{"id":79846,"date":"2020-09-12T21:12:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T18:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79846"},"modified":"2020-09-12T21:12:29","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T18:12:29","slug":"elijah-the-messianic-family-therapist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elijah-the-messianic-family-therapist\/","title":{"rendered":"Elijah The Messianic Family Therapist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mal. 3:24 is the source for the tradition that Elijah will be the harbinger of the messianic age. That age normally conjures a vision of universal disarmament and global harmony most associated with Isaiah\u2019s famous predictions: “And 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 (2:4, see also 11:6).<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Elijah\u2019s messianic role anticipates far less grandiose accomplishments. Malachi entrusts Elijah simply with <\/span>reconciling the hearts of fathers with their children, and the hearts of the children with their fathers<\/span><\/em>. (Mal. 3:24) Parent\/child relationships hardly seem to measure up to Isaiah\u2019s utopian visions. Perhaps that other event in Elijah\u2019s life- his spectacular \u2018death\u2019- provides a clue to why resolving familial conflict is of messianic proportions and why Elijah in particular is the one to realize it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Elijah\u2019s time came to die, his disciple Elisha would not let go of his spiritual father. Exasperated, Elijah offered him the potential of surpassing his own prophetic power, on condition that Elisha witnesses his death- <\/span>if you see me as I am being taken from you, this will be granted to you; if not it will not<\/span><\/em> (2 Kings 2:10). What this dramatically conveys is that Elijah\u2019s successor\/son needed to accept the end of an era and the impossibility of simply parroting his spiritual father to advance. By conditioning Elisha\u2019s future on observing his own departure from the scene, Elijah teaches a valuable lesson- that continuity with the past must also be balanced by a sober acknowledgment of its passage to enable progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

The greatest source of conflict between generations is a result of parents viewing their children as clones of themselves rather than independent human beings with their own aspirations. Releasing the child to shape his own destiny is the defining battle of parenthood. Like Elijah, parents must encourage children to let go and chart their own futures. The messianic age can never materialize if growth is measured in terms of how closely one generation duplicates the previous one. It is precisely Elijah therefore who will reconcile successive generations by warning them that their love for each other does not entail acting as mirrors of each other. To be trapped by the past is to preclude advancing beyond it and inhibiting the advancement toward the messianic apex of history.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elisha, in what surely is the shortest eulogy in Jewish history, laments Elijah\u2019s death- <\/span>Oh father, father! Israel\u2019s chariots and horsemen<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> Elisha employs metaphors of weaponry- the ancient equivalent of tanks and cavalry- to depict Elijah\u2019s centrality for the survival of a nation. Here too is the lesson of Elijah for the messiah. A more nuanced strategy than the literal sword is necessary to achieve that world without swords Isaiah envisioned.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Elijah The Messianic Family Therapist","main_caption":"The messianic age can never materialize if growth is measured in terms of how closely one generation duplicates the previous one","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"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\/79846"}],"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=79846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79847,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79846\/revisions\/79847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}