{"id":72108,"date":"2020-03-21T10:22:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T08:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=72108"},"modified":"2023-10-12T16:10:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T13:10:46","slug":"points-to-ponder-jeremiah-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/points-to-ponder-jeremiah-41\/","title":{"rendered":"Points to Ponder – Jeremiah 41"},"content":{"rendered":"
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    \n
  1. But why<\/em>? Ishmael doesn\u2019t only destroy Gedaliah and the guard of the Babylonian outpost, but also acts with great cruelty towards the remnant of the people in Mizpah, and to people who were passing on the road. Why? The text doesn\u2019t provide an explicit answer, but the repeated emphasis that Ishmael is \u201cof royal descent\u201d suggests that he had an internal political motive, and that he wasn\u2019t just a mercenary of the king of the Ammonites.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Not just food<\/em>. Before the murder, Ishmael and his men \u201cate together there at Mizpah,\u201d that is, together with Gedaliah and his men. Often in the Tanach a shared meal isn\u2019t just about food, but represents the forging of an alliance, or creating a covenant between two parties, such as between Jacob and Laban 410 chapters ago, in Genesis 31. If this meal was also meant to be a symbolic alliance, then murder was even more heinous – it was an act of\u00a0 treason.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. An evil game<\/em>. Ishmael doesn\u2019t attack his victims directly, he plays a duplicitous game of closeness and sharing – and then the deadly surprise. That is the case with the meal with Gedaliah. Likewise, the scene where he approaches the group of 80, weeping, and extends to them a \u201cfriendly\u201d invitation to come to Mizpah. When the game ends, Ishamel turns out to be a cruel murderer. The only ones of his victims who succeeded in surviving were those who revealed that they had \u201cstores hidden in the field.\u201d Then Ishmael’s greed got the better of his bloodthirstiness.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Mourners or pilgrims<\/em>? Verse 5 – 80 people arrive \u201cfrom Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria,\u201d apparently mourning the destruction of the Temple – \u201ctheir beards shaved, their garments torn, and their bodies gashed.\u201d Why then \u201ccarrying meal offerings and frankincense to present at the House of the LORD\u201d? Perhaps the news of the destruction only reached them once they had set out, and that, despite the destruction, they wanted to come to the ruins of the holy place with their offerings.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Is this the end<\/em>? Are there no other options? Is there no other way for the Judahites to continue living in Judah? You\u2019ll have to wait for the next chapter…<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","image":{"ID":86314,"id":86314,"title":"Points to ponder","filename":"Points-to-ponder.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/points-to-ponder-psalm-84\/points-to-ponder\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"points-to-ponder","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":86166,"date":"2021-01-09 20:56:58","modified":"2023-12-28 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