Purposeful Catastrophe
Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. Leviticus 26:27-28 NASB
With hostility – The Hebrew word keri occurs appears seven times in the passages about the curses—and nowhere else in the Tanakh. This is unusual and important. “Maimonides understands keri to be related to mikre, meaning ‘chance,’ the way of the world. To regard something as mikre means to see it as if it had no larger significance. It just happened. That, says Maimonides, is not how we as Jews should see our fate. It is not mere chance.”[1]
Sacks notes that Maimonides views the curses of Deuteronomy and Leviticus not as divine retribution but rather as the result of God withdrawing His protective hand and letting Israel face the world on its own.
“This, for Maimonides, is an application of the principle of measure-for-measure (midda keneged midda). If Israel believes in divine providence, it will be blessed by divine providence. If it sees history as mere chance . . . then indeed they will be left to chance.”[2] This is the difference between “history as God’s call and history as mere chance.”[3]
We can learn something very important from Maimonides’ insight. We often think that midda keneged midda is strictly a forensic principle, that is, it governs the assignment of punishment so that it fits the crime. With this in mind, we imagine “measure-for-measure” as a principle in the world of morality. But our idea is inadequate. Maimonides and Sacks remind us that midda keneged midda is a cosmic governing principle, applicable to all facets of life, both personal and communal. In fact, the English language acknowledges this in two popular idioms: “People get what they deserve” and “What goes around comes around.” When you and I truly understand what this means, we will realize that bad things happen to good people for a reason. There are no accidents in life. We might not immediately understand why these things happen, but we clearly bear the consequences of our propensity to be seduced into thinking that at least some parts of life are merely accidents. “If you believe that history is chance, then it will become so.”[4]
How many times have you ignored the presence of divine sovereignty when you experience an “accident”? How many times have you failed to connect a disturbing occurrence with a lack of acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty? How often have you shrugged off something because “S**t happens,” and never realized that God is withdrawing in order to gain your attention? David would rather have been judged by the Lord than left to the hands of men. He had good reason for thinking this way. To experience the absence of the hand of the Lord is essentially the equivalent of hardening the heart, as the life of Pharaoh shows us.
If your world is occupied with chance, then luck is your only ally. And good luck with that!
Topical Index: midda keneged midda, measure-for-measure, Leviticus 26:27-28
[1] Jonathan Sacks, Covenant & Conversation, p. 57.
[2] Ibid., 58.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
What was the “measure for measure” about in the Jewish holocaust (=burnt offering)?
Why did YHWH require this “burnt offering”?
I have heard some Jewish rabbis make the statement that the sins of the WORLD were expiated by the sufferings of the Jews. In some sense, being called His children in this very broken world means bearing the burden of atonement. I am not sure this is the real or only explanation, but it certainly helps. In the end, perhaps, we will never know the real purpose until He tell us, but the idea that the innocent suffer for the wicked is biblical, even if we don’t like the implications.
But why then a “Burnt Offering” and not a “Sin Offering”?
Technically these WERE Human Sacrifices.
Please do some research on the word ‘holocaust’, where it originated from, who bestowed and why.
Get back to us w/that, then we can proceed w/the discussion. By ‘we’ i mean ‘me’, i think.
עֹלָה ʻôlâh, o-law’; or עוֹלָה ʻôwlâh; feminine active participle of H5927;…; usually a holocaust (as going up in smoke):—ascent, burnt offering (sacrifice), go up to.
The KJV translates Strongs H5930 in the following manner: burnt offering (264x), burnt sacrifice (21x), ascent (1x), go up (1x).
It’s a good start, but way to confined.
I’m thinking more along the lines of ‘was what we refer to as the ‘holocaust’ actually referred to as the ‘holocaust’ by those who initiated the ‘holocaust’.
If no, then what was it called. What was the purpose of what it was referred to as?
When was it first referred to as the holocaust? Why was that term initiated. Why has it stuck.
Do you really believe that Nazi Germany, specifically Hitler would use a term that in any way referred to his actions as something that might even remotely have holy connections? I’m not thinking he would. I could be wrong, let me know what you find.
But not initiated by YHVH, of course, since human sacrifice is strictly prohibited. If the wicked execute the righteous, does this not count for expiation?
The reason I am interested to know more is that Yeshua was also probably not a sin offering but a purification (red heiffer) offer.
Expiation of what?
Expiation of everyone who became unclean (e.g. through contact with dead people). Getting sprinkled with the water prepared from the ashes of the red heifer.
I find this concept of Messiah being connected w/ the red heifer tantalizing…do tell?
The Jewish Rabbis and Sages admits that they do not understand the complex and intricate rituals of the Red Heifer Sacrifice. The Bible apparently only gives the broad outline of how it was done. The sacrifice was made outside the “camp” towards the East, which would put the altar on the Mount of Olives where Yeshua was most probably “hung on a tree”. The result of this sacrifice was that the Clean became Unclean and the Unclean, Clean. Yeshua was the Highpriest who presided at the offering of Himself. He became unclean so that sinners can become clean. And much more… I am still in the infancy of comprehending this so would not like to put forward presumptuous ideas in public but would be willing to share what I have in a more private setting.
I would like you to share with me, Pieter, if you would. Could you do it by email? Mine is lauritahayes@gmail.com. Thank you!
I saw this post and it sat on my mind all day yesterday. Here is another perspective….mine, and it certainly doesn’t have to appeal to you, or any one.
It’s a sad fact of life, as Skip has stated, that the righteous suffer both for and at the hands of the unrighteous. The greater fact is that the more righteous one is the greater probability there is that they will suffer (and often at the hands of the ‘righteous’!).
However, there is another perspective.
YHVH does not require human sacrifice. Messiah was an curious anomaly, one i contemplate along those lines frequently. That being said there are other ‘gods’ that DO require human sacrifice, and BURNT sacrifice is the most highly prized.
The more innocent, the more pure the sacrifice, the more pleasing (think: abortion as the sacrifice of the purest form of human life).
While the blood of the innocents would certainly reach the nostrils of YHVH, i don’t see it so much as his being pleased by it as his being brought closer and closer to a time when he WILL avenge.
I do not believe that YHVH required it as much as he allowed it, and by allowing i mean that those that were in a place to prevent it, when it was preventable, did not. They will stand accountable for that, i hope.
All in evil needs to flourish in this world is for righteous to stand bye and allow it.
And, for me, that is what happened.
All in the Family
May I Have Your Attention (Please)
(Children) what does it take? Are you the parent of unruly, disobedient, rebellious children? If so, there is a cure. There is also a maxim: “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” And? (This is legit) ~ If you are left without discipline,(chastening) in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons ~ (Hebrews 12.8)
It is also true, “this is going to hurt me more than it is you!” Disciplining a child, chastening a child, training up a child in the way he (or she) should go — is not easy! But God.. ( how I love these two words!) But God is “perfect” in the discipline (can you possibly see the word “disciple” in here?) of His own.
That’s right! You don’t discipline the neighbor’s kids! It’s all in the family! The family of God.
What parent among us (those who minds have not yet snapped) does not take great delight in obedient children? Do we not as experienced parental carbon units, know what is “best” for our children? (Please,)
Oh yes, – please do notice the please!! – God asks humbly, politely, – no yelling!- Please, (remember “na?”-the unspoken “please!”) DO what I ask. Little Johnny, little Susy, (please) don’t play in the street!! Please don’t place your hand on the hot stove! – (I know) you will get burned.
And the children (children-r-us) are left with a choice. Do I obey my Father? Or do I not? I hear tell it’s fun and exciting to go play in heavy traffic. And I wonder what it’s like to place my hand on the hot stove, even though my Father expressly, clearly said, “Don’t.”
Will I? Will I say, as my Elder Brother has said, “not my will but Thine be done?” It’s not about what I want!- but I will live (exceedingly abundantly joyfully, and in “right-relationship”), according to my Father’s written instructions!
But how can I possibly remember everything He has said? I need Someone to help me. Who could that Someone, that “Schoolmaster” be?
~ But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose (reveal) to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose (reveal, show) it to you..(John 16.13,14)
~ When the Helper, the Advocate, the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes forth from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me ~ (John 15.26)
Sing till the echoes fly above the vaulted sky,
And all the saints above to all below reply,
In strains of endless love, the song that ne’er will die:
The Comforter has come!
Powerful. Much food for thought here.
I am with Alicia, lots to consider. bpwade, as usual, great questions!
If we go back to Skip’s assertion that nothing is accidental, but the world is cursed FOR A PURPOSE, then that curse is going to produce something good IF WE SIGN ON to the understanding that all things work together for good to THEM THAT LOVE GOD. The curses of my life may have been there because of the choices of those around me, as well as mine, but, if am trusting God, the cause does not have to necessarily determine the result, if I am hearing Skip correctly. I may have fallen off my high horse because I wasn’t holding on to the reins well, but that fall has the potential – it RELOADS my potential, so to speak – of producing the peaceable fruits of righteousness on a much better scale than just merely remembering to hold on to the reins better. When I am knocked off that high horse, from the ground I then am in position, say, to even choose a different horse. I may, in my new-found luxury of choices that that disaster provided for me, decide that that high horse is not right for me at all, and that I may be better able to avoid future falls if I decide to travel on humble shanks mares from here on out. If, however, I think that the only reason I fell was because the horse, say, was to blame; or the weather, or whatever, I learn nothing, and just go try to catch the same old horse and climb back on.
I don’t think that the Holocaust, say, is just a simple matter of good vs. bad, as nothing ever is. If you consider that so many of the prime players, particularly behind the scenes of those wars, happened to be Jews in high places, particularly on the financing end of it, then you enter the possibility that; like children that suffer because of the decisions made by parents and people who hold authority over them, the Jews at the bottom may have been sacrificed – at least partly – by their own on the altar of greed and evil. Nothing about evil is either simple or pretty, and certainly nothing is neat or tidy, or cut and dried, or even boxable. I am not pointing fingers or shifting blame. I am with Barbara in saying that all who stand by and do nothing at that point share that blame, along with those who did the wrong thing. We all do hang together, after all.
If we think that disaster is by chance, we are focused on a: blame – who CAUSED it; b: ‘fixing’ it – returning things to how they were before disaster; c: superstitiously attempting to avoid what APPEARED to be a causative factor. In other words, we blame the laws of nature, such as gravity, etc.
If, however, like Skip says, we react to disaster as an OPPORTUNITY to reset our relationship with God, then we don’t care how it happened, and don’t consider how things were before as good enough (obviously they were not, or else disaster would not have occurred), and are grateful for a chance to re-establish better trust in YHVH so as not to be so easily knocked over as we were last time. No energy is lost tilting at windmills, then, and the actual momentum (motivation) that the disaster affords all gets plowed into a better field that gets planted to a better crop. We are promised that the righteous man gets the luxury of falling as many times as he needs to develop the moral muscle to keep his balance no matter what challenge arises. The wicked get no such luxury. If you believe that you are a god, then you believe that you are already ‘there’, and your whole focus is on staying there: you justify all your actions, shift all the blame, and require everything else to shift or change so you don’t have to. There is no room for a god to suffer disaster or defeat, and no forgiveness for it, either. This is where pride and its shadow, shame, rise up in defense of Self, and here we go! Good can only come out of disaster under certain conditions, the main one being that disaster happens to be a first rate opportunity to ditch a whole lot of baggage, if you choose to do so. I have to give up on the notion that I am a noble sacrifice, however, if I am to gain by the curses in my life. Humility is what you gain best at the bottom, but only if you aren’t trying to get back to where you were before.