{"id":70175,"date":"2020-02-13T13:21:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T11:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70175"},"modified":"2023-09-10T18:58:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T15:58:04","slug":"why-shouldnt-jeremiah-have-a-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/why-shouldnt-jeremiah-have-a-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Shouldn\u2019t Jeremiah Have a Family?"},"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":[529,506,680],"acf":{"old_id":"70175","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"416","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"More strange prophetic behavior\r\n\r\n","content":"

In our comments to chapter 13, apropos of God\u2019s instruction to Jeremiah to purchase a loincloth, we discussed the problem of His ostensibly ordering prophets to violate norms of propriety. Here, too, we find Him telling Jeremiah \u201cnot to marry and not to have sons and daughters in this place\u201d (2).<\/span><\/p>\n

Radak launched several challenges concerning this instruction.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is quite perplexing\u2026 Was Jeremiah not worthy enough to keep his children alive on his account? Minor children die only because of their parents\u2019 sins, and Jeremiah had committed no sin that would require the deaths of his children. Furthermore, even if there were an edict of death by sword and famine, it was issued against some of them and not them all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consequently, Radak issued a restrictive interpretation.<\/span><\/p>\n

It seems to me that [when God mentioned] \u201cin this place,\u201d He meant Anathoth, where the prophecy was issued\u2026 as it was mentioned previously about them, \u201cNo remnant shall be left of them, for I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth, the year of their doom\u201d\u00a0 (11:23)\u2026 If Jeremiah had children in Anathoth, he might have removed them before the edict was fulfilled, but their Anathoth relatives would not have allowed it because they had no faith in his prophecy. Indeed, had Jeremiah himself been in Anathoth, he might not have been able to save himself\u2026 and if he could spare them from death, he might not have been able to spare them from exile or from another type of punishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Radak pointed out an anomaly. According to Ezra (2:23), 128 \u201cmen of Anathoth\u201d returned from the Babylonian exile, in which case they clearly had a \u201cremnant.\u201d His resolution: They repented at the time of the conquest of the land. Nevertheless, God gave Jeremiah his instructions because at that time there was no prospect of repentance on the horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shadal* cut through the protracted exegetical process by referring, succinctly, to the commentary of Don Isaac Abrabanel in which Radak\u2019s questions were answered, adding a comment that ties Jeremiah to the examples of strange prophetic behavior referenced in the opening paragraph:\u00a0 \u201cUndoubtedly, Jeremiah refrained from [marriage and having children] not in a [prophetic] dream but while awake and throughout many years, and despite the fact that it was meant [only] as a parable and sign for the rebellious people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary,<\/span> see this introductory essay.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":70176,"id":70176,"title":"jer16-family","filename":"jer16-family.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/why-shouldnt-jeremiah-have-a-family\/jer16-family\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer16-family","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":70175,"date":"2020-02-13 11:21:21","modified":"2022-03-13 08:14:37","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":830,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family-768x498.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":498,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family-1024x664.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":664,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":830,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":830,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family-1200x778.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":778,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer16-family-648x420.png","home_baner-width":648,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Why 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