{"id":74747,"date":"2020-05-16T20:48:06","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T17:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=74747"},"modified":"2020-05-16T20:48:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T17:48:06","slug":"the-illusion-of-self-sufficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-illusion-of-self-sufficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"The Illusion of Self-Sufficiency"},"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":"74747","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64460,"related_cahpter":"481","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"On the importance of gratitude, and the acknowledgment of dependency\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this chapter Ezekiel inveighs against the Pharaoh of Egypt. God\u2019s message to Pharaoh is harsh: \u201cI am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, mighty monster, sprawling in your channels, who said, my Nile is my own; I made it for myself.\u201d The core of this prophecy is an indictment of Pharaoh\u2019s arrogance and its attendant ingratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then as today, Egyptian agriculture is utterly dependent on the annual flooding of the Nile\u2019s banks, which irrigates the fields. In this respect Egypt was unique \u2014 unlike the surrounding countries, it did not depend on rainfall. This independence from rain could produce a feeling of self-sufficiency, or even arrogance. In a number of places in the Bible we see a concern to remind the Egyptians that they too are dependent on the one God. Zechariah, for example, imagines that in the messianic period the festival of Sukkot will become a universal festival, and each nation\u2019s annual rainfall will be dependent on its attendance in Jerusalem. It takes pains to mention that \u201cif the community of Egypt does not make this pilgrimage, it shall not be visited by the same affliction\u201d (Zech. 14:14) of drought, but will instead be struck by a wasting sickness. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">peoples, Ezekiel and Zechariah teach, are equally dependent on God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More pernicious than the general arrogance of the Egyptians is the special delusion of their king. In ancient Egypt the king was literally treated as a god, and Ezekiel indicts Pharaoh for this delusion. Pharaoh believes <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">himself <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to be the source of the Nile\u2019s power. In the charge which Ezekiel lays at Pharaoh\u2019s feet, we find alongside his oppression of the Israelites the fact that \u201che boasted, \u2018The Nile is mine, and I made it.\u2019\u201d While Pharaoh may think of himself as a god, the creator of Egypt\u2019s prosperity and stability, Ezekiel characterizes him as a sea-monster \u2014 meaning, precisely those forces of chaos and destruction which the true God defeats in order to establish creation. Pharaoh\u2019s arrogance is merely a particularly extreme case of a tendency which lives in us all, and which has the power to sow chaos wherever it grows.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are warned not to buy into the Pharaonic delusion. Should the nation meet with world success, growing rich and powerful, Deuteronomy imagines that they will say to themselves: \u201cMy own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.\u201d In such moments they are urged to \u201cRemember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to get wealth, in fulfillment of the covenant that He made on oath with your fathers, as is still the case\u201d (Deut. 8:17-18). While the Israelites (and we) may meet with startling success in the course of our lives, it is vital to remember that the proper response in such moments is always gratitude, and never self-satisfaction.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":74751,"id":74751,"title":"ez29-gratitude","filename":"ez29-gratitude.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-illusion-of-self-sufficiency\/ez29-gratitude\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez29-gratitude","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":74747,"date":"2020-05-16 17:47:51","modified":"2022-09-14 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