In Perek 2, the blame was on G-d. G-d was portrayed as being cruel, unjust, and irrational for destroying Yerushalayim, the Beit Hamikdash, and especially the people. In Perek 4, the Gever seems to be calming down considerably and taking a look at the bigger picture.
He begins to realize that in reality, the people were to blame. He understands that the sins of the people are what caused G-d to destroy and punish. He even states that the sins of the people were worse than the sins of the people of Sodom. He says that the prophets and the priests were the ones who led the people astray and the Kohanim were the ones who failed to do their jobs as religious leaders and caused the people to become impure.
In the end, the Gever mentions how they turned toward their enemies for help but they instead attacked them. The last two pessukim end off with a glimmer of hope: the punishment of the people will end and the enemies who attacked them will be punished one day. This leaves me with a question. How can the enemies who attacked truly be held accountable for attacking? Wasn't it just G-d's method of punishing the people?
This starts to get into the whole free will debate. Are the attacking nations responsible for their actions? Or is it simply G-d using these nations as a means of carrying out his punishment?
Thoughts, friends? Hit me!
This is a major question about free will that bothers many people, including me. I've heard many answers and even the answer I'm about to give you isn't completely satisfying. Remember how we talked about Hester Panim (G-d hiding His face) in class? That's probably what happened. We say that G-d protects us in this world and many people see the prolonged existence of the Jewish people as proof of G-d's existence. What would happen if G-d suddenly stopped protecting us and just let the world take it's natural course? That way, the nations still get to keep their free will and we still get punished. I'm not suggesting that this is a good thing or even the right answer, but that's one way of looking at it.
ReplyDeleteYou're going to need to find a cure for you. Why are you so self conscious about your titles? Nobody would think twice about your titles (nobody's good at titles), except that you make "i'm bad at titles" your title. Lillzzz. Whyy
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