{"id":69975,"date":"2020-02-11T11:43:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T09:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69975"},"modified":"2023-09-07T16:13:19","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:13:19","slug":"a-question-mark-and-a-broken-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-question-mark-and-a-broken-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"A Question Mark And A Broken Heart"},"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":[395,437,390,367],"acf":{"old_id":"69975","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38552,"related_cahpter":"414","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The gates of mercy remain impenetrable","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter 14 verses 7-9 is one of the earliest, clearest examples of a traditional Jewish fast-day prayer. Jeremiah, it seems, does not compose the prayer as much as draw it from the lips of the people themselves. God rejects the people&#8217;s supplication, and then comes a dispute between the prophet and God, and the prophet hears the final verdict: &#8220;Do not pray on behalf of this people.&#8221; But like Moses, who prostrates himself before the Lord after the sin of the Golden Calf, and like all the prophets of Israel, who suffered the shame of their people&#8217;s iniquities, Jeremiah struggles against God&#8217;s decree not to pray.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For years, prophets such as Hananiah son of Azzur force-fed the people the line that God &#8220;will give lasting peace in this place.&#8221; Such claims would never have been made during the reigns of Josiah or even Jehoiakim. Only in the days of Zedekiah was Jeremiah forced to confront prophets who fomented an anti-Babylonian platform. They lulled the people to sleep with worthless promises like &#8220;You will not see the sword or suffer famine.&#8221; The people are not at fault, protests Jeremiah. Blame lies on those prophets who have been feeding them lies! But God is not appeased. Though He concedes that the prophets are at fault, the people still have free choice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is unprecedented in the Bible. The prophet beseeches God as the people&#8217;s defender, yet God refuses to hear him. The prophet fails. The gates of mercy remain impenetrable. Death stands at the door. Jeremiah envisions the city&#8217;s near future, and it breaks his heart. Jeremiah accuses God of annulling His covenant. In the terrible curses of Leviticus, God limits the curse He will visit upon the land should Israel sin:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, despite all this, when they are in enemy territory, I shall not reject them or revile them so as to wipe them out, breaching My covenant with them. (Lev. 26:44)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God clearly states the conditions of His covenant: I shall not reject them or revile them. I may grow angry, punish, become furious, and exile \u2014 but I shall never break the covenant. God has promised never to wipe His people out. Now, facing famished, humiliated Jerusalem, Jeremiah screams at God: &#8220;Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you revile Zion?&#8221; Jeremiah disregards God&#8217;s instructions not to pray for the people. We acknowledge the wickedness that caused our downfall, but are the gates of prayer truly locked? Jeremiah&#8217;s appeal receives no answer. He is left with a question mark and his broken heart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lau, Binyamin. <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cThe Drought&#8211;God Silences Jeremiah\u2019s Prayer.\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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