{"id":74410,"date":"2020-05-06T15:01:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T12:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=74410"},"modified":"2020-05-06T15:01:22","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T12:01:22","slug":"look-inward-for-the-source-of-your-troubles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/look-inward-for-the-source-of-your-troubles\/","title":{"rendered":"Look Inward For The Source Of Your Troubles"},"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":"74410","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":73524,"related_cahpter":"475","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It\u2019s not God that has been unfaithful","content":"

In these final chapters of condemnation of Jerusalem, Ezekiel returns to the difficult metaphor that we encountered in chapter 16, the portrayal of Jerusalem as a promiscuous and foolish woman: promiscuous in the manner with which she bestowed her favours on others, foolish in that she (the harlot) is paying others to receive her gifts. We shall suggest a rationale for the metaphor at the end. This chapter becomes the basis of one of the most famous kinnot (lamentations) we say on the night of Tisha BeAv. There, the poet transforms the chapter into a dialogue between the two sisters, each bemoaning her fate and suggesting that they suffered more than the other.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is one significant difference between the two chapters. In chapter 16, Ezekiel lambasts the woman who represents Jerusalem for her idolatry \u2013 her religious behavior and outlook having been irreversibly corrupted by the influences of the surrounding nations. In our chapter, which is the penultimate chapter of a series in which Ezekiel declares and justifies the final verdict of Jerusalem’s destruction, the people are now judged for their consistent political flirtations \u2013 one day they looked to Egypt for support, the next day they turned to Babylon. The parable goes as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Born” in Egypt, the sisters Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Judah) both marry the speaker (God) and bear children. However, the eldest sister Oholah is soon unfaithful, cheating with the Assyrians. She is killed, clearly in retribution for her unfaithfulness. The younger sister Oholibah also lusted after the Assyrians \u2013 but now, instead of learning the necessary lesson from Oholah’s fate, becomes even more depraved, engaging in even more wanton behavior than her sister \u2013 Judah would turn first to Egypt, than to Babylon, but return again to Egypt in a futile attempt to gather support from the southern power for her political escapades. Ezekiel describes the southern kingdom’s fatal turn to Egypt for support as a desperate attempt to return to an old lover \u2013 “<\/span>Thus <\/span>you longed for the lewdness of your youth\u2026” (Ezekiel 23.21) Ultimately, like her sister, Oholibah’s husband would give her into her lovers’ hands, and they would strip her and kill her. \u201cThey shall repay you for your lewdness \u2026 and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD\u201d (v. 49)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why does Ezekiel continually return to this troubling metaphor of the Jewish people as harlots? We can make one suggestion, based on Ezekiel’s audience in Babylon. Having been forcibly removed from their homes in Judah just a few years before, some of them may have felt that their being in exile represented, as it were, the idea that God was no longer faithful to them or the covenant. Countering this, Ezekiel responds with his explicit metaphors to describe the history of the Jewish people as one of constant disloyalty to God, to both appreciate His patience and cause them to look inwards for the sources of their difficulty.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":74411,"id":74411,"title":"Ez23-Calder_Introspection","filename":"Ez23-Calder_Introspection.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Ez23-Calder_Introspection.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/look-inward-for-the-source-of-your-troubles\/ez23-calder_introspection\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez23-calder_introspection","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":74410,"date":"2020-05-06 11:59:56","modified":"2020-05-06 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