Daily Prophets
Day 50
“And all the people shall know, Ephraim and the inhabitant of Sameria, who say in the pride and arrogance of their heart. ..Yet His anger has not turned back. And His arm is still outstretched. For the people has not turned back to Him who struck it and has not sought the Lord of Hosts.”(Isaiah 9:8,11,12).
Isaiah is saying what everyone else knows, except of course, Ephraim! They are going to be destroyed because of their arrogance and pride. The people of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) have forgotten everything that their ancestors taught them. I find it fascinating that these are the descendants of Joseph, who was Jacob’s favorite and a bit of a snob. Ephraim and Manasseh seem to have inherited the pride and arrogance of Joseph without the humility that he gained from his troubles in the pit and in jail.
In verse 11, prior to the part I quoted, Isaiah is prophecizing their destruction by Aram and Philistia. I find it interesting that the prophet speaks about God’s anger not turning back and God’s arm is still outstretched. This is, I believe, a prime example of Rabbi Heschel’s teachings about God being in search of us, hence the book God in Search of Man. God is not only always willing to take us back, God is reaching for us and we don’t see God’s call and reach.
This is, the premise of the final verse above. We are in trouble, we are being destroyed because of our arrogance and pride, our belief that we “can go it alone”, don’t need any help, etc. and when we are beaten and destroyed, we still can’t turn to God, who has saved us from the time of Abraham. This is not just for Jews, God has saved all of us and we still don’t turn to God. How sad for us, devastating to the prophet and crushing to God!
Rabbi Heschel speaks to us about these attempts by Isaiah in the last days of the Northern Kingdom. Isaiah is trying to purify the people, yet their pride and arrogance is too much. Isaiah, Rabbi Heschel explains, in these verses and others in this chapter proclaims the Northern Kingdom’s final destruction. Rabbi Heschel, in my understanding, attributes the people’s arrogance and pride to their callousness, mendacity, obstinacy, and indifference. He says: “ the people were smitten and continued to rebel, they did not stop to ponder about the meaning of their suffering”(The Prophets pg 91).
Our Political leaders need to read the Prophets and Rabbi Heschel’s book The Prophets, as do all the rest of us. We are witnessing the same destructive ways of Israel and Judah and we are displaying the same arrogance and pride, going so far as to say, this is what God wants! God doesn’t want racism, which is systemic. God doesn’t want poor people to suffer. God doesn’t want lies, falsehoods and mendacity to be spread across the land. God doesn’t want the callous indifference to human needs that some political leaders are showing. These ‘people of faith’ are charlatans and liars and the people listening to them and following them are being taken advantage of and being used by them. We need to stop this arrogance and pride from destroying us and what our ancestors built.
In recovery depends on letting go of our arrogance and pride. Our afflictions brought us to recovery in the first place. “You can’t save your face and your ass at the same time” is a favorite saying at meetings I have attended. In recovery we cultivate pride in our accomplishments that are decent that help another(s) and serve God. When service becomes the foundation of one’s life, as it is in recovery, the pride and arrogance lessen greatly and when shown are examples of what not to do and how easy it is to slip back into them. These “defects of character” are here to serve others in how not to be and a reminder that we have to continually be on guard to ensure they don’t trip us up. We, in recovery, know that God is our salvation, God is always waiting for us and God’s arm is reaching for us constantly. We reach back each and every day because “our recovery is based on our spiritual condition”, as an old-timer taught me early on in my recovery. We live one day at a time so that we don’t get ahead of ourselves and we can continue to grow today and plan for tomorrow.
My life has been about fighting pride and arrogance that is unhealthy. I have pride in what I have accomplished and I am not so arrogant to believe that I have not made mistakes. I continually do T’Shuvah, inventory and take my spiritual and emotional temperature. I don’t always read them correctly which is why I have to do T’Shuvah! I have learned to hear and follow God’s instructions and there are times when I don’t because of ego and arrogance. I also believe that arrogance led me to some of my greatest triumphs, the both/and of pride and arrogance. What is most interesting to me are the times people we make T’Shuvah with don’t hear our words, are too angry, hurt, need another pound of flesh, to accept our return, to accept our outstretched arm. I believe this is why the prophet tells us God’s arm is always outstretched so we can grab onto God when people reject us. How is your pride and arrogance keeping you away from God? How are you turning back to God today? Stay safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark