{"id":79073,"date":"2020-08-20T16:16:46","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T13:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79073"},"modified":"2020-08-20T16:16:46","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T13:16:46","slug":"opaque-visions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/opaque-visions\/","title":{"rendered":"Opaque Visions"},"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":"79073","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"551","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And we are groping like the blind\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zechariah\u2019s prophecy, which is dated to \u201cthe eighth month of the second year of the reign of Darius\u201d (1), began shortly after that of Haggai, which is dated to the sixth month (1:1) and seventh month (2:1) of that same year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashi\u2014uncharacteristically\u2014has a quasi-introduction to his commentary on this book, saying: \u201cThe prophecy of Zechariah is very opaque (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">satum<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) because it contains visions that resemble dreams that invite interpretation, but we are unable to verify their interpretations until the coming of the Righteous Teacher,\u201d meaning the Messiah. Instead, Rashi made the following commitment: \u201cTo the best of my ability, I will attempt to settle the verses, one by one, based on the seemliest interpretations as well as on the interpretations of [the Aramaic Targum of] Yonatan.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ibn Ezra, likewise, was struck by the opacity of many of Zechariah\u2019s prophecies, writing:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are many degrees of prophecy and there is no way to enumerate them because there is no uniformity among the souls that were eligible to receive the Holy Spirit and prophecy. While the [divine] glory accompanied Israel prior to the exile, there was no need to interpret prophecies, such as: \u201cA son will be born to the House of David, named Josiah\u201d (1 Kings 13:2); it was self-explanatory. After the exile, they were visions that required interpretation\u2014like the visions of Daniel, which were it not for the interpretation of the angel would have been unintelligible even to Daniel himself, let alone to others. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Such are the visions of Zechariah. Those nocturnal visions that were explained by the angelic interlocutor (1:9) are understood; those that he did not explain remain opaque (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">satum<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and are obscured from rationalists (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">maskilim<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here, Ibn Ezra made a bold statement about the importance of historical context, adding:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Were we to discover an ancient book that reported what events transpired in those days\u2014such as battles\u2014we would still be groping like the blind to suggest that perhaps that is what this prophecy alluded to. Now, however, we have no such thing to rely on.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":79074,"id":79074,"title":"zech1-blindfolded","filename":"zech1-blindfolded.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/opaque-visions\/zech1-blindfolded\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"zech1-blindfolded","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79073,"date":"2020-08-20 13:16:07","modified":"2023-07-02 05:14:02","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1095,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-171x300.png","medium-width":171,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-584x1024.png","medium_large-width":584,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-584x1024.png","large-width":584,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded.png","1536x1536-width":876,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded.png","2048x2048-width":1095,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-684x1200.png","post_full_size-width":684,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-240x420.png","home_baner-width":240,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Opaque Visions","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"And we are groping like the blind","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":79074,"id":79074,"title":"zech1-blindfolded","filename":"zech1-blindfolded.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/opaque-visions\/zech1-blindfolded\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"zech1-blindfolded","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79073,"date":"2020-08-20 13:16:07","modified":"2023-07-02 05:14:02","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1095,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-171x300.png","medium-width":171,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-584x1024.png","medium_large-width":584,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-584x1024.png","large-width":584,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded.png","1536x1536-width":876,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded.png","2048x2048-width":1095,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-684x1200.png","post_full_size-width":684,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zech1-blindfolded-240x420.png","home_baner-width":240,"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\/79073"}],"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=79073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79075,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79073\/revisions\/79075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}