{"id":84869,"date":"2020-12-14T18:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T16:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=84869"},"modified":"2020-12-14T18:00:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T16:00:50","slug":"as-refined-as-silver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/as-refined-as-silver\/","title":{"rendered":"As Refined as Silver"},"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":"84869","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"633","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Purified in fire, strengthened in water\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roughly midway through our psalm, the author calls upon his audience to celebrate their deliverance by God, \u201cwho has granted us life, and has not let our feet slip\u201d (9). He then continued:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You have tried us, O God, refining us, as one refines silver. You have caught us in a net, caught us in trammels [restraints]. You have let men ride over us; we have endured fire and water, and You have brought us through to prosperity. (10-12)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The simile of refining silver is echoed in the midrashic claim that \u201cGod gave the [Torah\u2019s] commandments only in order to refine His creatures\u201d (Mekhilta 19), albeit the prooftext cited there is: \u201cGod\u2019s command is refined\u201d (Psalms 18:31). It bears pointing out that the critical word in that midrashic passage should be pronounced <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">litzrof<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, rather than <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">l\u2019tzareif<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which would alter the meaning from refine to join together.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The exegetical question here is what ordeal is the psalmist referring to? Rashi (10) and Radak (9) identified it as the exile (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">galut<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), Radak observing: \u201cPrior to the exile, no one had dominion over us save You, alone, but You have saddled us with the rule of other nations\u201d (12). Robert Alter noted: \u201cThere is nothing, however, in the formulations here that explicitly refer to exile, and the poet could easily have in mind any moment of impending disaster when powerful enemies threatened to overwhelm the Judahite state\u201d (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Hebrew Bible<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, vol. 3, 159). Indeed, a commentary attributed to Rashi\u2019s grandson Rashbam explains \u201cYou have tried us\u201d as: \u201cMany times God turned them over: to Philistines, Jabin [King of Canaan], and Kushan Rishatayim [King of Aram].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Returning to the concept of refinement, Malbim noted that \u201c[enduring] fire and water\u201d is precisely how silver is refined: It is first heated\u2014to remove the dross\u2014and then inserted in cold water to strengthen it.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":84870,"id":84870,"title":"ps66-refine","filename":"ps66-refine.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps66-refine.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/as-refined-as-silver\/ps66-refine\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps66-refine","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84869,"date":"2020-12-14 16:00:03","modified":"2020-12-14 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