{"id":78890,"date":"2020-08-16T17:50:48","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T14:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78890"},"modified":"2020-08-16T17:50:48","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T14:50:48","slug":"confronting-evildoers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/confronting-evildoers\/","title":{"rendered":"Confronting Evildoers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/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":"78890","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":62571,"related_cahpter":"547","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Is that too much to ask?\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The day of reckoning whereby God will punish His recalcitrant people (vv. 2, 14-5) has finally arrived. While armies who mete out Divine judgments, will in turn feel the brunt of God\u2019s anger for \u201cgoing too far\u201d (v. 8-13,) there are some Judans who clearly do not appear to be deserving of harsh treatment. There apparently was a group of Judans that had maintained its faith and righteousness despite the corruption surrounding them: \u201cSeek the LORD, all you humble of the land who have fulfilled His law; seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will find shelter on the day of the LORD\u2019s anger\u201d (verse 3).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A midrash insists that unlike when a flesh-and-blood king looks to put down a rebellion, he indiscriminately kills everyone, both the bad as well as the good, this is not the case with respect to the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bochein Levavot<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (\u201cthe discerner of [thoughts within] hearts\u201d):<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They said before Him: Master of the universe! A human king, against whom a province rebelled and ten or twenty of them cursed the king or his representatives, he sends against them his legions who carry out utter destruction and kill the good along with the bad, because he cannot discern who rebelled and who didn\u2019t&#8230;. But You, who knows the thoughts of man, what hearts and innards advise, and the desires of Your creatures, understands, and You know who has rebelled and who has not. You know the spirit of every individual. For this reason, the text states: (Bamidbar 16:22) \u201c\u2026God of the spirits of all flesh, if one person sins, will You be wrathful with the whole community?\u201d The Holy One, Blessed Be He, said to them: You have spoken well. I will make known who has sinned and who has not. (Bamidbar Rabba 18:11).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So one can reasonably wonder why the survival of these righteous individuals was in doubt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and its princes (Isaiah 3:14) \u2026 The question arises: What did the elders, i.e., the sages of that generation, do that was considered a sin? \u2026 God will enter into judgment with the elders because they did not protest the sinful conduct of the princes (Shabbat 54b-55a).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since it is possible to strive for improvement throughout one\u2019s life without ever feeling ready to confront evildoers, Zephaniah may be suggesting that while such individuals may not merit objective punishment, nevertheless, they failed to \u201cpull their weight\u201d within the society, implying that their achievements were more for themselves, than a benefit to everyone else. Sometimes, \u201ckeeping one\u2019s head down\u201d can be a prescription for disaster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78891,"id":78891,"title":"zeph2-confront","filename":"zeph2-confront.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/confronting-evildoers\/zeph2-confront\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"zeph2-confront","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78890,"date":"2020-08-16 14:50:18","modified":"2020-08-16 14:50:28","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1263,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-300x197.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":197,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-768x505.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":505,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-1024x674.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":674,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1010,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1263,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-1200x789.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":789,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-638x420.png","home_baner-width":638,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Confronting Evildoers","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Is that too much to ask?","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":78891,"id":78891,"title":"zeph2-confront","filename":"zeph2-confront.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/confronting-evildoers\/zeph2-confront\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"zeph2-confront","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78890,"date":"2020-08-16 14:50:18","modified":"2020-08-16 14:50:28","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1263,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-300x197.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":197,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-768x505.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":505,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-1024x674.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":674,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1010,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1263,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-1200x789.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":789,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph2-confront-638x420.png","home_baner-width":638,"home_baner-height":420}},"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\/78890"}],"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=78890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78892,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78890\/revisions\/78892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}