{"id":72005,"date":"2020-03-18T15:13:34","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T13:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=72005"},"modified":"2020-03-18T15:13:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T13:13:34","slug":"jeremiahs-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jeremiahs-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremiah\u2019s Choice"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"72005","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"440","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Should I stay or should I go now?\r\n","content":"

Jerusalem had been conquered and its inhabitants exiled. Jeremiah had been spared, however, due to the recognition on the part of the Babylonians that his prophecies favored them. They released him from his shackles and gave him the choice of accompanying the exiles to Babylon\u2014where he would be looked after\u2014or remaining in Judah. The verse that describes his choice, however, is phrased somewhat awkwardly:<\/span><\/p>\n

But [Jeremiah] still did not turn back (<\/span>lo yashuv<\/span><\/i>).\u2014\u201cOr go (<\/span>shuvah<\/span><\/i>) to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has put in charge of the towns of Judah, and stay (<\/span>ve-shev<\/span><\/i>) with him among the people, or go wherever you want to go.\u201d The chief of the guards gave him an allowance of food and dismissed him (5).<\/span><\/p>\n

While an uncomplicated reading of the verse would indicate that it was Nebuzaradan, his Babylonian interlocutor, who uttered the words \u201cgo to Gedaliah,\u201d Rashi identified the speaker as God, making it a divine imperative. Radak, however, stuck to the <\/span>peshat<\/span><\/i>, explaining that \u201csince Jeremiah did not answer, Nebuzaradan understood that he wished to remain in place, so he told him to go to Gedaliah and remain with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shadal* went deeper yet, supplying a reason for Jeremiah\u2019s reluctance to commit himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah had not withdrawn [from Nebuzaradan] in order to remain in the Land of Israel because he was afraid lest Nebuzaradan be angry if he declined to accompany him [to Babylon], implying that he did not trust him to keep his promise [to look after him]. Nebuzaradan understood his thought process and told him explicitly \u201cGo to Gedaliah.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for \u201cthe allowance of food\u201d (\u2018<\/span>arucha umas\u2019et<\/span><\/i>), Radak treated the pair as a hendiadys (\u201cboth are presents, the duplication signifying two types of gifts\u201d), while Shadal interpreted `<\/span>arucha<\/span><\/i> (literally, a meal) as regular provisions of food that would be provided on an ongoing basis, as opposed to <\/span>mas`et<\/span><\/i> (literally, a take-away) which was a one-time favor.<\/span><\/p>\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary, <\/span>see our introduction<\/span><\/a> in Jeremiah chapter 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Jeremiah on the ruins of Jerusalem. Illustration from the Jewish encyclopedia by Brockhaus and Efron 1906\u20131911, after E. Bendemann \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":72014,"id":72014,"title":"Jer40-Brockhaus_and_Efron_after Bendemann","filename":"Jer40-Brockhaus_and_Efron_after-Bendemann.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer40-Brockhaus_and_Efron_after-Bendemann.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jeremiahs-choice\/jer40-brockhaus_and_efron_after-bendemann\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer40-brockhaus_and_efron_after-bendemann","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":72005,"date":"2020-03-18 13:13:18","modified":"2020-03-18 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