Torah Reading is Va-Yeshev (Genesis 37:1-40:230; Haftorah is Amos 2:6-3:8
By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — This short passage, mainly in good ancient poetry, is from minor prophet Amos, who arose from Judea to condemn both Judea’s and, more specifically, the Northern Kingdom’s ethics violations c. 784-748 BCE under King Jeroboam II. The violations, though referencing idol worship, mainly condemn behavioral sins against defenseless and vulnerable poor Northerners.
I have chosen the translation and interpretations of Emeritus Professor Robert Alter of the University of California Berkeley. [1]
The connection to the Torah parasha is weak. In the Torah, the reference is to Judah’s paid sex with Tamar, the disguised scheming desperate widow of his son Er. In the Haftorah, the Hebrew verb weakly connects the Israelites’ bribery (mikrom) behaviors to the sale of Joseph by his brothers into Ishmaelite slavery for 20 pieces of silver, and symbolically, by a stretch, ’the needy for a pair of sandals.’ [2]
The passage opens with condemnation for taking bribes in a court of law. The accusation applies to both the Southern and Northern kingdoms.
Thus said the LORD:
For three trespasses of Israel,
for their selling the just man for silver
and the needy for sandals.
Who trample the head of the needy
in the dust of the ground
and pervert the way of the poor. [3]
And a man and his father go to the same girl
to profane My holy name. [4]
And on pawned garments they stretch out,
alongside every altar,
and wine bought with funds from fines
they drink in the house of their God. [5]
Yet I had destroyed the Amorite before them,
who is tall as the height of cedars
and sturdy as the oaks…[6]
And I brought you up from the land of Egypt…
to take hold of the Amorite’s land.
And I raised you up from your sons to be prophets
and from your men to be nazarites…
But you gave the nazarites wine to drink
and to the prophets you charged, “Prophesy not!” [7]…
I am about to halt you where you are…
And flight shall elude (your) swift,
and (your) warrior shall not escape with his life. [8]
Hear this word that the LORD has spoken concerning you, O Israelites, concerning the entire clan that I brought up from Egypt, saying:
Only with you was I intimate
of all the clans of the earth.
Therefore will I make a reckoning with you
for all your crimes. [9]
Do two walk together
if they have not first agreed?
Does the lion roar in the forest
unless it has taken prey?…
Is the ram’s horn sounded in the town
and the people do not tremble?
Is there harm within the town
and the LORD has not done it? [10]
Now comes the mandatory upbeat ending!
For the Master, the LORD, does nothing without revealing His secret to his servants, the prophets.
A lion roars.
Who does not fear?
The Master, the LORD speaks…
Once again, we see revealed, the ancient Hebrews’ preoccupation with sex, even illicit sex, as revealed through the prophet Amos.
The other big condemnation is bribery. The early Hebrews apparently made a habit of bribery. This is notable so soon after receiving the oral Torah. Oh, dear, when will we ever learn?
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NOTES
[1] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 1258-61
[2] Etz Hayim, The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, pp. 246-7: A metaphor
[3] The poor man may deserve a favorable legal settlement, but, via bribery, he is given an unfavorable ruling.
[4] The accusation here is that, in sex practice, both father and son share the same girl, arguably a kind of incest.
[5] I.e. a shameless debauchery; officials openly using for themselves the goods/money received from fines.
[6] Though God had enabled its conquest of land occupied by giants (an exaggeration), Israel is ungrateful.
[7] You violated the holy mandates and prohibitions, namely providing alcoholic drink to nazarites, and suppressing the prophets’ words.
[8] Though no army pursues you, you will flee and fail.
[9] I gave you, Israel, special status. You violated my trust and will pay!
[10] Consequences applied by God only.
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.