{"id":79435,"date":"2020-08-30T15:52:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T12:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79435"},"modified":"2020-08-30T15:52:04","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T12:52:04","slug":"the-call-to-true-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-call-to-true-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"The Call To True Justice"},"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":"79435","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"557","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Actively pursuing justice for all\r\n\r\n\u00a0","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter opens with a precise superscription: \u201cIn the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Kislev, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah\u201d. This date is equivalent to December 7, 518 BCE, two years after Zechariah\u2019s preceding eight visions (see Zechariah 1:1 and 1:7). In the first part of our chapter (verses 2-3), Zechariah is asked whether mourning and fasting for the destruction of the First Temple should continue. Zechariah\u2019s answer echoes the words of previous prophets (see Isaiah 1:16-17, Amos 5:14-15 and particularly Jeremiah 14:12 who speaks specifically about the uselessness of fasting): \u201cThereupon the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me: Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months all these seventy years, did you fast for my benefit?&#8230;Look, this is the message that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets\u2026\u201d (verses 4-7). Zechariah continues with a specific statement of what God does require: \u201cThus said the Lord of Hosts: Execute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another. Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another\u201d (verses 9-10).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Midrash Exodus Rabbah 30:15 interprets these verses with a parable about a king who told his son to serve a certain man whom he also instructed not to mistreat the king\u2019s son. Nevertheless, the man did treat the son harshly. When the king learned of this, he commanded that all those who had mistreated his son should be killed. Similarly, when God decreed that Israel should be enslaved in Egypt, he intended that they should not be mistreated by the Egyptians. Nevertheless, the Egyptians treated the Israelites with brutality. Therefore, God punished the Egyptians with the Ten Plagues. Subsequently, God warned the Israelites not to behave brutally as did the Egyptians, but rather to: \u201cExecute true justice; deal loyally and compassionately with one another. Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor; and do not plot evil against one another\u201d (7:9-10).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zechariah\u2019s call for \u201ctrue justice (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mishpat \u2018emet<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)\u201d recalls what the Israelites were commanded after receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai: \u201cYou shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or orphan\u2026\u201d (Exodus 22:20-24). Mekhilta (Nezikin 18) elaborates on these verses. \u201cIf for avoiding injustice your reward will be that your wives will not become widows and your children will not be fatherless, how much greater will be your reward when you actively pursue justice. As Zechariah says: \u2018Execute true justice\u2026 Do not defraud the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the poor\u2019 (7:9-10). For if you do so, your days in this world will be prolonged and you will live to see children and grandchildren and then you will merit life in the world to come.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":51124,"id":51124,"title":"dt19-justice","filename":"dt19-justice.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/reintegration-and-repentence\/dt19-justice\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt19-justice","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":51123,"date":"2019-03-10 16:32:14","modified":"2020-08-30 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