Spiritual and Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach; JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, KINGS (Nevi’im Rishonim)
by Dr. Meir Tamari

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.

"Shem, Cham, and Yefet; from these the World was spread"
The Deluge passed and all living creatures were wiped out. Noah, as Hashem commanded, leaves the Ark, together with his family and all that was in it. Never again would the world be destroyed by a natural catastrophe like the Flood, and Hashem planted the rainbow as a sign of His promise. Now from the three sons of Noah were to come the generations of Mankind that would repopulate the world. "They had different characters, yet all three were considered worthy to be saved, so too down the ages, despite the often vast spiritual, cultural and social differences between their descendants, no one could say to another, 'you are less human thanI'; all are equally created in G-d's Image. To emphasize this important truth, their names are repeated here." (Rabbi S. R. Hirsch). And the Torah tells of the ten generations that followed from Noah until Avraham, and the various nations and peoples that flowed from them. They were the second experiment, as it were, to see whether individuals could create a spiritual and moral future, according to Hashem's law. As the basis for all civilized society they were given the Seven Noachide Laws: prohibitions of idolatry, cursing G-d, adultery, robbery, eating flesh from a living animal, murder and the positive command of establishment of a just legal system - all as a Divine commandment.

"And Noah began to be the man of the earth" - he developed the plough, the wisdom of agriculture and the sciences associated with it. That was beneficial and praise worthy. Yet "he was supposed to correct the world spiritually as well, so he should have planted olives or figs from which people have a benefit, instead "and he planted a vine", which is detrimental to mankind in addition to the pleasure and benefits it brings. [Furthermore], Noah who at first was an Ish Tzadik, ended being called ' a man of the earth, whereas Moshe who was at first called an Egyptian man [by the daughters of Yitro], ended as 'the man of G-d" (B'reishit Rabba33:3).

What was so wrong with the vine and wine? After all, the drinking of wine forms an integral part of our ritual: Kiddush on Shabbat and Chagim, havdala, the 4 cups at the Seder, and celebrating weddings and britot. [Not to mention wine of libation in the Mikdash - Ed.] I doubt there is a religion or a faith so wine-orientated, but there is a profound spiritual difference between Noah's world and ours. This is the concept that permeates Judaism, of sanctifying oneself in those things that are permitted to one. Sex, food, war, business, earning money, social communication and political organization are all essential for human life. However, nothing is unlimited and so all the permitted actions are made KADOSH, that is, set aside. So there is kosher, that is proper or befitting, food, sex, government and money and speech. What prevents sin in all of them is that we sanctify everything. So in the Vidui we recognize that gluttony of permitted food is a sin and our whole Ashamnu deals with unkosher wealth formation. Marriage is Kiddushin, and what transforms eating are the altars that our tables are while the Kiddush we recite over wine makes our drinking sanctified. Whereas the Midrash tells us that Noah planted the vine, gathered the grapes, made them into wine and got drunk all in the same day.

What followed in the story was inevitable; Noah fell into a drunken stupor and while he slept his grandson Canaan castrated or sodomized him. Perhaps this was caused to prevent Noah having a fourth son when they left the Ark and so reduce Cham's inheritance; this is similar to ascribing Hevel's murder to Kayin's refusal to share the world with him. Irrespective, Canaan was born out of Cham's violation of the ban on sex relations while in the Ark as it is written only in his case, that when they left the Ark, "And Cham was the father of Canaan". This sexual depravity that Canaan inherited he bequeathed to his children, so that the land of Canaan was steeped in sexual immorality: "For the inhabitants of the Land who were before you committed all these abominations and the Land became contaminated" (Vayikra 18:24-30). Upon awaking, Noah cursed Canaan to be a slave to his brothers; from this we learn the halacha that an eved Canaani goes free if his master causes the loss of an eye or a tooth since these two organs sinned here by seeing the act and telling of it.

Cham gleefully told his brothers of their father's abasement, but Shem and Yefet, walking backwards so as not to see his shame, then covered their father's nakedness. For that Noah blessed them, a blessing that re-echoes in history and world civilization.

"Blessed is Hashem, the G-d of Shem"; G-d is the striving of Shem and intrinsically bound to his nature, while his descendant Israel is destined to be rallying point for the service and knowledge of Hashem; when He is blessed, so are they. "Though Israel, the descendants of Shem, are the most devoted servants of Hashem, He is a universal G-d; He is called the G-d of Israel because He is revealed in their history and because they are the ones who recognized and proclaimed His Unity and His greatness" (Rabbi S. R. Hirsch).

"G-d will open the mind of Yefet, but he will dwell in the tents of Shem". The Midrash tells us that this refers to Cyrus, king of Persia who called himself the servant of Hashem and therefore granted permission for the Jews to rebuild His Temple. From the descendants of Yefet the world has gained much of its science, mathematics, philosophy, artistic concepts and beauty; they have taken Mankind out of the culture of the caveman. Yet we have witnessed in our own times how Yefet's civilization can lead to evil or to hedonism. "There is indeed beauty and wisdom in Greece that prepares mankind for the mission of Shem. Yet the education of spiritually unrefined humanity to a sense of the mind and beauty does not, of its own, reach its full potential, as it gives only the satisfaction of one's own standards as the criterion for one's actions. It needs the additional recognition of an external truth, the Torah of Shem, to achieve the wellbeing and happiness of Mankind. That is the greatest beauty since it achieves a harmonious joining of all aspects of life under the single idea of devotion to G-d" (Rabbi S. R. Hirsch, B'reishit 9:27).

This is the 92nd installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times”

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