{"id":69121,"date":"2020-01-25T23:50:47","date_gmt":"2020-01-25T21:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69121"},"modified":"2023-08-23T17:28:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T14:28:00","slug":"sins-which-defile-the-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sins-which-defile-the-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Sins Which Defile The Land"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the opening verses of this chapter, the prophet compared the Israelites to a prostitute and accused them of \u201cdefiling the land with their debauchery\u201d (2). The idea that the physical Land of Israel can be affected by the actions of its inhabitants is, of course, as old as the Torah, particularly the second paragraph of Shema`, which declares that \u201cIf you obey My commandments\u2026 I will bring rain to your land in a timely fashion\u2026 [while] beware lest your hearts stray and worship idols\u2026 He will restrain the heavens and there will be no rain\u201d (Dt. 11:13 ff.).<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah, too, linked the fate of the land to the people\u2019s wanton behavior, proclaiming \u201cAnd when showers were withheld and the late rains did not come, you had the brazenness of a street woman, you refused to be ashamed\u201d (3). Shadal* focused on the passive form of the verb \u201c[showers] were withheld (<\/span>va-yiman`u<\/span><\/i>),\u201d which implies something that happened automatically rather than something someone was actively initiating.<\/span><\/p>\n

It does not state that God punished them, but that this occurred by itself, and this is the meaning of \u201cdefiling the land\u201d of the previous verse. This is the profundity of the defilement of the land that results in its unnatural behavior towards its inhabitants in withholding its produce. Similarly, Isaiah said that \u201cthe land was defiled on account of its inhabitants who transgressed the Laws\u2026 the new wine fails, the vine languishes\u201d (24:5 ff.). And likewise, \u201cYou shall not pollute the land in which you live\u201d (Numbers 35:33) \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

In his continuation, however, Shadal took a rather bold step by suggesting that the reluctance of Jeremiah to attribute the situation directly to God was due to a universal recognition of its premise.<\/span><\/p>\n

He did not attribute the matter to God\u2014saying \u201cwere withheld\u201d rather than \u201cI withheld\u201d\u2014because it appears that even the [gentile] nations believed that ponderous sins cause the defilement and destruction of the land; this is not something specific to the God of Israel. Perhaps this belief was a derivative of the Flood or of the belief in God\u2019s righteousness, that He would neither err nor act whimsically.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Shadals\u2019 assumption is historically accurate, it makes the ancients appear considerably more religious than many moderns who are loathe to see the damages of climate change as the product of human error or foible.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary, see our introduction.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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