{"id":78257,"date":"2020-07-29T18:59:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78257"},"modified":"2020-07-29T18:59:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T15:59:00","slug":"a-nation-of-laws-not-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-nation-of-laws-not-land\/","title":{"rendered":"A Nation Of Laws, Not Land"},"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":"78257","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"536","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And a bottom-up theory of social change and peace-building\r\n\r\n","content":"

Micah Chapter 4 opens with this familiar prophecy:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe shall <\/span>judge<\/span> between many peoples<\/span><\/em>, and shall <\/span>arbitrate between strong nations<\/span><\/em> far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more\u201d (4:3).<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s familiar today because those words are used by politicians and poets, peacemakers and musicians. But it was familiar to Micah\u2019s audience because it\u2019s almost verbatim the same prophecy given by Isaiah, with two small exceptions:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe shall <\/span>judge<\/span> between the nations<\/span><\/em> and shall <\/span>arbitrate for many peoples<\/span><\/em>; they shall beat their swords into plowshares… (Isaiah 2:4).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In Micah\u2019s version God is judging people and arbitrating between nations, while in Isaiah\u2019s version He is judging nations and arbitrating between people. Ultimately the two versions add up to judging and arbitrating between both nations and people, but who\u2019s doing the beating of swords into plowshares? They \u2013 the people, or they- the nations?<\/span><\/p>\n

There is one significant difference between the Jewish \u201cnation\u201d and all the other nations to whom these prophecies are directed. In the most common version of world history, people settle a land, call it their home and develop a set of laws to govern their nation. The Jews, however, are the only nation in history who had laws before a country. We received the Torah from God long before we settled the land of Israel. Our peoplehood, that is the people of God and Torah, came first; our nationhood followed. As Saadia Gaon expressed it, \u201cOur nation is only a nation by virtue of its Torah (Book of Beliefs and Opinions, 7:3).\u201d It was our peoplehood that merited us our nationhood, and when we weren\u2019t living up to our obligations as people, we were exiled from our land.<\/span><\/p>\n

Could it be that these two prophecies, taken together, are meant to teach us about the circular relationship between people, their leaders and their nations? Leaders, at least in the free world, are elected by the people and in turn pass national laws that are imposed on the people. The entry point to this ever-spinning wheel is the people. Ultimately, it\u2019s not nations that will beat their swords into plowshares, but the nation\u2019s citizens. And when that happens, nations will have no swords to lift against other nations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Could it be that the power is with the people to fulfill the prophecy that nations shall not learn war anymore?<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":64797,"id":64797,"title":"is2-mural","filename":"is2-mural.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is2-mural.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/swords-into-plowshares\/is2-mural\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is2-mural","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":64796,"date":"2019-10-26 08:36:55","modified":"2020-07-29 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