{"id":73781,"date":"2020-04-26T14:43:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T11:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73781"},"modified":"2020-04-26T14:43:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-26T11:43:49","slug":"heard-it-through-a-grapevine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/heard-it-through-a-grapevine\/","title":{"rendered":"Heard It Through A Grapevine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":"73781","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":73789,"related_cahpter":"467","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Israel shouldn\u2019t try to be like the other trees of the forest\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ezekiel 15 introduces a prophetic parable, using the image of a charred grapevine to paint a gloomy picture of destruction for the Israelites. Repeatedly, God questions the utility of this grapevine. Unlike the other trees of the forest, the wood of the grapevine is too thin and delicate to use even to construct something simple like a peg to use as a hanger. Thus, even in its optimal state, the grapevine is useless in comparison to the other lumber-bearing trees of the forest. Then, God points out that once ignited by fire and charred on the ends and in the middle, the already feeble grapevine becomes truly useless.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why evoke the grapevine at all, and why dismiss its utility in these ways?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If one wants to craft fine wooden items, a grapevine is indeed a poor choice. Whether those vessels are tools of war or of labor, someone who needs thick trees for sturdy products will indeed dismiss grapevines as mere weeds. This world of physical utility evokes an archetype of the nations of the world. While those nations are not necessarily evil, they lack the charge of holiness that is imbued within the Israelites. By evoking this first understanding of the grapevine compared to the other trees, God hints to the Israelites that they had lost touch with their particular mission, imagining foolishly that they could integrate to the world of the nations around them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having already dismissed the grapevine as useless, why then explain why it would be even more useless charred? Isn\u2019t that obvious?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I want to suggest that the message of this parable is that if the Israelites were to have internalized that they, the grapevine, are not meant to be like the other trees of the forest, they would come to realize that their real utility, their real <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to bear fruits that produce not only flavor and merriment, but also sanctity. Once charred, their true strength becomes neutralized. If the Israelites had understood their mission to bring sanctity into the world, they would have seen the particular preciousness of the grapevine amongst a forest of trees. Instead, the Israelites ignorantly abandoned the sacred potential of the grapevine. So, God says, if the Israelites want to be like those mighty trees that are not only useful for crafting but also for firewood, God will assign them that exact fate and punish the grapevine for imagining it could be something that it is not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":73785,"id":73785,"title":"ez15-vineyard","filename":"ez15-vineyard.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez15-vineyard.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/heard-it-through-a-grapevine\/ez15-vineyard\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez15-vineyard","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73781,"date":"2020-04-26 11:24:53","modified":"2022-08-10 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