The History of the Divine Service at Altars (137) – The Prohibition of Bamot (113)

Following Ravshakeh's remarks about Chizkiyahu's over-confidence in Egypt (the staff of broken reed), and about his complete removal of the bamot despite the people's desire to offer sacrifices at them, Ravshakeh continues with mocking words regarding the meager strength of the army of the kingdom of Yehuda. The soldiers of the kingdom of Yehuda appear to have been exceedingly concerned about the strength and power of the Assyrian army, and therefore Ravshakeh frightens them and scorns their abilities.

 

Ravshakeh then emphasizes that he has come up against the kingdom of Yehuda in accordance with the will of God: "The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy it" (Yeshayahu 36:10)

 

 

            This is similar to what Yeshayahu prophesied about Ashur in chapter 10 when it invaded the kingdom of Israel. There he described Ashur as a tool in the hand of God:

 

O Ashur, the rod of My anger, in whose hand as a staff is My indignation! (Yeshayahu 10:5)

 

True, the kingdom is that of Ashur, but in fact the royal rod in the hand of Ashur is the rod by way of which God smites in His anger and indignation.

 

The prophet continues:

 

I do send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath do I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Yeshayahu 10:6)

 

Ashur acts in this manner with respect to the peoples which it conquers: it subjugates them, plunders all their property, and when it finds that no more benefit is to be derived from them, it destroys them and tramples over them.

 

However, he means not so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off the nations not a few. (Yeshayahu 10:7)

 

In other words, the kingdom of Ashur on its own would never have imagined that it was fulfilling God's mission when it subdued the various nations. Its heart was filled with the desire to destroy and annihilate those peoples. It was proud of its desire to destroy, and it went off to conquer nations and appoint kings over them.

 

The king of Ashur boasted about the conquest of Karkemish, Kalno, Arpad and Chamat. All of these kingdoms were idolatrous nations, and their gods ruled over them and protected them. If the king of Ashur managed to conquer so many pagan nations, who were protected by their gods, but were nonetheless conquered, all the more so, from his perspective, would he conquer Shomeron (which had already been effectively conquered) and Jerusalem. Just as all the idols of those other nations did not manage to protect them, so too it was clear to him that God would not rescue His people any more than did the gods of these nations. The proof was as follows:

 

Shall I not, as I have done unto Shomeron her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? (Yeshayahu 10:11)  

 

It would appear that one and the same God was supposed to protect both Shomeron and Jerusalem; thus it follows that if Ashur succeeded in overcoming the God of Israel in Shomeron, it would do the same in Jerusalem. Here, however, the prophet moves on to prophesy about Ashur:

 

Therefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord has performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Ashur, and the glory of his haughty looks. For he has said: By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; in that I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures, and have brought down as one mighty the inhabitants. And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped. (Yeshayahu 10:12-14)

 

When God completes the Divine plan for Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will punish the king of Ashur for his immense pride.

 

The prophet offers a detailed description of the pride of the king of Ashur, who sees all of his successes and conquests as a result of his political wisdom and royal maneuvering. The king of Ashur attributes everything to himself: the might, wisdom and wealth, by virtue of which he emerged victorious and gained domination over all the nations. The prophet continues:

 

Should the axe boast itself against him that hews therewith? Should the saw magnify itself against him that moves it? as if a rod should move them that lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him that is not wood. (Yeshayahu 10:15)

 

Even though Ashur is but a tool in the hand of God to do His will, in practice the king of Ashur misunderstands the relationship entirely. And therefore:

 

And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. And the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, he will consume both soul and body; and it shall be as when a sick man wastes away. And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them down. (Yeshayahu 10:17-19)

 

Because of its pride and arrogance, God will destroy Ashur, exhaust its power, and consume its treasures and armies. The soldiers of the Assyrian army will die in a fire and their flesh will be burned, and the Assyrian army will disintegrate in its decay and weakness.

 

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that are escaped of the house of Yaakov, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant shall return, even the remnant of Yaakov, to God the Mighty. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them shall return; an extermination is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For an extermination wholly determined shall the Lord, the God of hosts, make in the midst of all the earth. (Yeshayanu 10:20-23)

 

After the destruction that the king of Ashur will bring upon the kingdom, Israel will cease to rely on Ashur that is smiting it and it will begin to rely on God.

 

That is to say, reliance on the king of Ashur (a policy that was fully adopted by Achaz, Chizkiyahu's father: "So Achaz sent messengers to Tiglat-Pileser king of Ashur, saying: I am your servant and your son; come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me" [II Melakhim 16:6]), is in fact false reliance that will end in destruction; the only appropriate reliance is reliance on God.

 

In the end, the yoke of Ashur will be broken:

 

Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: O My people that dwells in Zion, be not afraid of Ashur, though he smite you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall be accomplished, and My anger shall be to their destruction. And the Lord of hosts shall stir up against him a scourge, as in the slaughter of Midyan at the Rock of Orev; and as His rod was over the sea, so shall He lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed by reason of fatness. (Yeshayahu 10:24-27)

 

The nation living in Zion should not fear Ashur – God will cause annihilation in all countries, but in Zion a remnant shall survive. While it is true that Ashur is a rod and staff in the hand of God, it does not recognize this, but rather it strikes Israel out of wickedness.

 

 

Let us now examine the words of Ravshakeh to the guards on the city walls:

 

And Rav-shakeh said to them: Say you now to Chizkiyahu: Thus says the great king, the king of Ashur: What confidence is this wherein you trust? I said: It is but vain words; for counsel and strength are for the war. Now on whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust on him. But if you say to me: We trust in the Lord our God; is not that He, whose high places and whose altars Chizkiyahu has taken away, and has said to Yehuda and to Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar? Now therefore, I pray you, make a wager with my master, the king of Ashur, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you be able on your part to set riders upon them. How then can you turn away the face of one captain, even of the least of my master's servants? yet you put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen! (II Melakhim 36:4-9)

 

On the one hand, we see how Ravshakeh mocks the defenders of the walls of Jerusalem, both in the imaginary trust that they place in the alliance with Egypt, the staff of a broken reed, and in the imaginary trust that they place in God after Chizkiyahu removed the bamot at which the people worshipped God. He adds: "And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy it" (Yeshayahu 36:10). He is saying, as it were, that Ashur is God's agent, and that God commanded it to destroy Israel.

 

We saw above Yeshayahu's prophecy in chapter 10, in which the prophet foretold the great calamity and great destruction that Ashur would bring upon Israel, but together with this he also spoke of the great punishment with which God will punish Ashur while rescuing Israel. This indeed happened in a miraculous manner when Jerusalem was saved from destruction and Ashur was smitten.

 

There are two points to consider when contemplating the significance of Ashur's actions: Was he an emissary of God, or did he act based on his own, independent considerations? What is more, if he was an emissary of God, how is it possible that in the end he was punished?

 

In his commentary to Shemot, the Meshekh Chokhma says:  "'The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord' (Mishlei 21:1) – kings do not have free choice, as it is stated: 'O Ashur, the rod of My anger… My indignation' (Yeshayahu 10:5)." (Meshekh Chokhma, Shemot 6:29).

 

Yehuda Elitzur asks:[1] What is the place and status of Israel's enemies in the Biblical doctrine of Providence? Scripture teaches us in many places that nations that fight against Israel are considered a punishment that is meted out against them. Thus, for example, in the Torah's rebuke: "But if you will not hearken to Me, and will not do all these commandments; and if you shall reject My statutes… I will set My face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies; they that hate you shall rule over you; and you shall flee when none pursues you" (Vayikra 26:14-17). War is a punishment for sin. On the other hand, if God sent the enemy to fight against them, he is God's messenger and he fulfills a Divine historical mission. 

 

According to this understanding, throughout the entire book of Shofetim, both the enemy who punishes Israel when it sins, and the judge whom God raises up to deliver Israel, are emissaries of God's providence.

 

The judge is indeed a messenger of God, who fulfills His mission. Thus we find with Otniel the son of Kenaz: "The Lord raised up a savior to the children of Israel… And the spirit of the Lord came upon him" (Shofetim 3:9-19); and also with Gidon: "Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midyan; have I not sent you?" (Shofetim 6:14).

 

But this is not the case with the enemies into whose hands God delivers His people. These are not emissaries of Providence. The phrase vayimkereim found in Shofetim 4:2 and in other places means that God ignored the people of Israel. God, as it were, removed His ownership and His protection from Israel when it sinned, but the enemies of Israel are not His agents. The spirit of God does not rest upon them and His word is not what guides them.

 

The prophet Yeshayahu prophesied:

 

How is the faithful city become a harlot! She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Your silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. (Yeshayahu 1:21-23)

 

And the prophet Mikha prophesied: 

 

Hear this, I pray you, you heads of the house of Yaakov, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor justice, and pervert all equity; that build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us? (Mikha 3:9-11)

 

What they meant to say is as follows: The two prophets describe the corrupt reality in Jerusalem when all of the people's leaders – the princes, the heads, the priests and the prophets – are oppressing the poor and stealing money. We explained in previous shiurim that this reality was the result of the leadership of Shevna, who was over the royal house, when Chizkiyahu was busy forging an alliance with Egypt and the neighboring powers against Ashur. Therefore, the repair would not be on the battlefield: 

 

And I will turn My hand upon you, and purge away your dross as with lye, and will take away all your alloy; and I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning; afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and they that return of her with righteousness. (Yeshayahu 1:25-27)

 

 The repair of the sins of Israel, the repair of the people's character and deeds, is what will bring about victory over their enemies. Therefore, Israel will always be the inheritance of God, and their enemies will always remain the enemies of God.

 

 It is clear that Ashur, which is used as the rod of God's wrath, will eventually be destroyed. This will be its punishment for having destroyed some of the cities of Israel. Thus, Ashur is not the emissary of God, but rather His enemy. 

 

According to what we have proposed, one can understand the gap between the words of Ravshakeh and the words of the prophet Yeshayahu. Ravshakeh presents himself as the emissary of God, whereas the prophet Yeshayahu presents the king of Ashur as he truly is – the enemy of God and the enemy of Israel, the recompense for whose evil deeds will be the destruction of his kingdom, as foretold by the prophet.

 

In the next shiur, we will continue our discussion of Ravshakeh's oration.

 

 

(Translated by David Strauss)