{"id":75972,"date":"2020-06-14T14:17:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-14T11:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=75972"},"modified":"2020-06-14T14:17:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T11:17:50","slug":"keeping-commitments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/keeping-commitments\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Commitments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first three chapters of Hosea contain some of the most brutal images in the Bible. God commands the prophet to marry and divorce a woman with a shady past; father, name and re-name children without regard to the humanity of his wife and children, but solely in order to make rhetorical points about Israel\u2019s faithfulness, or lack thereof, to God, with whom they are in covenant.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bulk of Chapter 2 describes the devastating punishments that God threatens to mete out to the recalcitrant people, depriving them not only of wealth but even of minimal food and clothing:\u00a0 \u201cAssuredly, I will take back My new grain in its time And My new wine in its season, And I will snatch away My wool and My linen That serve to cover her nakedness\u201d (verse 11).<\/span><\/p>\n

God then plans to coax the people back into relationship (v. 16) and describes a loving vision of their faithful future together: \u201cIn that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; I will also banish bow, sword, and war from the land. Thus I will let them lie down in safety. And I will espouse you forever: I will espouse you with righteousness and justice, And with goodness and mercy, And I will espouse you with faithfulness; Then you shall be devoted to the Eternal\u201d (vv. 20-22).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To many readers, the assumption that a battered woman might willingly return to an unbalanced relationship is troubling at best. Relationships, even (especially) with God take work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Long-standing Jewish practice provides an opening for that work. Verses 21-22, quoted above, are particularly familiar to Jews who pray with tefillin, as they are traditionally recited while wrapping the tefillin strap around the pray-er\u2019s hand. This liturgical usage removes the verses from their Biblical context making it possible, as many worshippers do, to ignore the pain and anger that precede them. But what if we keep the context alive?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ritual recitation puts God\u2019s pledge of commitment in human mouths. The prophetic vision of a far-off future time becomes a human action plan, an antidote to the pain, illness, and want in our world. Although we shudder at the idea that suffering is the result of divine punishment, we can uphold the idea that righteousness and justice, goodness and mercy, faithfulness and devotion are the path forward not only towards ameliorating distress but also towards reinforcing or rebuilding our relationship with God.<\/span><\/p>\n

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