{"id":69291,"date":"2020-01-28T12:01:35","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T10:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69291"},"modified":"2023-08-24T16:28:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T13:28:28","slug":"jerusalem-sodom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jerusalem-sodom\/","title":{"rendered":"Jerusalem = Sodom"},"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":[395,635,571],"acf":{"old_id":"69291","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38552,"related_cahpter":"405","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The thin veneer of piety serves as a fig leaf for corruption and warped social values\r\n\r\n","content":"

After experiencing the renewal of the covenant and receiving a prophetic promise at the potter’s workshop, Jeremiah returns to wandering the streets of Benjamin and Judah. These thoroughfares are filled with spiritual and cultural revolution. The king’s emissaries patrol every corner, stamping out any traces of idol worship still to be found. Pagan priests are arrested, and inspectors go from house to house enforcing the king’s orders. Jerusalem no longer tolerates idolatry, for it has returned to its religious roots \u2014 the Lord is God of the land, and He alone shall be worshipped by all.<\/span><\/p>\n

At first glance, Josiah’s reform has achieved the impossible. The idols have been smashed, the Temple purified, and worship centralized. Topheth, the site of child sacrifice, has been declared impure and condemned, and Torah study has expanded. People are proudly declaring, “We are wise, and we have the Lord’s Torah!” The sounds of redemption seem to echo in the distance \u2014 but all this is only an illusion. Jeremiah sees behind this facade and recognizes the falsity and hypocrisy, the thin veneer of piety serving as a fig leaf for corruption and warped social values.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In verses 1-5, Jeremiah describes how he hopes to find the key to true repentance. As in several of his other prophecies, he asserts that executing justice is constitutive of reform and of the “way of the Lord.” Though there is much talk about faith, it is no indication of who truly serves God. If there is but one man who executes justice, on his account alone God will forgive the entire city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah is ready to fight for Jerusalem more fiercely than Abraham argued for Sodom to be spared. In Abraham’s famous haggling with God, he eventually bargained God down to ten righteous people in whose merit the city would be saved. Jeremiah goes further: “Whether there is but one man…and I will forgive her!” This wording alludes to a chilling realization on Jeremiah’s part: that Jerusalem is like Sodom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The educational system is malfunctioning; the spiritually weak people do not know any better and cannot by themselves break out of the vicious cycle of ignorance. Until now, there has been no systematic teaching of the ways of God. So Jeremiah redirects his appeal to the leaders of the people, for “surely they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God.” However, there too, Jeremiah meets with great disappointment: “But all of them as one had broken the yoke and burst the bonds.” Sadly, they are no better than their students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lau, Binyamin. <\/span>Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/i>. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cThe Prophet\u2019s Frustration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":69252,"id":69252,"title":"jer-lau2","filename":"jer-lau2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/running-a-gauntlet-of-pain\/jer-lau2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer-lau2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":69251,"date":"2020-01-27 21:59:05","modified":"2020-01-27 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