{"id":76968,"date":"2020-07-06T13:28:42","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T10:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=76968"},"modified":"2020-07-06T13:28:42","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T10:28:42","slug":"whos-reversing-whom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/whos-reversing-whom\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s Reversing Whom?"},"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":"76968","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"518","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"\u00a0And which came first - the reality of war or the vision of peace?\r\n\r\n","content":"

In these last two chapters, Joel foresaw a day of judgment for the nations which had harmed Israel, including: Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Edom. God will inspire them to gather for the attack in the Valley of Jehoshaphat\u2014either an actual place, named for that Judean king, or a symbolic place of divine judgment\u2014where they will be routed. That day will be known as \u201cthe great and awesome day of the Lord\u201d on which extraordinary portents will appear on earth and in heaven (see Chapter 3).<\/span><\/p>\n

In his description of the Israelite repulse of the intended attack, Joel, whose detailed descriptions of the plagues of locusts bespeak a familiarity with agricultural matters, said: \u201cBeat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears\u201d (4:10). This phrase is well-known to us in its converse (either from Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3, or, for that matter, from the \u201cIsaiah Wall\u201d adjacent to the United Nations building in New York): \u201cThey shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The question is: Who\u2019s reversing whom?<\/span><\/p>\n

In Radak\u2019s opinion, Joel came first: \u201cAll metal implements will be recycled into weapons of war on account of the magnitude of this battle. In the time of peace that will follow, Isaiah prophesied, to the contrary, that: \u201cThey will beat their swords into plowshares\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recalling <\/span>our earlier discussion <\/span><\/a>about Joel\u2019s correct historical placement, this could be taken as an indication that Radak dated Joel to the time of King Jehoram son of Ahab. The alternative view is as a contemporary of Nahum and Habakkuk, which would place him during the reign of King Manasseh, later than Isaiah whose prophetic career extended only through Hezekiah, Manasseh\u2019s father.<\/span><\/p>\n

The concluding verse of this chapter (and of the book), although well-known from the Shabbat morning liturgy (<\/span>av harachamim<\/span><\/em>), has also been subjected to various interpretations. The JPS translation reads: \u201cThus I will treat as innocent (<\/span>niqeiti<\/span><\/em>) their blood which I have not treated as innocent (<\/span>lo niqeiti<\/span><\/em>); and the LORD shall dwell in Zion\u201d (4:21). Rashi interpreted this to mean that even if God would overlook many of Edom\u2019s sins, He would never clear them of the guilt associated with the Judean blood they shed. Targum Yonatan translated it as: \u201cI will [eventually] exact from them the blood that I [previously] had not accounted for.\u201d And Malbim, seemingly following the lead of the Targum, explained that after the downfall of Gog and Magog\u2014which will affect only Edom, Ishmael, and their allies\u2014God will avenge the blood of Israel from whomever had spilled it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Isaiah Wall, across the street from the United Nations building, New York \/ wikimedia<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64785,"id":64785,"title":"is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall","filename":"is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/making-warfare-obsolete\/is2-vv3-4-isaiah_wall\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is2-vv3-4-isaiah_wall","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64784,"date":"2019-10-26 07:45:04","modified":"2020-07-06 10:27:28","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-vv3-4-Isaiah_Wall-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Who\u2019s Reversing Whom?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"\u00a0And which came first - 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