{"id":72806,"date":"2020-04-05T06:35:58","date_gmt":"2020-04-05T03:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=72806"},"modified":"2020-04-05T06:35:58","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T03:35:58","slug":"prophecy-as-performance-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/prophecy-as-performance-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Prophecy as Performance Art"},"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":"72806","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":68344,"related_cahpter":"451","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Understanding an emergent reality, with a submerged pronouncement\r\n\r\n","content":"

Maybe it\u2019s vaguely heretical to think of Jeremiah as a performance artist rather than a prophet. But I think it makes chapter 51 much more compelling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite its unrelenting drama, I confess that I find the first 59 verses boring. I don\u2019t expect Jeremiah to be polite and diplomatic according to contemporary American standards, especially when our leaders don\u2019t hold to those standards even today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, I can\u2019t get past my (admittedly also modern) wish that an editor had selected the strongest curses rather than simply listing them one after the other. The images step on each others\u2019 toes, they repeat, they begin to blur into a general screech of anger and blood and revenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then, in verse 60, there is a turn which transmutes the previous 59 verses from harangue into art.<\/span><\/p>\n

51:60-63: \u201cJeremiah wrote down in one scroll all the disaster that would come upon Babylon, all these things that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, \u201cWhen you get to Babylon, see that you read out all these words. And say, \u2018O LORD, You Yourself have declared concerning this place that it shall be cut off, without inhabitant, man or beast; that it shall be a desolation for all time.\u2019 And when you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and hurl it into the Euphrates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These lines change everything about Jeremiah \u2013 or at least this chapter \u2013 for me. Suddenly, this text is not a book, to be judged by a book\u2019s rules; it\u2019s a piece of performance art, complete with props and stage directions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The thought of a person traveling to a community, unrolling a scroll, shouting curse after curse after curse, then tying a stone to the scroll and hurling it into the Euphrates \u2013now <\/span>that<\/span><\/i> (dare I say) is entertaining. Even if the curses are repetitive, the mere drama of a stranger standing there screaming – for a long time – has an inherent drama. And then the scroll disappears into the river? Cue applause. Or, more likely, screaming, the desired effect.<\/span><\/p>\n

A prophet wants to be heard, which means holding the audience\u2019s attention, which means \u2013 essentially – performing. Though the language in this chapter is brutal, as a script for an act of ritual-political performance art, I admire it. The performance would be jarring in a way that would require the audience to reconsider everything they know.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this is important, because in the next chapter, things are going to get real \u2013 very real. But so far it\u2019s just a vision of Jeremiah\u2019s, which he (or, actually, his messenger) has to convey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And so I think this chapter shows us how art can help people understand a coming reality which has not yet happened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Performance art and prophecy. Are they really so different?<\/span><\/p>\n

image: by Michal Ben Hamu<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":72810,"id":72810,"title":"jer51-michal ben hamu","filename":"jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/prophecy-as-performance-art\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer51-michal-ben-hamu","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":72806,"date":"2020-04-05 03:35:32","modified":"2020-04-05 03:35:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1024,"height":577,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-768x433.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":433,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-1024x577.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":577,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":577,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":577,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":577,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-745x420.jpg","home_baner-width":745,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Prophecy as Performance Art","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Understanding an emergent reality, with a submerged pronouncement","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":72810,"id":72810,"title":"jer51-michal ben hamu","filename":"jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/prophecy-as-performance-art\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer51-michal-ben-hamu","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":72806,"date":"2020-04-05 03:35:32","modified":"2020-04-05 03:35:44","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1024,"height":577,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-768x433.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":433,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-1024x577.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":577,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":577,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":577,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":577,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer51-michal-ben-hamu-745x420.jpg","home_baner-width":745,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72811,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72806\/revisions\/72811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}