Daily Prophets
Day 45
“Woe, those who chase strong drink and wine from early in the morning to late in the evening… They do not regard the deeds of Adonai or see the work of God’s hands. My people go into exile for want of knowledge.”(Isaiah 5:11-13)
Isaiah is so angry with the people here on God’s behalf and he diagnoses at least two of the causes here. “Woe” is used to alert us to a problem as I understand the prophets rhetoric. The problem here is the utter disdain for the power of wine and strong drink by the people. They are just having a good old time without regard to the effects of this behavior on the rest of their lives. Isaiah is calling out to them to stop and they can’t hear because of the stupor they are in. I discovered in these words that all idolatry is because of being in a stupor!
How bad off are the people? They can’t see or appreciate the work of God’s hands and the deeds that God has done for them. This is a common occurrence even to today. So many of us forget that God has done amazing things for us, starting with giving us life. What we are not taught is that we have to reciprocate the gift back to God and another(s). Just as we are given so too do we have to give out. Yet, we can’t do that when we think that we are the source of all of our success and, of course, others are the source of our failures. This willful blindness is the root of most of the ills that afflict our society today, as it was then.
We stay drunk and blind so we don’t have to face truth, God and be responsible for our part, good and not good, in every experience.The amount of problems that come about because of our “want of knowledge” is enormous and tremendous. What is most disturbing about these verses to me right now is that our “want of knowledge” is so strong that we think we know! Herein lies the heart of the problem; we are so lost in our stupor and in our idolatry that we can’t discern the gifts, deeds and works of God nor can we see how much we need to learn/relearn.
Rabbi Heschel speaks of the verse about drinking as the prophets railing against the idea that “drunkenness elevates man to a higher level of existence and facilitates spiritual illumination”(The Prophets pg 355). He points out that Isaiah is regarding this state as a state of confusion, not spiritual ecstasy. LSD, Ayahuasca, Mushrooms and other hallucinogens are still popular today, they, as I read Isaiah and Rabbi Heschel, still give us a false sense of God and spirit. Rabbi Heschel goes on to say that: “the prophets regard the lack of knowledge as the root of misery (ibid pg 359f). This is so true today as well. Our lack of knowledge leads us to seek out false solutions and keeps us haughty and proud which leads to our own demise, either internally and/or externally.
WOE to our elected officials who are so drunk on their power, position and prestige that they fail to see the works of God and the deeds God has brought upon our nation. Instead, they worship at the idolatrous altar of power, of deceit, of confusion and have become the Priests of Mendacity rather than servants of the people and of God. Listening to the double and triple standards of some members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, is infuriating, saddening, and fearful. Every great empire, every great experiment has failed because these Priests of Mendacity have sown confusion, lies and treated people as objects not worthy of their consideration.
In recovery, we have lived this “want of knowledge” and intimately know the dangers of strong drink and wine as well as other mind-altering chemicals. They are the reasons we got into recovery, they were our entrance fee and our recovery is dependent on how much we expand our sphere of knowledge. We pray each day for “knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry it out”(Step 11). We are aware of our need to keep in close contact with God and another(s). We know that we can become unaware in a second and that during each and every day, we “do not regard the deeds of God or see the works of God’s hands” so we do a 10th step inventory each evening. We are not perfect nor do we expect to be, we find ourselves a little more conscious and aware of God’s world and how to serve God each and every day.
My motto is to be one grain of sand better each and every day. For the most part, I have achieved this goal, not every day and enough to be a lot more aware of God’s deeds and the work of God’s hands today than I was 35 years ago. Of course being drunk is not just with alcohol or mind altering chemicals, it is being drunk with our own greatness and our own success and with our own arrogance. I am guilty of all of these. I have also seen the light, sometimes sooner and sometimes later, and made the necessary changes to get right-sized again. I have been exiled for “want of knowledge” and it is painful and sad. My drunkenness with the three states of being above led me to not see what was right in front of me and I believe this experience happens to many of us. I am without anger and resentment about this exile now because I can own my part and not need to blame. I have taken off my blinders and read the prophets to stay out of the willful blindness that calls to me and you. What are you still ‘drunk’ on? What are you staying willfully blind to? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark