{"id":73317,"date":"2020-04-14T16:18:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T13:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73317"},"modified":"2020-04-14T16:18:34","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T13:18:34","slug":"hoist-with-their-own-petard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hoist-with-their-own-petard\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoist with Their Own Petard"},"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":"73317","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Or - beaten with their own branches\r\n\r\n","content":"

In this chapter, God transported Ezekiel from Babylon to Jerusalem, where he had a ringside seat to the many abominations that were still being practiced in and around the Temple. Afterwards, He said to him: \u201cDo you see, O mortal? Is it not enough for the House of Judah to practice the abominations that they have committed here, that they must fill the country with lawlessness and provoke Me still further and thrust the branch to their nostrils?\u201d (17).<\/span> What does thrusting a branch into one\u2019s nostrils signify?<\/span><\/p>\n

Note, first, that this odd locution comes at the end of a sentence that is, itself, divided in two. Its beginning addresses the various abominations that were on display in the preceding verse, but it segues, in the second part, into the more general \u201clawlessness\u201d (<\/span>chamas<\/span><\/i>, see Genesis 6:11), which usually signifies social wrongdoing. Does the thrusting relate to one, the other, or both?<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi, following the Talmud (Yoma 77a), treated <\/span>zemorah<\/span><\/i> as the sound of breaking wind\u2014recalling that \u201ctheir backs were to the Temple\u201d (6)\u2014and, as Moshe Greenberg explained, \u201ceither literally, or figuratively (i.e., an allusion to the odor of idolatrous offerings), a contemptuous flouting of God\u201d (173). Kara, and, to an extent, Eliezer of Beaugency, interpreted it to mean that they had kept about them items that they should have discarded (with <\/span>zemorah<\/span><\/i> meaning a branch that is usually pruned) with which they would eventually be beaten in punishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hence, our title, courtesy of Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 4). Not only does the expression hoist with one\u2019s own petard embody Kara\u2019s interpretation, but petard, a small bomb, <\/span>derives <\/span>etymologically<\/span> from the <\/span>Latin<\/span> pedere<\/span><\/i> (“to break wind”), so even Rashi\u2019s interpretation fits. As to why they would be doing it to their own noses, Radak pointed out that this is one of the eighteen biblical instances of euphemistic speech, and its intended destination was really God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Illustration of a petard from “Sketchbook on military art, including geometry, fortifications, artillery, mechanics, and pyrotechnics,” 17th C. \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":73318,"id":73318,"title":"ez8-petard","filename":"ez8-petard.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hoist-with-their-own-petard\/ez8-petard\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez8-petard","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73317,"date":"2020-04-14 13:18:23","modified":"2020-04-14 13:18:32","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":559,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-300x210.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":210,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-768x537.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":537,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":559,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":559,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":559,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":559,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-601x420.jpg","home_baner-width":601,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Hoist with Their Own Petard","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Or - 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