{"id":77934,"date":"2020-07-23T13:40:09","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T10:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77934"},"modified":"2020-07-23T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T10:40:09","slug":"sackcloth-on-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sackcloth-on-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Sackcloth on Animals?"},"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":"77934","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"531","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"You betcha\r\n\r\n","content":"

Jonah made his way to Nineveh and warned its inhabitants of its impending destruction (4). They took him seriously, declared a fast, and put on sackcloth \u201cgreat and small alike\u201d (5). When news of their actions reached the king, he joined them, removing his royal garments, putting on sackcloth, and sitting in ashes (6).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the subject of his subsequent decree that drew my attention:<\/span><\/p>\n

And he had the word cried through Nineveh: \u201cBy decree of the king and his nobles: No man or beast\u2014of flock or herd\u2014shall taste anything! They shall not graze, and they shall not drink water! They shall be covered with sackcloth\u2014man and beast\u2014and shall cry mightily to God. Let everyone turn back from his evil ways and from the injustice of which he is guilty. (7-8)<\/span><\/p>\n

I understand the sackcloth and prayer for the people of Nineveh, but sackcloth and prayer for beasts?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ibn Ezra was forthright in his rejection of that reading, stating: \u201cCovered\u2026 and cry: The people; those who have intelligence.\u201d With all due deference to that arch-rationalist, the bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle can be called \u201ccrying out,\u201d an interpretation supported by \u201cthe very beasts of the field cry out to you\u201d when deprived of their water and pasture (Joel 1:20).<\/span><\/p>\n

Even dressing animals in sackcloth does not exceed biblical norms. If the horse on which Ahasuerus rode to his coronation was outfitted with a crown (Esther 6:8), temporarily replacing its saddle with sackcloth is not out of the realm of possibility. [For those who may remain skeptical, both Herodotus and Plutarch reported on the shearing of the manes and tails of horses and donkeys to mark the deaths of prominent military figures.]<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, the fates of men and beasts have been intertwined since the flood (Gen. 6:5-7), and the presence of animals alongside people in the ark is cited in God\u2019s decision to have the waters ultimately subside (Gen. 8:1). As the Psalmist put it: \u201cYour righteousness [extends] to the loftiest mountains, Your justice to the deepest waters; man and beast will God save\u201d (36:7), and in God\u2019s own words at the close of the Book of Jonah: \u201cAnd should I not care about Nineveh\u2026 in which there are\u2026 many beasts as well?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Talmudic Sages saw the prayer and sackcloth with a jaundiced eye:<\/span><\/p>\n

The penitence of Nineveh was dishonest\u2026 They stationed calves within and their mothers without; foals within and their mothers without; those screamed and screeched and those screamed and screeched. They said: If You have no compassion on us, we will have no compassion on them (Yerushalmi Ta`anit 2:1).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77935,"id":77935,"title":"jon3-cowinsackcloth","filename":"jon3-cowinsackcloth.jpeg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-cowinsackcloth.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sackcloth-on-animals\/jon3-cowinsackcloth\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon3-cowinsackcloth","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77934,"date":"2020-07-23 10:39:33","modified":"2020-07-23 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