{"id":76679,"date":"2020-06-30T10:51:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-30T07:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=76679"},"modified":"2020-06-30T10:51:21","modified_gmt":"2020-06-30T07:51:21","slug":"those-sins-of-ours-just-didnt-work-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/those-sins-of-ours-just-didnt-work-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Those Sins Of Ours Just Didn\u2019t Work Out"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chapter 13 described the final downfall of the northern kingdom, culminating with the first verse of chapter 14, “Samaria will be laid waste, for she has rebelled \u2026 they will fall by the sword ” (14:1). Here, Hosea’s message should have ended \u2013 yet Hosea continues with another nine verses, hoping against hope that the people will finally heed his message and repent before the final calamity befalls them. But not only is he hopeful \u2013 he tells them what they have to do:\u00a0 \u201cTake words with you And return to the LORD. Say to Him: \u201cForgive all guilt And accept what is good; Instead of bulls we will pay [The offering of] our lips. Assyria shall not save us…Nor ever again will we call Our handiwork our god, Since in You alone orphans find pity!\u201d Even if they only recite these words, promises Hosea, then God will “love them freely.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish tradition has identified this chapter as the haftarah<\/em> for <\/span>Shabbat Shuvah<\/em> <\/span>\u2013 the Shabbat during the Days of Awe between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We would have expected the reading of choice to be inspiring, uplifting. Yet that is not the case \u2013 instead we are confronted with the lowest level of repentance. What are the people confessing? Not that their sins were wrong or that they regret them \u2013 just that they didn’t work out. Had Assyria come to their aid, they would not acknowledge any error on their part. They are the proverbial thief brought before the parole board, who when asked whether he has used his time in incarceration to ponder his actions and reflect, answers that “Next time, I will wear quieter shoes”.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Israel that Hosea speaks to hasn’t changed from the beginning of the book. In chapter 2, the prophet states about Ephraim that \u201cPursue her lovers as she will, She shall not overtake them\u2026 Then she will say, \u201cI will go and return To my first husband, For then I fared better than now.\u201d Again, what motivates Israel\u2019s return \u2013 not love and commitment, but the purely mercenary evaluation that it was better for them to return to God than not to return.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is this cold calculation not a form of hypocrisy, that cheapens the meaning of true repentance? Rav Moshe Lichtenstein answers this with the following parable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine a child who leaves his house because of tensions between him and his parents, proclaiming that he will never need their kindness, never take any money from them, and perhaps never even speak to them.\u00a0 But things don’t work out, and after a period of privation, he knocks on the door, ashamed, and asks to come home. Is there any doubt how his parents will react? \u2026 Returning to God out of utilitarian motives still attests to the basic connection between Israel and God, for Israel returns to Him, and no one else.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Those Sins Of Ours Just Didn\u2019t Work Out","main_caption":"But even repentance for utilitarian, mercenary reasons attests to the connection with God - the only one to Whom we can 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\/76679"}],"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=76679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76680,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76679\/revisions\/76680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}