Spiritual and
Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach;
JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, KINGS (Nevi’im Rishonim) These four books ostensibly are merely the history of Israel from the entry into the Promised Land until the destruction of the Temple and the temporary loss of independent statehood. In fact they are actually, in a specifically Jewish sense, the most deeply religious and spiritual books of the Bible. One does not have to be specifically Jewish to see or feel the religion and spirituality in the revelations of the prophetic writings or in the words of the Tehillim. They speak to all people, as evidenced by the fact that the Bible is still the world's bestseller and there are millions of non-Jews who regularly recite the Psalms. However, it is specifically and intrinsically Jewish to understand that G-d is revealed in the prosaic material, in the political, social and military events in the lives of ordinary men and women, kings and leaders that are described in the Nevim Rishonim. Here are described the ideology and religious thoughts in Judaism, while in Chronicles we have the purely historical. "Then to call in the name of G-d
became profaned" (B'reishit 4:26) Cain's t'shuva had earned Hashem's mercy and he bore His mark, so for us, the "mark of Cain" was not a badge of shame as the phrase is commonly used, but rather a sign of G-d's protection. Nevertheless, Seth, meaning support or foundation, was born to replace not only Hevel who had been killed, but also Cain who had destroyed thereby his own future and that of his descendants. "And Cain turned away from G-d" - so it seemed that the holy task of mankind would find its fulfillment in Seth, yet that was not to be. "For in the days of Enosh, the son of Seth, he and his generation erred greatly, as then they began to call in the Name of G-d. That is a euphemism for saying that they believed that Hashem was far too great and far too distant to take cognizance of the actions of men and to be approachable by them. Just as one approaches a great king through his nobles and servants, they would serve Hashem through the worship of the Sun, the Moon and Stars, and the forces of nature, that He had created. To give anybody or anything, in any way or degree, any of the powers and attributes of G-d, is idolatry" (Rambam, Hilkhot Avodat Kochavim 1:1-3). As a consequence of this perversion of monotheism, mankind became debased physically, spiritually and morally. "The Torah (5:1-3) says of Seth and of Enosh that they were created in the likeness of Adam, who was created like the image of G-d, whereas of the following generation there is no such reference. In the days of Enosh, the mountains became rocky [Adam and Chava had disturbed the natural equilibrium that existed in nature, so nature became an adversary that had to battled against] and men had the appearance of monkeys and became wild horsemen [actually the phrase used was centaurs, half horse and half man, to denote their fierceness; uncivilized and warlike, replacing the peace of Eden]. Disease appeared in the world [Adam was created in Divine Wisdom, perfect in every way, now after Enosh by their idolatry they caused the environment to become impure and hazardous to their health; that was expressed in the gradual shortening of human lives. This comment by Ramban, Abarbanel and Radak offers a different view than the one often held that their years were measured differently than ours]. Rabbi Yitzchak taught that they who started to do harm to themselves by becoming idolaters, thus demeaning their humanity, ended up in worshiping and subjecting themselves to the strong and powerful men [The real source of moral democracy and freedom lies not in the elitist Greek cities, but in the Torah which sees all human beings as created in His image]" (B'reishit Rabba 23:6). The teaching that idolatry must lead to oppression and immorality is the basis for understanding of what the generations leading to the Flood, were guilty. "Chazal teach us that the decree against that generation was only sealed when they indulged in theft. This is difficult to understand since we know that they were guilty of the three major sins - idolatry, sexual immorality and murder. However, when there is theft, the whole fabric of society begins to unravel and the other sins follow" (Shem MiShmuel). " The sons of the godly race saw the daughters of men, that they were faitr and they took themselves wives from wherever they chose" (B'reishit6:2). "The pious sons of Seth did not look from where the women were descended - the degenerate Cainites - and did not consider the types of mothers they would make for their children; therein lay their sin" (Rabbi S. R. Hirsch). The sons of the judges and the rulers, often called elohim in the Tanach, who abused their power and their status and took these women by force (Ramban). Alternatively, the generations indulged in casual sex (Abarbanel). There is a fascinating insight in the Midrash that sounds as though it was written today. When there had only been a few people on earth, there was plenty of space, water, land and natural resources for everyone. However, when the population multiplied, everybody became concerned that their quality of life would decline and that the resultant scarce resources would not suffice to support them all. Furthermore, as a result, inferior species would develop among the plants, the animals and the birds. So they legislated that only superior specimens could mate and in order to keep down general population growth they sought out non-procreative sex like homosexuality and bestiality thus perverting the whole creation. Then they started to steal from each other and when anyone opposed the thieves they simply killed them; idolatry, sexual immorality and bloodshed. "There were 10 generations from Adam until Noah and each generation destroyed one tenth of the world that Hashem created by Ten Divine sayings" (Avnei Nezer). This is the 90th installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times” [The
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