Argument between God and the Prophet

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1. Eliyahu in Horev (Part 4)

   "He Announced Rebuke at Sinai, and Judgments of Vengeance at Horev"

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   God asks Eliyahu “why are you here?” The question can be interpreted to mean: why are you here in the desert away from the nation? Or, according to another possible interpretation: Why are you here at Horev, where Moshe asked for mercy for the nation, when you come with the opposite intention? According to both interpretations, Eliyahu holds fast to his point of view, disregarding the events on Mount Carmel as passing. Not only is he unable to ask for mercy for the nation, he also asks for the nation to be punished.

2. Eliyahu in Horev (Part 6)

   "They Seek My Life, to Take It"

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   Despite God’s criticism, Eliyahu maintains his zealous position. The Midrash criticizes Eliyahu’s outward display of zealotry as concealing a desire for self-preservation. A close read of the text justifies the position of the Midrash.

3. Eliyahu in Horev (Part 7)

   The Mission (Part 2)

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   Eliyahu runs away to Be’er Sheva to be far from the nation. God commands him to go to Horev in order to reconnect with the nation. However, after Eliyahu rejects God’s message and maintains his ways, God sends him back to Eretz Yisrael – the place he was trying to escape – in order to bring the punishment he had desired upon the nation, and end his role as God’s prophet by appointing Elisha as his replacement.

4. Eliyahu in Horev (Part 8)

   Was the Mission Fulfilled? (Part 1)

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   Why does Eliyahu refuse to fulfill the commands given to him at Horev? Charging Eliyahu with the terrible responsibility of appointing a cruel king who will become the enemy of his nation was the test of the limit of Eliyahu's criticism. Eliyahu does not agree to this mission, and thereby finally withdraws from the position that he had previously maintained as a prophet. Up until this point, Eliyahu's behavior was characterized by actions undertaken without any explicit Divine command. Now Eliyahu is no longer zealous of his own initiative, but rather sent by God with explicit instructions.

5. Eliyahu in Horev (Part 8)

   Was the Mission Fulfilled? (Part 2)

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   Eliyahu does not execute God's mission to appoint Haza’el and Yehu. The appointments are ultimately executed by Elisha - but with many discrepancies from God’s original command. Transferring the appointments from Eliyahu to Elisha is not the rejection of an unpleasant command; rather, it transforms the mission and softens it through the milder personality of the prophet Elisha.

6. The Appointment of Gideon

   Rabbi Michael Hattin

   The appearance of the prophet to the nation in chapter 6, which is reminescent of the appearance of the angel to the nation in Bokhim in chapter 2, signifies the end of the era of selfless, righteous, and manifestly inspirational leadership. 

   Gideon, threshing wheat in the wine pit, is appointed as the new leader to fight the threat of Midyan. By challenging God, Gideon paradoxically demonstrates that he cares much about Him and especially about the fate of His people.

7. The Redemption of the Field of Hanamel

   Rabbi David Sabato

   Yirmiyahu is commanded by God to buy the land of his cousin, Hanamel, despite the fact that the destruction is imminent. At the beginning of the story, Yirmiyahu acted as a prophet – a messenger of God who fulfills His word without hesitation. But after the fulfillment of the words of the prophecy in the presence of all the people, Yirmiyahu turns to God as a person with a turbulent prayer and challenges God.

   Yirmiyahu's objection does not refer to the contrast between the real situation and the utopian prophecy. This is a theological objection that focuses on a contradiction in God's ways, for the prophecy of consolation contradicts the entire course of Yirmiyahu's prophecies from the beginning of his path as a prophet until the present. According to the principles of reward and punishment established by God, calamity must now befall the people; why then does he speak of redemption and consolation? The focus of the prayer is not found in the practical unreasonableness, but rather in the theological aspect of the deed, and this is an objection against God's ways of governance.

   God’s response to Yirmiyahu stresses that He is not only the Maker of heaven and earth, but also the God of all flesh, and therefore, God has the power to turn the hearts of His people toward Him in the future and to thereby ensure the redemption.

8. Buying a Field before Destruction - Is God Sending a Contradictory Message?

   Rabbi David Sabato