{"id":70404,"date":"2020-02-19T12:40:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T10:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70404"},"modified":"2023-10-15T13:54:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T10:54:17","slug":"jeremiah-behind-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jeremiah-behind-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremiah Behind Bars"},"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":[469,840,991,547],"acf":{"old_id":"70404","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"420","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A degrading Egyptian practice - not an Israelite one\r\n\r\n","content":"

Ancient Israel had several modes of punishing criminals: whipping, stoning, fines, and others. But the most common punishment used today, imprisonment, is alien to ancient Israel. Criminals and wrongdoers were punished and released. The idea of constraining someone for a determinate sentence as a response to crime was out of place in Israel\u2019s culture of immediate consequences, repentance, and release.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the first time we hear of imprisonment for a crime is in the Joseph story, in Egypt. There, Joseph is accused of a sexual offense against his master (by allegedly attacking Potiphar\u2019s wife), and for that, he is thrown in prison, where he meets to servants to Pharaoh who are also facing trials and disfavor. Prison as a mode of punishment is entirely consonant with Pharaonic values: hierarchy, enslavement, degradation.<\/span><\/p>\n

So it comes as a surprise that Jeremiah is imprisoned having delivered a fiery prophecy in the Temple. The themes of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies are the rampant betrayal of God\u2019s covenant with Israel by the leadership of ancient Israel\u2019s society. The rich, the powerful, the clergy all conspire together to defraud the poor, abuse the weak, and spurn the ideal of equal human dignity that forms the bedrock of the covenant.<\/span><\/p>\n

How ironic that the prophet whose strident voice accuses the elite of spurning the covenant is punished with a Pharaoh-style punishment!<\/span><\/p>\n

That this was more than coincidence is indicated by the name of the man who imprisoned him. The priest who is identified as the chief officer of the Temple is Pashhur ben Immer. And it turns out the Pashhur is an Egyptian word meaning \u201cson of [the Egyptian deity] Horus. Another figure, Gedaliah ben Pashhur attempts to have Jeremiah executed for sedition. Perhaps that is Pashhur\u2019s son.<\/span><\/p>\n

The battle is never just against outsiders. In every moment of human history, there are those who favor the \u201cPharaoh\u201d approach (hierarchy, coercive power, conscription and custody) and those open to hear the flowing breath of Being (covenant, persuasive power, education and responsibility).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We face that same choice today: do we give in to today\u2019s Pharaohs (including our own internal voice) or do we rise to the possibility of the One who is always inviting and becoming?<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":70405,"id":70405,"title":"jer20-prison cell","filename":"jer20-prison-cell.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jeremiah-behind-bars\/jer20-prison-cell\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer20-prison-cell","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":70404,"date":"2020-02-19 10:40:22","modified":"2020-02-19 10:40:35","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1366,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell-300x213.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":213,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell-768x546.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":546,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell-1024x729.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":729,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1093,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1366,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell-1200x854.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":854,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer20-prison-cell-590x420.jpg","home_baner-width":590,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Jeremiah Behind Bars","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"A degrading Egyptian practice - 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