the-body-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Death And The Body Of God"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chapter 25 raises important philosophical questions about both the nature of death and the corporeality of God within the Jewish tradition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The chapter begins with praise from the speaker to God for destroying the enemy nation in the redemptive future and providing a stronghold for the impoverished Jews (25:1-7).\u00a0 After this salvation in the redemptive future: \u201cDeath will be swallowed forever, and the Lord, God will wipe tears from all faces, and the embarrassment of His people he will remove from the land, as God has said\u201d (25:8).\u00a0 This verse personifies death, swallowed as it were, and not just neutralized. This verse implies death will cease in that redemptive future; although Radak limits the force of the prediction by arguing that it is only destructive, unexpected death that will end as a consequence of world peace, not natural death. Jews have long speculated what will become of death in a time which is compared to life ever-lasting, and this prophecy is crucial for understanding this key philosophical belief. It is typically recited at the funeral service, although its meaning remains unclear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 25 continues with a key verse about the corporeality of God: \u201cAnd he will say on that day, Behold, This is our God who we have hoped for and He will save us; This is the LORD, we have hoped for Him, we will rejoice and be happy with His salvation (25:9).\u201d\u00a0 Does this verse refer to God revealing himself indirectly through His action of redeeming His people? Or perhaps, it implies God will be revealed in physical form for the people to see, with the repetition of the word \u201cthis\u201d? The Talmud takes the verse literally, in a way that might seem philosophically uncomfortable (Taanit 31a) while most commentaries reject the interpretation that God will actually take physical form.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The prophecy continues: \u201cFor the Hand of the LORD will rest upon this mountain, and Moab will be threshed beneath Him, like grain is threshed in the garbage heap\u201d (25:10). Here, again, the commentaries neutralize the idea that the \u201chand\u201d literally indicates that God has corporeal form, translating \u201cstrength\u201d (Targum and Rashi) or punishment (Ibn Ezra and Radak).\u00a0 Commentaries use these verses to clarify their philosophical belief. Any description of the body of the Divine is merely a metaphor for revelation and power. A perfect God cannot be limited by physical form and physical space and so all these prophecies should be understood as prophecy and metaphor.<\/span><\/p>\n

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