{"id":74107,"date":"2020-05-03T14:36:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T11:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=74107"},"modified":"2020-05-03T14:36:42","modified_gmt":"2020-05-03T11:36:42","slug":"changing-gods-decrees-for-the-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/changing-gods-decrees-for-the-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing God\u2019s Decrees For The Better"},"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":"74107","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"472","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Despite Israel\u2019s extensive rap sheet, and their extensive hypocrisy, there will be forgiveness and return\r\n\r\n","content":"

In Ezekiel 14 and again in chapter 20, elders of Israel visit the prophet in order to seek God.<\/span><\/p>\n

On both occasions, God responds with derision. In 14:3, He asks the prophet rhetorically, \u201cshall I be sought by them?\u201d In 20:3, He instructs Ezekiel to say to the elders directly, \u201cAre you coming to seek Me? As I live, I will not be sought by you!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Why reject them so forcefully? A quest to find God sounds like a noble goal, even an act of repentance that should serve to reopen any lines of connection broken by past sins. As Deuteronomy 4:29 proclaims, after describing a fall into idolatry, \u201cBut\u2026 you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and soul.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But perhaps these elders aren\u2019t truly seeking Him with all their hearts and souls. Both Radak and Rashi stress in their comments on 14:1 that while the elders pretended to seek God, their true intent was evil. Rabbi <\/span>Yechiel Tzvi Moskowitz offers a slightly softer characterization: Perhaps they honestly want the prophet \u201cto seek God on their behalf\u201d \u2013 but they hypocritically refuse to abandon their idolatrous ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

Something, however, seems to change between chapters 14 and 20. While previously it was an inference (and a pretense), in chapter 20 the prophet states explicitly that these elders \u201ccame to seek God\u201d (v. 1). This time, Radak asserts, \u201cthese elders came to seek God, and they were righteous.\u201d Perhaps the imminence of Jerusalem\u2019s destruction inspired their newfound sincerity; perhaps, as Moskowitz suggests, their efforts now included a [reasonable] claim based on God\u2019s ancient promises to His people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with the claim of those ancient promises, however, it is not so easy. Much of chapter 20 is then devoted to reminding these bold elders of Israel\u2019s extensive rap sheet, sins from ancient times right up to their own day \u2013 and given all that, once again, \u201cshall I be sought by you? By My life\u2026 I shall not be sought by you!\u201d (20:31).<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet \u2013 there is indeed an ancient promise to uphold, and so the prophecy begins to make a subtle shift: Despite (or through) the anger palpable in most of the chapter, somehow it ends with the ingathering of Israel\u2019s exiles (\u201c\u2026 with overflowing fury\u2026 gather you from the lands where you are scattered\u201d \u2013 vs. 33-34) and their eventual repentance (\u201cto the country that I swore to give to your fathers\u2026There you will recall your ways\u201d \u2013 vs. 42-43). Rejection is complicated; the quest for God can still succeed, at least \u201cfor My Name\u2019s sake\u201d (v. 44).<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi notes in his comment on 20:3 that although God declares He will not be sought by these evil hypocrites, a later verse expresses His commitment to do exactly that: \u201cI will yet for this be sought by the house of Israel, to do for them\u201d (36:37) \u2013 for even God\u2019s own decrees can always be changed for the better.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Changing God\u2019s Decrees For The Better","main_caption":"Despite Israel\u2019s extensive rap sheet, and their extensive hypocrisy, there will be forgiveness and return","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"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\/74107"}],"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=74107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74108,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74107\/revisions\/74108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}