{"id":60116,"date":"2018-07-09T17:43:52","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1055\/"},"modified":"2023-02-24T15:38:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T13:38:23","slug":"wall-1055","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1055\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20230219-to-20230225"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1055","date_from":"20230219","date_to":"20230225","book":"II Samuel","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"42546","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"The Meaning Of The Cherubim ","post_title":"The Meaning Of The Cherubim","slug":"the-meaning-of-the-cherubim","old_id":"42546","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"75","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God speaks where two persons turn their face to one another in love, embrace, generosity and care","post_main_content_content":"

There is a strange and lovely detail in the construction of the sanctuary. The holiest item of its furniture was the ark. It contained the holiest of objects, the tablets on which were written God\u2019s word, both the second set that remained whole, and the first that were shattered into fragments. Above the ark were two figures, cherubim. The Torah says that \u2018their faces were turned to one another\u2019 (Ex. 25: 20). Ostensibly this was a great risk. The Israelites had been told not to make any likeness that might be worshipped as a god, an idol. The sanctuary itself was constructed in the aftermath of such an episode, the making of the Golden Calf. Why then were figures introduced into the Holy of Holies?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The sages say (Hagigah 13b) they were like children. Or, in another interpretation (Yoma 54a), that they were intertwined like lovers. It was <\/span>between the two cherubs<\/span><\/em> that God spoke to Moses. The message of this symbol was so significant that it was deemed by God himself to be sufficient to outweigh the risk of misunderstanding. <\/span>God speaks where two persons turn their face to one another<\/span><\/em> in love, embrace, generosity and care. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

God\u2019s presence is everywhere. But not everywhere are we ready to receive it. When we open our \u2018I\u2019 to another\u2019s \u2018Thou\u2019 -- that is where God lives. We discover God\u2019s image in ourselves by discerning it in an other. God lives in <\/span>the between<\/span><\/em> that joins self to self through an act of covenantal kindness. That is c<\/em><\/span>hesed<\/span><\/em>, the physical deed in which soul touches soul and the universe acquires a personal face.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: To Heal a Fractured World<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":42687,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1120576106","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106.jpg","width":5400,"height":4564,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-300x254.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":254,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-768x649.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":649,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-1024x865.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":865,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1298,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1731,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-1200x1014.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1014,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-497x420.jpg","home_baner-width":497,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Meaning of the Cherubim","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"God speaks where two persons turn their face to one another in love, embrace, generosity and care","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42687,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1120576106","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106.jpg","width":5400,"height":4564,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-300x254.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":254,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-768x649.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":649,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-1024x865.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":865,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1298,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1731,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-1200x1014.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1014,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_1120576106-497x420.jpg","home_baner-width":497,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"shutterstock 1120576106","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Exodus","chapter":"25","chapter_main_number":"75","date":"20251211","wall_id":"75"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"669","name":"Cherub","old_id":"1069"}]},{"order":2,"id":"42885","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Tamid: The Eternal Presence ","post_title":"Tamid: The Eternal Presence","slug":"tamid-the-eternal-presence","old_id":"42885","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38047,"post_title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","slug":"shoshana-michael-zucker","old_id":"38047","first_name":"Shoshana Michael ","last_name":"Zucker ","description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor by profession, but would much rather be learning and teaching Torah. A graduate of Barnard College, she made aliyah in 1983 and now lives in Kfar Saba where she is an active member of the Masorti Congregation Hod veHadar. ","short_description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor and lives in Kfar Saba \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38048,"alt":"","title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","width":231,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-224x300.jpg","medium-width":224,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","medium_large-width":231,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","large-width":231,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","1536x1536-width":231,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","2048x2048-width":231,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","post_full_size-width":231,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","home_baner-width":231,"home_baner-height":310}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"77","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Realizing the partnership, and matching the divine presence with our own","post_main_content_content":"

It is customary for synagogues to keep a small light, called the <\/span>Ner Tamid<\/span><\/em> or Eternal Light, lit above the Ark, day and night, whether the room is in use or not. The light is often explained as signifying the constant presence of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Hebrew name <\/span>Ner Tamid<\/span><\/em> is derived from Exodus 27:20-21 where Aaron and his sons are instructed light lamps regularly, outside the curtain which is over the Ark of the Testimony (<\/span>edut<\/span><\/em>) \u00a0from evening to morning before the Eternal<\/span>.<\/span> Here, and elsewhere in the Bible (I Samuel 3:2-3) the lamp burns \u201cfrom evening until morning,\u201d to illuminate the darkness \u200eof the night, only. Each evening it is kindled again.<\/span> Rabbi Yehoyada Amir suggests<\/span><\/a> that the reliable, daily relighting of the lamp testifies not to God\u2019s presence, but rather to ours, attentive and ready to serve as partners in the work of holiness and creation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What might explain the radical change in procedure and meaning?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One possibility is Rabbi Yitz Greenberg\u2019s <\/span>three eras of Jewish history<\/span>. Dating from the first era, the written Torah represents a time when God\u2019s presence was concentrated in a single place, first the Tabernacle and then the Temple. In that scenario, people presented themselves to God in order to be seen (cf. Deuteronomy 16:16).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the second era, after the Second Temple was destroyed, holiness became diffuse, and God\u2019s presence harder to perceive. Therefore, the Eternal Light in synagogues became a form of testimony to the covenant between God and Israel. However great the darkness, however small the light, it affirmed that God was with God\u2019s people if only they would take the time to look.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now in the third period, triggered by the Holocaust, God is even more hidden. R. Greenberg describes the covenant as voluntary, it \u201ccan no longer be commanded\u2026 because one cannot <\/span>order<\/span><\/em> another to step forward and die.\u201d Moreover, most Jews are no longer subject to communal enforcement mechanisms. Yet, despite it all, Jews remain committed to God, Torah and Israel (or some subset thereof).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this era, I propose that we need both types of light. The Eternal Light of the synagogue represents the presence of God that we must match with consistent, reliable, active commitment \u2013 analogous to the Biblical <\/span>Ner Tamid<\/em> <\/span>\u2013 to realize our partnership in making that Presence real, for more people in more places, more often.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75356,"alt":"","title":"ez39-Ner_Tamid","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","width":450,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Tamid: The Eternal Presence","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Realizing the partnership, and matching the divine presence with our own","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75356,"alt":"","title":"ez39-Ner_Tamid","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","width":450,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Exodus","chapter":"27","chapter_main_number":"77","date":"20251215","wall_id":"77"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"629","name":"Light","old_id":"1029"}]},{"order":3,"id":"42694","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"If They Build It, I Will Come ","post_title":"If They Build It, I Will Come","slug":"if-they-build-it-i-will-come","old_id":"42694","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42669,"post_title":"David Rotenberg","slug":"david-rotenberg","old_id":"42669","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Rotenberg ","description":"Rabbi David Rotenberg has been working in both formal and informal Jewish education throughout his home community of Ottawa, Canada, since his ordination in 2004. He is currently the Director of Education for NCSY\/Torah High Ottawa. One of his passions is combining his interests and skills, teaching Torah through the lens of comedy and pop culture. He occasionally posts these original insights at rabbirotes.wordpress.com.","short_description":"Rabbi David Rotenberg is the Director of Education for NCSY\/Torah High Ottawa. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42670,"alt":"","title":"david rotenberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-e1540319771342.jpg","width":887,"height":876,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-e1540319771342-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-e1540319771342-300x296.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":296,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-e1540319771342-768x758.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":758,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-e1540319771342.jpg","1536x1536-width":887,"1536x1536-height":876,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-e1540319771342.jpg","2048x2048-width":887,"2048x2048-height":876,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/david-rotenberg-e1540319771342-425x420.jpg","home_baner-width":425,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"75","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The tabernacle as the people's field of dreams","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cIf you build it, he will come.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is these now famous words that Ray Kinsella hears in his Iowa cornfield at the beginning of the 1989 film, \u201cField of Dreams,\u201d initiating his journey of faith, effort, and sacrifice, first building a magnificent baseball field on his farm, and later travelling both across America and across time. They are also evocative of what God says at the beginning of his instructions to construct the Mishkan, the tabernacle (Ex. 25:8): \u201cV\u2019asu li mikdash, v\u2019shachanti b\u2019tocham\u201d - \u201cthey should make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.\u201d In other words, if <\/span>they<\/i><\/b> build it, <\/span>I<\/i><\/b> will come.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to Rashi\u2019s interpretation, this command was given immediately after God forgives the Jewish people for the sin of the Golden Calf, suggesting that the reason for God commanding its instruction is for the people to atone for this grievous error. There are indeed several parallels between the two incidents, such as the nation freely donating valuables to the \u201cMishkan fund\u201d (much like was done for the Golden Calf).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Following the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish People experienced unprecedented closeness with God, their \u201cFather in Heaven,\u201d which reached its pinnacle at the revelation at Sinai. But after the Golden Calf, this relationship seemed headed toward irreversible estrangement. However, once the Mishkan is completed and all of its vessels are in place, God\u2019s Presence fills the Mishkan, and a new opportunity for closeness emerges.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Similarly, Ray believes that his journey is as penance for a rift in the relationship with his father John, a former minor league catcher, which lasted from the time Ray was young until his father died. One of Ray\u2019s greatest regrets is that, so turned off by John pushing baseball on him, that at age 14, he began refusing to play catch with him, denying John one of the pleasures of the father-son relationship.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the end of the movie, Ray discovers what his entire journey was really about. Ray originally believed that the \u2018he\u2019 the voice was referring to was his father\u2019s favorite player, Shoeless Joe Jackson, who does indeed wander out of the cornfield, and later brings the spirits of other former ball players with him to enjoy Ray\u2019s field. However, in the final scene, as the catcher removes his mask, he is revealed to be a young version of John. After years of distance, Ray finally gets a chance to reconnect, and in a simple but beautiful moment of redemption, he invites John to play catch together. Ray's complex journey had the ultimate goal of bringing him back to that long-missed game of catch with his father.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By the same token, the people\u2019s generosity and efforts regarding the Mishkan are fueled by that same desire to rebuild that bond with our own Father. The message for us to learn both from the Mishkan and from Ray\u2019s Field of Dreams is that even though our actions may lead God to sometimes hide His face or temporarily distance Himself from that relationship, through it all, just like any father, He always wants to be close to us.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":104958,"alt":"","title":"-62854b8bb2faa--62854b8bb2facex25-baseball home 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God Need Bling? ","post_title":"Does God Need Bling?","slug":"does-god-need-bling","old_id":"42873","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"76","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The dynamic of inside and outside is central to the Tabernacle","post_main_content_content":"

What's with all the bling? If humility is a primary religious value, why doesn't God model that value in the construction of His home? Is the use of precious materials a divine affirmation of their value?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One element common to most of the construction of the Tabernacle is that it is gilded or layered. Except for the Menorah, all of the vessels, including the carrying poles, are made of wood covered in gold or silver. In chapter 26, this theme carries over to the fabrics of the Mishkan as well, with simple goat skins surrounded by lavishly colored coverings above and below. What is the significance of all this? Why have a goat skin covering? Why use wood, rather than making everything from pure gold like the menorah?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The dynamic of inside and outside is central to the Tabernacle, with sanctity increasing as you move inwards. If this is the case, then perhaps the inner layers of the Tabernacle are the holiest as well. The Midrash on these verses expounds on the idea that God speaks to us not in strict accordance with the truth of His existence, but rather according to our own strength and capacity to receive and understand. This idea is a reflection not of weakness, of course, but of God's humility. God greatness is not threatened by confining it to human standards. Where you find God's strength, the rabbis teach, there you find his humility.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the source of the glitz stems from the same idea, reflecting not divine affirmation, but simply human appreciation of all that glitters. What God needs is no more than a simple shepherd's hut of wood and goat skin, and in truth, not even that. But the radical message of the Torah is that this home is built to fit people's standards, not God's, and what people need in order to relate with awe and respect is gold, silver and other precious materials. It's a message we've already seen (in Exodus chapter 19), but one which bears frequent review: to create covenantal relationships means listening to the other even when we know they're wrong.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":42905,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_51485890","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890.jpg","width":3099,"height":1936,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-300x187.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":187,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-768x480.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-1024x640.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1279,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-1200x750.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":750,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-672x420.jpg","home_baner-width":672,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Does God Need Bling?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The dynamic of inside and outside is central to the Tabernacle","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42905,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_51485890","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890.jpg","width":3099,"height":1936,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-300x187.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":187,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-768x480.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-1024x640.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1279,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-1200x750.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":750,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_51485890-672x420.jpg","home_baner-width":672,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"shutterstock - 51485890","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Exodus","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"76","date":"20251214","wall_id":"76"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"668","name":"Tabernacle","old_id":"1068"},{"term_id":"676","name":"Material","old_id":"1076"}]},{"order":5,"id":"42867","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"(Untitled) ","post_title":"(Untitled)","slug":"untitled","old_id":"42867","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"76","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"...the cacophonous hush of empty, holy things","post_main_content_content":"

The Ark of the Covenant is the Israelites\u2019 most precious religious object, produced by the master craftsman, Bezalel, and fittingly placed in the Tabernacle\u2019s inner sanctum (Exodus 26:33-34) - the most densely divine object and space. Yet, some mind-bending traditions report that this center was wholly void. A certain R. Levi reports that \u201cthe place Ark had no measure\u201d and miraculously occupied no space (b. Megillah 10b). And the Ark was entirely missing from the Second Temple, so that when the High Priest was to encounter God on the Day of Atonement, he entered into an utterly bare Holy of Holies. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

One of the more infamous, baffling possibilities pursued by mid-twentieth century artists was the art of nothingness. Perhaps the most famous example, from the realm of music, is <\/span>John Cage\u2019s \u201c4\u201933\u201d <\/span><\/a>\u2013 a composition in which not a single note is played for exactly four minutes and thirty-three seconds. In painting, we have works like Robert Rauschenberg\u2019s <\/span>White Paintings<\/span><\/i>, shown here, which consist of panels entirely covered in white. Of course, these provocative artists garnered precisely the dismissive reactions that they intended to elicit. Yet for those who listened and looked deeply, these artworks recall how there is no void in the gallery, pulsating with the sublime. The paradox of the Ark that occupies no space, and which is absent from the Temple teaches us that God is to be found precisely in the cacophonous hush of empty, holy things.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Illustration, used with kind permission of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation:\u00a0
\r\nRobert Rauschenberg: White Painting<\/em>, 1951,
\r\nOil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm)
\r\n\u00a9Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
\r\nRRF Registration# 51.003<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":44424,"alt":"","title":"R51003","caption":"R51003","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg.jpg","width":3048,"height":2316,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-300x228.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":228,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-768x584.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":584,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-1024x778.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":778,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1167,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1556,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-1200x912.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":912,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-553x420.jpg","home_baner-width":553,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"(Untitled)","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"...the cacophonous hush of empty, holy things","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":44424,"alt":"","title":"R51003","caption":"R51003","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg.jpg","width":3048,"height":2316,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-300x228.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":228,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-768x584.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":584,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-1024x778.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":778,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1167,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1556,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-1200x912.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":912,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Secunda-Rauschenberg-553x420.jpg","home_baner-width":553,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Exodus","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"76","date":"20251214","wall_id":"76"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"},{"term_id":"480","name":"Holiness","old_id":"880"}]},{"order":6,"id":"60132","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Getting Roped In ","post_title":"Getting Roped In","slug":"getting-roped-in","old_id":"60132","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. He is the author of TANAKH: An Owner\u2019s Manual (Jerusalem: Urim\/Ktav, 2015).\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34244,"alt":"","title":"sokolow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","width":302,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-300x298.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":298,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","medium_large-width":302,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","large-width":302,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","1536x1536-width":302,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","2048x2048-width":302,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","post_full_size-width":302,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"271","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Explaining a curious verse","post_main_content_content":"

Philistines, Moabites, Arameans of Aleppo and Damascus\u2014these, in order, were the surrounding nations that fell before David. Hamath, Aram, Moab, Ammon, Philistines, and Amalek\u2014these were the nations that literally paid tribute to David.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A seemingly offhand reference to the conquest of Moab, however, begs explanation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And he smote Moab, and measured them with the ropes, making them to lie down on the ground. He measured two [lengths] of rope to put to death, and one full rope to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, and tributaries. (2)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why the measurement? Why ropes (c<\/em><\/span>havalim<\/span><\/em>)? Why lying down? Why did two lengths impose a death penalty? And why is all of this happening specifically to the Moabites? We can answer our questions by combining the insights of two exegetes,.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi would have us harken back to 1 Samuel 22:3 ff., wherein David, preparing to flee from Saul, entrusted his family\u2019s safety to the King of Moab, who, by implication, reneged on his promise of protection. (Entrusting his relatives to Moabites may have made sense to David since his own great-grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabite.) Rashi wrote:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Those measured with two ropes were killed. [This vengeance was] because they killed his father, his mother and his brothers as it is said, \"He led them before the king of Moab.\" We do not find that they ever left from there.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Radak observed that forcing them to lie down (rather than be measured standing) was a demonstration of their relative inferiority and a sign of contempt. The ropes, we may assume, were all of a standard length and served as a customary instrument of measurement in those days; hence, a demarcated territory was also called a c<\/em><\/span>hevel<\/span><\/em> (cf. Deut. 3:4, 13, 14). And, again, by implication, people who measured more than two lengths were likely to have been older than those who measured less, so it was an objective\u2014albeit arbitrary\u2014way of imposing a sentence on those who were more likely to have shared in the responsibility for the fate of David\u2019s relatives.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60133,"alt":"","title":"2sam8-rope","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Getting Roped In","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Explaining a curious verse","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60133,"alt":"","title":"2sam8-rope","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam8-rope-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"271","date":"20260913","wall_id":"271"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"}]},{"order":7,"id":"58693","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Keeping Faith? ","post_title":"Keeping Faith?","slug":"keeping-faith","old_id":"58693","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56443,"post_title":"Moshe Halbertal","slug":"moshe-halbertal","old_id":"56443","first_name":"Moshe ","last_name":"Halbertal ","description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. His latest book, co-authored with Stephen Holmes, The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel was published by Princeton University Press in 2017. Halbertal was the recipient of the Michael Bruno Memorial Award of the Rothschild Foundation and the Goldstein-Goren Book Award for the best book in Jewish thought in the years 1997 to 2000. In 2010, Halbertal was named a member of Israel\u2019s Academy for the Sciences and the Humanities.","short_description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56444,"alt":"","title":"Moshe-Halbertal","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"272","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"David\u2019s private motivations and his public justifications for seeking out Mephiboshet are two very different things","post_main_content_content":"

David\u2019s veiled and ambivalent attitude toward the fate of Saul\u2019s descendants is only gradually and sketchily disclosed in our narrative as David secures his kingdom, sitting safe and sound in his Jerusalem stronghold. After Saul\u2019s family had been largely decimated, David issued the following request to locate a survivor from the family: \u201cAnd David said \u2018Is there anyone who is still left from the house of Saul, that I may keep faith with him for the sake of Jonathan?\u2019\u201d (9:1).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

An old slave of Saul\u2019s was sought out as a possible source of intelligence on the matter, and he informed David that Jonathan had a surviving crippled son named Mephibosheth living among Saul\u2019s old loyalists. Brought to David\u2019s court, Mephibosheth approached the king submissively, terrified at what could happen to him as a living remnant of the former, now-deposed dynasty. But David reassured him, restoring to him Saul\u2019s household property that David had presumably confiscated after the destruction of Saul\u2019s family. These comforting gestures seem completely sincere and wholehearted. Yet David added to the \u201cfavor\u201d bestowed upon Jonathan\u2019s son another item that sheds an ambiguous light on David\u2019s motivations. Keeping faith, in a formal sense, with the oath he had sworn to Jonathan, David arranged for Mephibosheth to eat at his table in court and to be treated as if he were close kin to David: \u201cAnd Mephibosheth dwelled in Jerusalem, for at the king\u2019s table he would always eat\u201d (9:13).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet this apparent privilege was also a way to maintain tight control over Mephibosheth, making him a virtual prisoner in David\u2019s court, a condition underscored by Mephibosheth\u2019s physical immobility, \u201clame in both his feet\u201d (9:13). In light of this move, David\u2019s initial request, \u201cIs there anyone who is still left from the house of Saul that I may keep faith with him for the sake of Jonathan?\u201d acquires a harsher or at least a more ambiguous edge. It is true that David could have publicly justified his move to keep the last crippled remnant of Saul\u2019s dynasty under virtual house arrest by invoking his sacred obligation to honor a promise to Jonathan. But, as we have been arguing, justification and motivation, while conceptually distinct, are not always easy or even possible to unscramble in any particular case.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Excerpts from The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel,<\/em>\u00a0Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes, Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 57-58.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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from:\u201cThe Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel\u201d ","tile_main_caption":"Keeping Faith?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"David\u2019s private motivations and his public justifications for seeking out Mephiboshet are two very different things","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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She has been sharing her passion for Jewish texts of all kinds for over 15 years, with students of all ages. Sarah\u2019s essays have been published in a variety of internet and print media, including Times of Israel, Kveller, Jewish Action, OU Life, The Lehrhaus, TorahMusings, and more. Sarah lives in Cleveland with her husband and four children, but is privileged to learn online with students all over the world through www.TorahTutors.org and www.WebYeshiva.org. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Sarah Rudolph is a freelance Jewish educator, writer, and editor.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34251,"alt":"","title":"Sarah R","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","width":2824,"height":4246,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-681x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":681,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-681x1024.jpg","large-width":681,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","1536x1536-width":1022,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","2048x2048-width":1362,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-798x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":798,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-279x420.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"273","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Encouraging, inspiring, and building the reserves of faith","post_main_content_content":"

Preparing to face down an Ammonite-Aramean alliance, Joab strategizes carefully with his brother and fellow commander, Abishai, and then offers these words of encouragement: \u201cLet us be strong and resolute for the sake of our people and the land of our God; and the Lord ya\u2019aseh<\/em>, will do what He deems right\u201d (10:12).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab\u2019s words call to mind one version of a brief prayer the Talmud recommends one use when in a dangerous situation: \u201cCarry out Your will in the heavens above, and give peace of mind to those who fear You below, and perform that which is good in Your eyes\u2026\u201d (Berachot 29b). One might argue such a prayer expresses the ultimate faith in God: rather than articulating a long list of the things we think we want God to give or do for us, we simply acknowledge that He knows best and submit ourselves to His will.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the other hand, this shortened formula is recommended only in specific situations, while the <\/span>Amidah <\/span><\/i>prayer recited multiple times on a typical day contains no less than 13 different topics of request, not to mention optional paragraphs in which one might articulate further personal prayers. Generally speaking, we pray to God as if we know very well what we want Him to do \u2013 and surely Joab too felt strongly that he wanted God to help them win that battle.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Taking another look at Joab\u2019s words, we might note that the Hebrew future tense, <\/span>ya\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em>, is ambiguous: Is Joab <\/span>asking<\/b> for God to do as He sees fit, or expressing confidence that He <\/span>will<\/b>? If the latter \u2013 as indicated by the fact that he is apparently addressing Abishai, not God \u2013 then we are not talking about prayer in the conventional sense, but part of a pep talk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the complex interplay between faith and personal human effort, Joab encourages his brother, and himself, to do their best \u2013 and at the same time, he expresses confidence that things will turn out however God deems best, perhaps <\/span>in order <\/span><\/em>to<\/span><\/i> bolster his and his brother\u2019s strength and resolve as they go out to fight. After all, danger can be paralyzing; the assurance that not everything depends on us can help provide the peace of mind necessary to act.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And ultimately, perhaps that is what prayer \u2013 especially in a dangerous situation \u2013 truly is: not (just) an attempt to get God to do what we want, but an opportunity to reflect and build the reserves of faith necessary to face the world, to go out and do whatever we can ourselves.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60237,"alt":"","title":"2sam10-prayer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer.png","width":1280,"height":739,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-300x173.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-768x443.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":443,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-1024x591.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":739,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":739,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-1200x693.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-727x420.png","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Doing Their Best: Joab\u2019s Peculiar Prayer","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Encouraging, inspiring, and building the reserves of faith","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60237,"alt":"","title":"2sam10-prayer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer.png","width":1280,"height":739,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-300x173.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-768x443.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":443,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-1024x591.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":739,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":739,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-1200x693.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam10-prayer-727x420.png","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"10","chapter_main_number":"273","date":"20260915","wall_id":"273"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"375","name":"Faith","old_id":"775"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"437","name":"Prayer","old_id":"837"}]},{"order":9,"id":"60272","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"2","name":"Just Who Was On The Roof? ","post_title":"Just Who Was On The Roof?","slug":"just-who-was-on-the-roof","old_id":"60272","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39842,"post_title":"Avigayil Halpern","slug":"avigayil-halpern","old_id":"39842","first_name":"Avigayil ","last_name":"Halpern ","description":"Avigayil Halpern graduated from Yale in May of 2019 and is beginning study toward rabbinic ordination at the Hadar Institute. Avigayil has written extensively on issues of Jewish observance and gender in the Jewish media, and was an opinion columnist for the Yale Daily News.","short_description":"Avigayil Halpern graduated from Yale in May of 2019 and is beginning study toward rabbinic ordination at the Hadar Institute","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39843,"alt":"","title":"A. 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The instigating image of the saga of David and Bathsheba is that of Bathsheba in her bath. The image of the woman in her bath, nude in a private moment, is a recurring trope in art; it is an image that is vulnerable -- the woman in the bath isn\u2019t undressed for anyone\u2019s visual pleasure, but rather because she is bathing herself. That vulnerability is one that can be played on by those in power.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The mental picture I have of Bathsheba bathing is that she herself was bathing on the roof, which made her visible, but this is not how the Jewish Publication Society nor Robert Alter translates the verse: Both versions have David as the party on the roof, observing Bathsheba. The two versions of the verse are born of a textual ambiguity: the verse is unclear if David sees Bathsheba while he is on the roof or while she is on the roof. The commentators Metzudat David and Radak both offer similar remarks: they each note that it is David on the roof, and -- as specified by the Radak -- Bathsheba in the bath in her own home, seen perhaps through a window.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The impulse of both commentators to clarify that Bathsheba was inside indicate that it is not a given from the plain sense of the verse. Indeed, Bathsheba is sometimes portrayed in art as bathing outside, as in Artemisia Gentileschi\u2019s painting \u201cBathsheba.\u201d What is at stake if Bathsheba was bathing on the roof?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Radak\u2019s painstaking emphasis that Bathsheba was indoors, in her home, seems to suggest that it would be a problem for her to be bathing elsewhere. The home is the appropriate place for a woman to take a bath; if Bathsheba was bathing indoors, she is a more \u201cperfect\u201d victim of King David\u2019s inappropriate attentions. A woman cannot be blamed for taking a bath inside her living space.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what if Bathsheba was bathing on the roof? Would she then be more blameworthy in David\u2019s indiscretion? If Bathsheba sat outdoors, enjoying the sun on her skin, as Gentileschi -- a rare woman painter in her era -- depicts her, is she somehow liable for tempting the king?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Even as Bathsheba later demonstrates power and influence in the Davidic court, in this moment he is the king and she is his subject. The demands of the king cannot be refused. It is vital to see this as modern readers of this text; it is irrelevant where Bathsheba was bathing. Her agency here is limited by her status and David\u2019s. We should be able to imagine the Bathshebas of the world able to enjoy the warmth of the sun, the fresh air, unburdened from the guilt of offering temptation to powerful men. David\u2019s sin should not keep Bathsheba indoors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Artemisia Gentileschi - Bathsheba at Her Bath (ca. 1636-1638) \/ 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\u201cYour faith was strong but you needed proof<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>You saw her bathing on the roof<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>She tied you to a kitchen chair<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>She broke your throne, and she cut your hair<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And from your lips she drew the hallelujah\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Leonard Cohen, in his famous song Hallelujah, speaks of one of the low points of King David. Immortalized as the psalmist, the one with the greatest connection to the Almighty, we see David abuse the power that he was divinely given. He sees Bathsheba bathing. He desires her. He demands her presence. He sleeps with her. She falls pregnant. And immediately after, her husband Uriah is sent to the front lines whereby he is killed by a lethal arrow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Post #MeToo, the revelation of abuses of power, whereby the powerful, usually male, engages in abusive or coercive techniques, usually sexual, against subordinates or those with less power, usually female, has seen the downfall of many a personality.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Daat Zekenim, a compilation of 13<\/span>th<\/span> and 14<\/span>th<\/span> century writings, in its commentary on Bereshit, seems to place blame on Bathsheba. The Babylonian Talmud seems to absolve David\u2019s sin (Shabbat 56a). While we will explore the response of God and the prophet Nathan in our analysis of Chapter 12<\/a>, at first glance these responses would rightly outrage any moral person in the post #MeToo era.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The human condition is to place our leaders on a pedestal, to glorify them and ensure that they always appear squeaky clean. The Torah, however, has never tried to color our leadership with rose-tinted glasses. Each mistake, each challenge, each misstep is there in black and white, and our job is to think about what we can learn from the many examples. In this case, we shouldn\u2019t have needed a social movement to realize the issues that arise between those in power and those without, especially between the sexes. We should have been the ones to ensure it never happened from the very start.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YrLk4vdY28Q","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Abuse Of Power","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60284,"alt":"","title":"2sam11-leonard cohen","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen.jpg","width":1024,"height":768,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":768,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":768,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":768,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-leonard-cohen-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"11","chapter_main_number":"274","date":"20260916","wall_id":"274"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"512","name":"Music","old_id":"912"},{"term_id":"574","name":"Sex","old_id":"974"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"911","name":"Bathsheba","old_id":"1311"}]},{"order":11,"id":"60300","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"David: A Stay-At-Home King ","post_title":"David: A Stay-At-Home King","slug":"david-a-stay-at-home-king","old_id":"60300","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36277,"post_title":"Yedidya Sinclair","slug":"yedidya-sinclair","old_id":"36277","first_name":"Yedidya","last_name":"Sinclair","description":"Rabbi Yedidya Sinclair serves as Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon, the leading US Jewish environmental organization. From 2011-16 he was Vice President for Research and Senior Economist at Energiya Global, a Jerusalem-based solar energy company focused on the developing world and he continues to consult on renewable energy and climate change preparedness. In 2014 he published together with Hazon, a translation of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's great work on shmitta, the Sabbatical year, \"Introduction to Shabbat Ha'aretz.\" Yedidya holds a BA from Oxford University, an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and lives with his family in Jerusalem.","short_description":"Yedidya Sinclair is a Jerusalem-based rabbi and economist, and is Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36278,"alt":"","title":"yedidya sinclair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium_large-width":200,"medium_large-height":200,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","large-width":200,"large-height":200,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","1536x1536-width":200,"1536x1536-height":200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","2048x2048-width":200,"2048x2048-height":200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","post_full_size-width":200,"post_full_size-height":200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","home_baner-width":200,"home_baner-height":200}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"274","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The corrupting capacity to exercise the power of life and death at a distance\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

In today\u2019s chapter, David sleeps with Bathsheba, another man\u2019s wife, gets her pregnant, tries and fails to cover up, sends the woman\u2019s husband, Uriah, to certain death in war and finally marries Bathsheba.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is beyond shocking. How could this man of faith, this sensitive musician and courageous warrior commit such a succession of vile acts?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A key clue lies in the story\u2019s opening:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the turn of the year, at the season when kings go out to battle, David <\/span>sent<\/span><\/em> Yoab with his officers and all Israel and they devastated Ammon, David remained in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal place and saw a woman bathing\u201d (11:1-2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

No longer the leader who faced Goliath alone and who went out to war at the head of the people (as in chapter 5: 1-2), David now sends men to fight and die on his behalf while he stays safe in his palace, takes a nap in the afternoon and sleeps with another man\u2019s wife. Malbim, a 19<\/span>th<\/span> century commentator, points out that it was David\u2019s remaining in Jerusalem that opened the way to his sin.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sending others to do his will is the <\/span>leitmotif<\/span><\/em> of this episode. The phrase \u201cand David sent\u201d occurs five times in our chapter; In addition, the word \u201csend\u201d appears twelve times. After sending his men to war, David sends messengers to bring him Bathsheba, sends a message to his general Joab to send him Uriah, sends another message to Joab to put Uriah in the front line of the battle where he will be killed, and finally sends men to bring Bathsheba, after Uriah\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a king at the height of his power, David can determine the fates of others at arm\u2019s length. Through his retinue of servants and soldiers, he moves around and manipulate people \u2013 bringing Bathsheba, sending Uriah to his death, without his own direct involvement. David kills Uriah through cold-blooded messages without facing the horror of what he has done. His agency is concealed by the trappings of power. This corrupting capacity to exercise the power of life and death at a distance is, I suggest what makes David\u2019s sin possible.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If so, then this helps explain the power of Nathan the prophet\u2019s parable in chapter 12. Nathan tells David a simple story of a rich man with many flocks who seized the single lamb of a poor man to feed a visiting traveler. With this bare tale Nathan cuts through the convoluted connections between David and his deed and confronts him with his terrible responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: David Sees Bathsheba Bathing, James Tissot (1836-1902) \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60301,"alt":"","title":"2sam11-david sees - tissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","width":474,"height":347,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","medium_large-width":474,"medium_large-height":347,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","large-width":474,"large-height":347,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":474,"1536x1536-height":347,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":474,"2048x2048-height":347,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":474,"post_full_size-height":347,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","home_baner-width":474,"home_baner-height":347}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"David: A Stay-At-Home King","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The corrupting capacity to exercise the power of life and death at a distance\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60301,"alt":"","title":"2sam11-david sees - tissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","width":474,"height":347,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","medium_large-width":474,"medium_large-height":347,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","large-width":474,"large-height":347,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":474,"1536x1536-height":347,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":474,"2048x2048-height":347,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":474,"post_full_size-height":347,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-sees-tissot.jpg","home_baner-width":474,"home_baner-height":347}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"11","chapter_main_number":"274","date":"20260916","wall_id":"274"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"412","name":"Responsibility","old_id":"812"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"835","name":"King","old_id":"1235"}]},{"order":12,"id":"60305","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Objectification And Sexual Assault Of Bathsheba ","post_title":"The Objectification And Sexual Assault Of Bathsheba","slug":"the-objectification-and-sexual-assault-of-bathsheba","old_id":"60305","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41525,"post_title":"Sivan Rotholz","slug":"sivan-rotholz","old_id":"41525","first_name":"Sivan ","last_name":"Rotholz","description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. She taught feminist Torah study and creative writing at Brooklyn College, Tel Aviv University, and Temple Israel of the City of New York. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College and a Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law and is the Managing Editor of the Saturday Poetry Series on As It Ought To Be. ","short_description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41526,"alt":"","title":"sivan rotholz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","width":320,"height":312,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-300x293.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":293,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":312,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":312,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":312,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":312,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":312,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":312}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"274","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Consent requires the very ability to say \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno,\u201d which Bathsheba the king\u2019s subject did not have","post_main_content_content":"

Bathsheba appears soon after the demise of Michal, David\u2019s last wife arriving on the heels of his first. But where Michal\u2019s journey brings her from promise to obscurity, Bathsheba rises from anonymity to power.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As formidable as she will become in 1 Kings, when we encounter Bathsheba in 2 Samuel, she is nearly silent. This woman, who will one day orchestrate Solomon\u2019s unlikely ascension to the throne, says just three words in this installment of her story, and they are not \u201cI give consent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One warm spring night, a restless King David rises to his rooftop and gazes out over his city. From his hilltop palace overlooking the surrounding valleys he can see the roofs of his subjects that populate the hillside slopes below. The animal lust of spring is in the air when David spots a bathing beauty on one of the rooftops beneath him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is how it happens. A man spots a woman. He desires her, and therefore feels entitled to have her. And with this David contributes to an era of objectifying women that remains commonplace to this day.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnd David sent messengers to fetch her and she came to him and he lay with her\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David is the king, Bathsheba his subject. When we think about abuses of power carried out by movie moguls against actors, by college professors against students, by clergy against flock, we are barely touching upon the degree of power inequity inherent in David\u2019s transgressions against Bathsheba.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David does what he likes with her, but Bathsheba does not give consent. Consent requires not only positive affirmation, which is patently missing here, but also the very ability to say \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno.\u201d Lacking power, status, or authority, Bathsheba is as incapable of giving consent as an intoxicated person or a minor. In its historical moment, one might have called David\u2019s act an acquisition. Today, we would likely call it rape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What follows is tragedy upon tragedy. Bathsheba discovers she is pregnant. When he cannot pass the child off as her husband\u2019s, David has Bathsheba\u2019s husband killed. David then marries the pregnant and recently-widowed Bathsheba. Soon after, the child dies\u2014as punishment for the sins of his father.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Throughout her story in 2 Samuel, Bathsheba is acted upon. Objectified. Taken into David\u2019s bed. In silence she suffers the deaths of her husband and her firstborn son. Throughout this saga, she says only three words: \u201cI am pregnant.\u201d Lacking the power to protect herself or those she loves, she speaks only when she has no choice, her voice a warning that our actions have consequences, that even for those at the top, there will be a reckoning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Bethsab\u00e9e, by Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me, 1889 \/ 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Objectification And Sexual Assault Of Bathsheba","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Consent requires the very ability to say \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno,\u201d which Bathsheba the king\u2019s subject did not have","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60306,"alt":"","title":"2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e,_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me.jpg","width":1024,"height":615,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me-300x180.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me-768x461.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":461,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me-1024x615.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":615,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":615,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":615,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":615,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-Bethsab\u00e9e_by_Jean-L\u00e9on_G\u00e9r\u00f4me-699x420.jpg","home_baner-width":699,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"11","chapter_main_number":"274","date":"20260916","wall_id":"274"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"457","name":"Rape","old_id":"857"},{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"},{"term_id":"491","name":"Suffering","old_id":"891"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"911","name":"Bathsheba","old_id":"1311"}]},{"order":13,"id":"60309","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"David\u2019s Messengers ","post_title":"David\u2019s Messengers","slug":"davids-messengers","old_id":"60309","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34245,"post_title":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger","slug":"rachel-sharansky-danziger","old_id":"34245","first_name":"Rachel Sharansky","last_name":"Danziger","description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born writer and speaker who blogs about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. She currently lives in Boston, where she teaches about storytelling in the bible and the subversive depths of Hebrew words.\r\n","short_description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born Boston-based writer and speaker about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34246,"alt":"","title":"RSDanziger","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","width":1171,"height":1769,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":678,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","large-width":678,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","1536x1536-width":1017,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","2048x2048-width":1171,"2048x2048-height":1769,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-794x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":794,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-278x420.jpg","home_baner-width":278,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"274","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"With so many layers of mediation between his desires and their execution, David\u2019s sins can\u2019t be mitigated as an impulse of the moment","post_main_content_content":"

King David started the chain of events that led to his sin with the verb \u201cvayishlach<\/em>\u201d \u2013 \u2018he sent\u2019: \u201cDavid sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him\u201d (11:1). He ended it with another \u201cvayishlach<\/em>\u201d, when sent and brought Batsheba into his palace after her husband\u2019s death. The Hebrew root sh.l.ch<\/em> \u2013 to send \u2013 appears nine additional times between the \u201cvayishlach\u2019s<\/em>\u201d that bookend the chapter. Five of them describe David himself, whose actions are repeatedly carried out by other people. He first inquiries about Batsheba, and then summons her, through messengers. He summons Uriah, and then delivers Uriah\u2019s death sentence, through messengers, including \u2013 horrifyingly enough \u2013 Uriah himself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By using the root sh.l.ch<\/em> as a leitmotif, the narrative establishes an atmosphere of delays and indirectness. Every action is drawn-out, slowly making its way from subject to messenger to object, and from plan to implementation. It gives us time to watch in horror as David\u2019s nebulous desires and concerns evolve first into sin, and ultimately into murder. It allows us to hope that he will change his mind and recall his messengers, only to be disappointed time and time again. And it forces us to acknowledge that David\u2019s sins can\u2019t be mitigated as an impulse of the moment: with so many layers of mediation between David\u2019s desires and their execution, how can we pretend he didn\u2019t have the time to think his actions through?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The repetitions of the root sh.l.ch<\/em> also offers us a framework for understanding David\u2019s transformation. David\u2019s fall starts with his first \u201cVayishlach<\/em>,\u201d when he sends Joab and \u201call of Israel\u201d to war while he remains \u201csitting in Jerusalem.\u201d(2 Samuel 11:1) Everything that follows is colored by this disparity between David and his people. By sending others to do his work for him, David separated himself from his people\u2019s pursuits and experiences. He lost sight of the Deuteronomistic warning that a king mustn\u2019t allow his heart to \u201crise above his brethren.\u201d (Deuteronomy 17:20) And it was this separation between the sender and the sent that enabled him to stroll the roofs and pursue his own illicit indulgences while his people and the Ark, as Uriah pointedly told him, were \u201csitting in huts.\u201d (2 Samuel 11:11)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Uriah\u2019s mention of the Ark reminds us that David once displayed a similar sensitivity, saying \u201cHere I am sitting in a house of cedar, while the Ark of the LORD sits in a tent!\u201d (2 Samuel 7:2) By disconnecting himself from his people\u2019s experiences, David lost this sensitivity, and so much more besides.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino, (1591 - 1666), King David Sending A Message \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60310,"alt":"","title":"2sam11-david and yoab","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab.jpg","width":1280,"height":1229,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-300x288.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":288,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-768x737.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":737,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-1024x983.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":983,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1229,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1229,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-1200x1152.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1152,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-437x420.jpg","home_baner-width":437,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"David\u2019s Messengers","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"With so many layers of mediation between his desires and their execution, David\u2019s sins can\u2019t be mitigated as an impulse of the moment","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60310,"alt":"","title":"2sam11-david and yoab","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab.jpg","width":1280,"height":1229,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-300x288.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":288,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-768x737.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":737,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-1024x983.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":983,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1229,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1229,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-1200x1152.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1152,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-david-and-yoab-437x420.jpg","home_baner-width":437,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"11","chapter_main_number":"274","date":"20260916","wall_id":"274"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"721","name":"Text","old_id":"1121"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"}]},{"order":14,"id":"60359","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"The King And His General, Intertwined ","post_title":"The King And His General, Intertwined","slug":"the-king-and-his-general-intertwined","old_id":"60359","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34891,"post_title":"Miriam Gedwiser","slug":"miriam-gedwiser","old_id":"34891","first_name":"Miriam","last_name":"Gedwiser ","description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz Upper Upper school and is a core faculty member at Drisha. She has a BA from the University of Chicago in the History and Philosophy of Science and a JD from NYU School of Law. She studied in the Drisha Scholars Circle as well as at other programs in Israel and Boston, and has taught at a variety of synagogues and Hillels. She previously practiced commercial litigation at a large law firm, and completed a judicial clerkship in the Southern District of New York","short_description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz and at Drisha.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":60045,"alt":"","title":"Miriam Gedwiser 2 cropped","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","width":453,"height":522,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-260x300.jpg","medium-width":260,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","medium_large-width":453,"medium_large-height":522,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","large-width":453,"large-height":522,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":453,"1536x1536-height":522,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":453,"2048x2048-height":522,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":453,"post_full_size-height":522,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-364x420.jpg","home_baner-width":364,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"275","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"David owes his kingship to Joab\u2019s loyalty, and Joab owes his position to David\u2019s favor","post_main_content_content":"

The central drama of this chapter unfolds around Nathan confronting David, and around the birth and death of David and Bathsheba\u2019s child. But,<\/span> as always<\/span><\/a>, Joab is waiting in the wings, and he emerges at the end of the chapter.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The events of Chapters 11 and 12 take place within a frame story that begins in 11:1 - Joab\u2019s war against Amon on behalf of David. Throughout it all, Joab has been at the front while David has been in Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The frame story comes to its conclusion at the end of chapter 12, beginning in verse 26: \u201cJoab attacked Rabbah of Ammon and captured the royal city.\u201d In verse 28, Joab sends a message to David to come to the front himself, \u201cmuster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it; otherwise I will capture the city myself, and my name will be connected with it,\u201d and in verse 27, David in fact comes to finish the job.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So who captured Rabbah, Joab or David? The verses seem to attribute the same victory to both. This seeming inconsistency yet again highlights the<\/span> interdependence<\/span><\/a> between Joab and David. Without Joab\u2019s work in the background of these two chapters, David would have nothing to show for the time but some capital crimes and a dead child. Further, Joab knows, and makes sure David knows he knows, that Joab could snatch all the glory of the military victory for himself (\u201cmy name will be connected with it\u201d). As in Chapter 11, Joab proves himself indispensable through his very loyalty. And yet, without David, Joab would have no one\u2019s army to lead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Talmud, in Sanhedrin 49a, hints at this interdependence, albeit with its own spin on David\u2019s side of the work: \u201cWere it not for David [who studied Torah], Joab would not have been able to wage war successfully, and were it not for the military acumen of Joab, David would not have been able to study Torah. As it is written: \u201cAnd David executed judgment and justice to all his people, and Joab, son of Zeruiah, was over the army\u201d (II Samuel 8:15\u201316).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In some fundamental way, David owes his kingship to Joab\u2019s loyalty, and Joab owes his position to David, notwithstanding David\u2019s curse, in chapter 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Over the coming chapters, David\u2019s house will begin to unravel in the aftermath of his sin.\u00a0 Throughout these difficult times, Joab\u2019s centrality to David\u2019s success will become even more clear.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60360,"alt":"","title":"2sam12-david and joab","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/gif","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","width":625,"height":631,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab-150x150.gif","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab-297x300.gif","medium-width":297,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","medium_large-width":625,"medium_large-height":631,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","large-width":625,"large-height":631,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","1536x1536-width":625,"1536x1536-height":631,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","2048x2048-width":625,"2048x2048-height":631,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","post_full_size-width":625,"post_full_size-height":631,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab-416x420.gif","home_baner-width":416,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The King And His General, Intertwined","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"David owes his kingship to Joab\u2019s loyalty, and Joab owes his position to David\u2019s favor","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60360,"alt":"","title":"2sam12-david and joab","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/gif","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","width":625,"height":631,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab-150x150.gif","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab-297x300.gif","medium-width":297,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","medium_large-width":625,"medium_large-height":631,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","large-width":625,"large-height":631,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","1536x1536-width":625,"1536x1536-height":631,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","2048x2048-width":625,"2048x2048-height":631,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab.gif","post_full_size-width":625,"post_full_size-height":631,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-joab-416x420.gif","home_baner-width":416,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"12","chapter_main_number":"275","date":"20260917","wall_id":"275"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"895","name":"Loyalty","old_id":"1295"},{"term_id":"900","name":"Joab","old_id":"1300"}]},{"order":15,"id":"60353","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"2","name":"King David and the Prophet Nathan ","post_title":"King David And The Prophet Nathan","slug":"king-david-and-the-prophet-nathan","old_id":"60353","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"275","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

In our Chapter, the court prophet Nathan, who previously delivered an oracle before David (7:4-17), now returns to reprimand David for his sins of illicitly possessing Bathsheba and arranging to have her husband, Uriah, killed in battle. In this confrontation with the king, Nathan employs a parable about two men, one rich and one poor. The rich man had large flocks, but the poor man had only one lamb, which he raised as his own child. When a traveler came to the rich man, instead of taking from his own flocks to prepare a meal, he took the poor man\u2019s one lamb. Upon hearing this, David said to Nathan: \u201cAs the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He shall pay for the lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and showed no pity.\u201d Nathan replied to David: \u201cThat man is you!\u201d (12:1-7).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the continuation, David shows appropriate contrition: \u201cDavid said to Nathan, \u2018I stand guilty before the Lord!\u2019 And Nathan replied to David: \u2018The Lord has remitted your sin. You shall not die. However, since you have spurned the enemies of the Lord by this deed, even the child about to be born to you shall die\u2019\u201d (verses 13-14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Midrash (Sifre Devarim 26) expands on this admission of guilt. David is depicted as pleading with God not to document his transgression for posterity. But God replies that this would not be in David\u2019s best interest, because people would say that because of His love for David, God showed him favoritism by expunging all record of David\u2019s wrongdoing. As in the biblical text on which this Midrash is based, a parable is employed to concretize the idea being expressed. There was a rich man who each year borrowed one thousand \u201ckor\u201d (\u201ctons\u201d) of wheat from the king. People wondered, how could this man incur such debt without providing collateral but only being required to sign an informal document acknowledging his debt (i.e. an IOU) to the king. One time this previously rich man was unable to repay his debt to the king. So, the king entered the man\u2019s home and took his children. When the man\u2019s children were put on the block to be sold as slaves people realized he had lost his wealth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Similarly, David\u2019s fall from God\u2019s favor was \u201cquadrupled\u201d, as it says: \u201cHe shall pay for the lamb four times over\u201d (12:6). For the death of Uriah, in his own lifetime David shall suffer the loss of four loved ones: Bathsheba\u2019s first child, Amnon, Tamar and Absalom (see Talmud Bavli Yoma 22b). David confessed his sins to Nathan, but later David added in direct confession to God: \u201cI recognize my transgressions and am ever conscious of my sin. Against You alone have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight. You are just in Your sentence, and right in Your judgment\u201d (Psalms 51:5-6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: The Prophet Nathan Rebukes King David, Eug\u00e8ne Siberdt, 1866-1931, Antwerp<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60354,"alt":"","title":"2sam12-david-and-nathan2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2.jpg","width":660,"height":350,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2-300x159.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2.jpg","medium_large-width":660,"medium_large-height":350,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2.jpg","large-width":660,"large-height":350,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2.jpg","1536x1536-width":660,"1536x1536-height":350,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2.jpg","2048x2048-width":660,"2048x2048-height":350,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2.jpg","post_full_size-width":660,"post_full_size-height":350,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam12-david-and-nathan2.jpg","home_baner-width":660,"home_baner-height":350}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"King 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