46 Did not our fathers in days of old sin in this matter, and the Lord God of the universe brought the waters of the flood upon them and destroyed the whole earth? My suggestion avoids this problem altogether. 22 And Terah bowed down to his gods, and he then went away from them, and Abram, his son, went away with him. Terah was the father of Abram (his name was later changed to See, for example, the Gerrer Rebbe, R. Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (Sefat Emeton Leviticus, Pesach 5631): In every generation there is an exodus from Egypt, but one relevant to that generation. There is much more to say about this, but here is not the place. On its own, the sentence can be understood as conveying the opposite meaning, as a call for those involved in studying the exodus from Egypt to remove themselves from the present, to transport themselves through time and view the event the way it would have been viewed by Moses and Aaron, Datan and Abiram. See: Tamar Ross,Expanding the Palace of Torah: Orthodoxy and Feminism(Waltham: Brandeis, 2004). then he. The fervent attempt to capture some meaning in each and every word of the Torah, without making recourse to any external factors as a control, is a clear expression of this perspective. The Bible says we should put living in a righteous manner above all other pursuits of the flesh and mind. 13Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers [g]under the authority of Conaniah and his brother Shimei by the appointment of King Hezekiah, and (O)Azariah was the chief officer of the house of God. Would you like updates when content is posted? Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive perfect - second person masculine plural, Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural, Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural, Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | Paragogic nun, Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural, A Phoenician goddess, also an image of the same, Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | Paragogic nun, Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct, gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative, Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural, Holy things must be eaten in the holy place, and holy things must be eaten in the holy place, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, OT Law: Deuteronomy 12:3 And you shall break down their altars (Deut. It would always have been possible to claim that one author, Moses for instance, wrote it on his own. 2And Hezekiah appointed (B)the divisions of the priests and the Levites by their divisions, each according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, (C)for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to serve and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord. One time a woman came carrying a dish of fine flour. It is, furthermore, impossible to deny another benefit of the ahistorical model of understanding the Torahs narratives. The story has been used as a way to discuss monotheism and faith in general. [Abraham] understood that there was a God in heaven, a living and true God, and that no man should worship any other God but Him. what happens when you drink cold water when you are hot? (Joshua 24:2), there is no Biblical record of him actually making Therefore, we should be careful not to miss even a single hint or implication that may be imbedded in the direct speech of God to us. The Idol Of Complacency. Presenting the Torah as Gods narrative does not take away from its religious significance. This claim, however, can be countered by making recourse to the premise of comparative literature, where it is one and the same whether a given story has a historical basis or not: comparison between texts always offers useful and challenging insights. "Turn from Thy burning anger and change Thy mind about doing harm to Thy people. Abraham emerging unscathed must have been a compelling and humbling sight. So, one day when I was very young, I went to our basement and smashed on the concrete floor every bottle of liquor! Will you really sweep it away and not spare[c] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? (U) Far be it from you! Note: This essay was translated and adapted by Rabbi Dr. Zev Farber, with the approval of Rabbi Dr. Kula, from the introduction to his book, Existential or Non-Essential. The Torah crafts its story line purposefully in such a way as to support the aims of the Narrator, including the Narrators values and moral lessons. It is thou that didst place the hatchet in the hand of the big god, and thou sayest he smote them all. Abraham answered his father, and said: How, then, canst thou serve these idols in whom there is no power to do anything? Is there spirit, soul, or power in these gods to do all thou hast told me? Please support us. Launched Shavuot 5773 / 2013 | Copyright Project TABS, All Rights Reserved, script type="text/javascript"> In order to answer this question let us investigate the basis for this phenomenon: what is the point of writing? In response to the first question, I admitted that I am not trying at all to prove that the biblical author was God. When I ask myself the question, What is more important: that Abraham lived in Ur 3500 years ago, or that he should live for 3500 years in the hearts of the people of Israel, I choose the second option. So Nimrod declares they worship wind. Bruce Feiler (Abraham) says that probably less than one per cent of the stories told about Abraham appear in the Bible, with an explosion of detail beginning to appear in Jewish tradition from the third century BCE onwards. 40 And the large one saw their works that they did before him, and his anger was violently kindled against them, and he went and took the hatchet that was in the house and came to them and broke them all, and behold the hatchet is yet in his hand as thou seest. Once he went on a trip and he placed Abraham in charge of the store in his place. Shalom Carmy; Orthodox Forum; Northvale: Aaronson, 1996), 159-180. 35 And Terah, having heard the noise of the hatchet in the room of images, ran to the room to the images, and he met Abram going out. The interpretive strategy of the received text is paramount takes an entirely different approach, which attempts to encounter the word of God without any mediation. Such narrative strategies, as I mentioned above, would be subject to factual investigation as well as comparative evidence, taking into account alternative versions. All rights reserved worldwide. The believer who adopts this narrative wishes to engage it directly. For it is hardly surprising that events that occurred in history would be recorded in the writings of various cultures that witnessed these events. Abraham had three wives: Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah (by date when Save 15% for life! script>. Terah exclaimed that such a thing was impossible, since idols could not quarrel or fight. Child sacrifice. 43 And Abram answered his father and said to him, And how canst thou then serve these idols in whom there is no power to do any thing? 13 "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou didst swear by Thyself, and didst say to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall Abraham). A divinely originated narrative has no need for real historical events in order to grow sinews and flesh and become something substantial. Muhammad describes Abraham's anguished attempts to reason with His father and persuade him to accept a new divine Message this way: "O my Father! 38 And he found Abram his son still sitting in the house; and he said to him, What is this work thou hast done to my gods? Cautiously, I would like to suggest that doing so is not important. This, however, is when this person accepts the [mitzvot] and fulfills them because the Holy One commanded this in the Torah and informed us through our teacher Moses, that the descendants of Noah had been so commanded (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, 8:11). 2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. 12They faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the consecrated things; and Conaniah the Levite was the officer in charge (N)of them, and his brother Shimei was second. 52 And the king sent three men of his servants, and they went and brought Abram before the king. He tried to bring him to reason, but his father did not believe they had life enough to kill one another. Over the years, the interpretive tradition has taken this statement far out of its original meaning, which refers to the way a person is to behave on the night of the 15thof Nissan, and turned it into a key phrase describing Jewish consciousness in general. 48-49 [Hebrew]. 2. Nevertheless, such an opportunity would be limited. 34 And when he had done breaking the images, he placed the hatchet in the hand of the great god which was there before them, and he went out; and Terah his father came home, for he had heard at the door the sound of the striking of the hatchet; so Terah came into the house to know what this was about. (C) 18Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation,(D) and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 2 Chronicles 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. Rambam expressed this idea in his unique idiom. Psalm 16:4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. Terah responded by saying that they are only statues and have no knowledge. Abraham's father in fact agrees with Abraham regarding idol worship unlike the Qur'anic version! Dr. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. [1] According to Jewish tradition, Terah was an idolater. Start your free trial today! 28 And it was on the next day that Abram directed his mother concerning the savory meat, and his mother rose and fetched three fine kids from the flock, and she made of them some excellent savory meat, such as her son was fond of, and she gave it to her son Abram; and Terah his father did not know of it. God stopped him from actually following . [11]It is virtually impossible to exaggerate the political, sociological and emotional implications of this assertion. Delivered at Provo, Sunday Afternoon, August 28th, 1881, Reported by Geo. [25]This imagery comes from Rav Kook. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?, If I find forty-five there, he said, I will not destroy it., 29Once again he spoke to him, What if only forty are found there?, He said, For the sake of forty, I will not do it., 30Then he said, May the Lord not be angry,(Z) but let me speak. [b](P) 23Then Abraham approached him and said: Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? [26]It would be wrong to simplify the dichotomy by trying to distinguish between the simple person, who would wish to hide from contradictions since answering them would be beyond this persons ability, and the learned person, who, ostensibly, can deal with such tensions. Enter your email to subscribe and receive notifications of new content. Sons were born to them after the flood. Hebrews 13:5 - Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Following the analysis offered here, the halachic tradition makes the religious value of any historical event that occurred before the revelation at Sinai contingent upon the power given to it by its inclusion in the narrative that came down to the world at Sinai. F. Gibbs. An ahistorical Torah is not subject to being disproven by archaeology or academic historical reconstructions. Abraham is known to have done something similar. The believer, who adapts the divine message to his or her own life, chooses to look upon the events of the past described in the Torah from the divine perspective. In their understanding, the written text is not there to convey an event; it is the event itself. Furthermore, this objection often remains inchoate and not fully articulated. 26 And Abram saw on the day when he was sitting amongst them, that they had no voice, no hearing, no motion, and not one of them could stretch forth his hand to eat. 27 And Abram mocked them, and said, Surely the savory meat that I prepared has not pleased them, or perhaps it was too little for them, and for that reason they would not eat; therefore tomorrow I will prepare fresh savory meat, better and more plentiful than this, in order that I may see the result. Hosea 2:17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. If he had possessed the spirit which his son had, he would have said there is no power with these gods; but he did not, and Abraham had to flee from his fathers house, confiding in the Lord, who gave many promises to him and concerning his posterity. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. Would we really be unable to give ear and listen to Gods story with great focus, attention, and feeling unless we could simultaneously locate it in a specific time and place?
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