Daily Prophet
Day 29
“The days of punishment have come, the days of recompense have come; Israel knows. The prophet is a fool, the man of spirit is made mad because of your great iniquity and great animosity.”(Hosea 9:7)
In this chapter of Hosea, he is prophesying doom and gloom. I chose this verse because it stands out to me for the wisdom and congruence I experienced in reading it this morning. Many of us think we can do what we want when we want and nothing will happen to us. This is called entitlement and it is not only in the realm of the rich and powerful, people of all ages, ethnicities, colors, religions, socio-economic status, etc all believe this lie.
Hosea is telling Israel, all the people, that they know the days of “punishment”, (visitation by Adonai) are here. They know that they will have to answer and be held responsible, yet they seem unaware. Here is Hosea telling the people what they know and are hiding from because, in my opinion, they feel entitled as ‘the Chosen People’.
Because Adonai has come to see what is happening, as God did with Sodom and Gomorrah and with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the days of recompense, requital are here as well and the Israelites don’t want to pay for their actions, they don’t even want to make amends for them! The idea of knowing and hiding is as old as Adam and Eve, yet we never seem to learn.
The prophet, the man of spirit, is made a fool and a madman because of the iniquity and hatred that he sees and feels towards him and God. Here, the prophet is channeling Divine Pathos, the experience of God in the relationship with Israel is one of caring and connection. The prophet, who is saying this to the people and trying to get their attention, is made out to be foolish and is hated for speaking Truth.
Rabbi Heschel points this last point out when he speaks of ‘Ruah’ the Hebrew word for spirit, wind, breath, etc also “denotes pathos, passion emotion-the state of the soul” in his book The Prophets, page 313. So, for Rabbi Heschel, each prophet was a man of spirit who’s soul was full of pathos, passion and emotion connected to God. What a wonderfully terrible way to live! There is no inner peace in this life, there is only the knowing that comes from being God’s messenger and speaking God’s words as well as allowing for the hatred and iniquity that you will experience.
In recovery, these words of Hosea happen all the time, in fact they describe the last stages of one’s addiction. Everyone knows that the time has come and they have to get sober prior to coming to AA, treatment, stopping drinking/using/etc. We all ‘know’ it and don’t want to admit it. There have been so many people who, prior to entering treatment, go on ‘one last run’. Sometimes it kills them, however, most of the time it doesn’t and they show up to treatment still “high” and people are surprised. We were never surprised when this happened, we were surprised when it didn’t.
One of the fears that stops us from using what we ‘know’ to help us seek treatment earlier is we also ‘know’ that we are going to have to face God, ourselves and others to admit and be responsible for our past actions. This is so scary that we keep trying to hide from this day of recompense. This is the reason, I believe, that the 5th step of AA is so crucial. When I told my story to my sponsor, he related and let me know how much we shared in our stories and our actions and, just as he was forgiven, so would I be. This identification and assurance gave me the confidence and strength to move forward. Thank you Steve A!
I am thinking of how much a “fool” and how “mad” I have been seen as, talked about and bought into. This is one of the ways I made a caricature of myself. I made jokes about being “a lunatic” and I seemed foolish to so many people I was speaking to, believing we were speaking the same language and we weren’t. I have been portrayed as volatile, loose cannon, etc and not seen as a person of deep pathos, passion and emotion. My strengths were converted into weakness by people who wanted to and did use me for their purposes (and I did not realize this) and I stayed strong/stuck in my calling from God.
I see this caricature that I was made into and that I made myself into. Yes, I am/was volatile for the sake of Adonai and another person usually. Sometimes I indulged my own anger, of course, most of the time I was channelling the passion and emotions and longing of the soul of another human being and being loud to be heard over all the other noise. I am not saying I was always correct, I am saying that I gave my best to everyone and I understand Hosea’s experience of being made a fool and driven mad by the negativity towards me/him and in the world. I get visited by God everyday and I get to pour out my story each day to Adonai and feel reconnected and loved. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark