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Sunday, January 31, 2010
The call of the prophet.
My apologies for the lack of posting. School has me quite busy.
I found this study of the language in Jeremiah 20:7 by [none other than] Abraham Heschel to be absolutely fascinating, and therefore I pass it on to you.
According to the increasingly popular English Standard Version, Jeremiah 20:7 reads:
O Lord, you have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
According to the Jewish Publication Society’s translation, it reads:
According to Heschel, it should be translated:
Just so we’re all on the same page: the battle is over the meanings of entice vs. seduce vs. deceive, and overpower/stronger than/prevail vs. rape.
The beginning of the passage relies on the Hebrew word patah. Literally in the text the Hebrew is פּתיתני [pitiytiniy, the alteration/extra letters are due to the “me” (ending -iy) and tense].
Heschel makes his case for the “seduce” translation:
The second word is chazakh, and in Jeremiah 20:7 it is written חזקתני [ḥazaq(e)taniy].
Heschel defends his “rape” translation in this way:
Heschel continues:
The call to be a prophet is more than an invitation. It is first of all a feeling of being enticed, of acquiescence or willing surrender. But this winsome feeling is only one aspect of the experience. The other aspect is a sense of being ravished or carried away by violence, of yielding to overpowering force against one’s own will. He is conscious of both voluntary identification and forced capitulation.
To be a prophet, one of the nivi’im, is an incredibly difficult calling, and it’s not one that’s optional. God says, “Do this,” and one can either respond positively - i.e. do it, or ignore the Word and be miserable/die while He finds someone else.
It’s God’s way or the wrong way, and God’s way tends to be a touch forceful if you know what I mean. Hosea was working away as a baker guy when he was told to marry a wife of whoredom for his call, while Jeremiah spends his first few chapters freaking out about his vocation.
Later God soothes Jeremiah (well, sort of) telling him not to “break down before them.” Thanks for the tip! I mean, He does follow this up by saying: “I make you (Jeremiah) this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land ...They will attack you, but they shall not overcome you; for I am with you - declares the Lord - to save you.” I’d be freaking out too. But can you see a little humor in it? “Oh, by the way, don’t break down or anything. Get ready to be attacked, but don’t worry because I’m God and I rule.” The prophet is rejected by pretty much everybody with power. The priests, the politicians, they’re going to call him a heretic, they’re going to brand him a radical, they’re going to disown and distance themselves from him. But in the end, even if the navi is crucified, God ultimately wins out. Because He’s God. Y’know.
As an aside, I got this for my twenty first birthday and I love it. It’s even huge frum size! That is all/end brag.
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