Daily Prophets
Day 30
“Their heart is false now they must bear their guilt. They utter words; and with empty oaths they make covenants; So judgement springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.”(Hosea 10:2,4)
Hosea is speaking with the voice of justice and pain, again. In verse 10:2, the pain of God and Hosea is the false heart of the people of Israel. I hear the cry and call of the prophet to go inside and change our inner dialogue, our inner life and be true to Adonai and to our own souls. While, here again, it may seem like God is vengeful, etc. I hear and am grateful that the Prophet is giving me/us a heads up on what has to happen when we act from a false heart. This is not vengeance, this is logical consequences of our behaviors.
In verse 10:4 is, again, a call for justice. Here the justice is not just bearing guilt, it is the perversion of justice that the prophet is railing against. Words and empty oaths are anathema to our relationship with God, they go against our commitment at Sinai (which we read in our Torah Portion yesterday) and against the promises of our ancestors and ourselves. Every time Israel makes a covenant with an empty oath, justice is perverted. Not just perverted, according to Hosea, it becomes poisonous!
Rabbi Heschel uses verse 10:2 as an example of God calling to our inner life. I would add that God is calling to our soul in this verse. Again, as I am reading Rabbi Heschel, not for some random punishment rather to come back to himself, his true inner core and spirit. In verse 10:4, Rabbi Heschel sees this verse as showing judgement without righteousness. In his book, The Prophets, on page 202 he says: “The prophets were shocked not only by the facts of injustice on the part of scoundrels but also by the perversion of justice on the part of the notables.” Here again, Rabbi Heschel is conveying to me this sense of pain and loss that God experiences and Hosea expresses at the loss of connection to the inner life of each Israelite and Israel as a whole.
Reading these words reminds me of Rabbi Heschel’s comments about politicians, “If you go to the people and ask them, “What do you think of politicians”, they’ll say a politician is a synonym for a person who is not necessarily truthful.” I am sad to say it hasn’t gotten any better. When I listen to the members of both houses of Congress, I am appalled at how they are appalled at the other party using the same tactics they did. There is no caring about the people and what the people need. They give us empty oaths and make false covenants and then wonder why people don’t trust them.
We are in a moral crisis, a crisis of justice and righteousness right now. We need Congress to join with the Executive Branch and the Courts to bring about justice with righteousness, not justice with a bend towards progressive and/or conservative. We need our leaders to put down their lying hearts, their false promises and unify for the good of the country, the good of ‘We, the People, and a true commitment to God, no matter what faith anyone practices.
In recovery, honesty is one of the three pillars of our living: honesty, openness and willingness. We have to be willing to be honest and let go of the perversions we practiced in our addictions. We get to be honest about our shortcomings so we can move forward into the light. Step 6: “were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character” is our admission of our false hearts and empty oaths. We are aware of our inner dialogue and its need to change so we let go of our falseness and our empty words. In this step we are committing to a life-long process as the 12/12 says and when we use the words ‘entirely ready’ we are committing to be more aware of ourselves and our actions. Letting go of our falseness and making our words and oaths, covenants mean true commitment is a foundational part of recovery for all people.
As I am writing this, I am struck by how much the Prophets and Recovery have in common. In fact, I believe addiction is not a new phenomena, rather it has been with us forever and we just never wanted to see the inner addict. I see how in my addiction, I was Israel, my heart was false most of the time. My words meant nothing most of the time and I made oaths and covenants that were empty and self-serving. I have made T’Shuvah/amends for these actions and they still sadden me.
I also know in my recovery, how little I engaged in this and, in hindsight, how many times I believed the false heart of another. When I was blinded by ego, niceness, fear, need, I perverted justice. When I thought I was being righteous and I was just trying to not cause waves, I was guilty of Hosea’s indictment. I also see how I was the victim of the false hearts, oaths and covenants of people. I made the mistake of believing that the people who could trust me to be there, support and help them live better would reciprocate and they did not always. I have both perverted justice, as I said before, and I have been the victim of perverted justice. I am just sad, not mad, not suffering, just sad and a little wiser. Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark