I want to start today’s talk, on a Sunday, with a comment from Ben Yakov at Spengler. For he describes true wisdom.
Our apartment is filled with the sounds of grandchildren chattering in Hebrew as my beautiful wife fills the house with the wonderful aromas of her pre-Shabbat cooking. In a few hours I will join the rest of my family in Beit Knesset as we welcome the Sabbath.
Obama, Netanyahu, The Iranian Mullahs and the European Union are all pawns in the Hands of The Almighty. We have survived worse and will continue to thrive.
Every day is a gift and, despite the worst intentions of many , we will continue to celebrate life.
We live in an age of miracles and only the willfully blind cannot see.
This needs to be compared with the wisest man in the Davidic kingdom. A man who both David and Absalom listened to as if he was God. The context matters. He had just advised Absolam to seduce (or rape) all David’s mistresses (concubines) so that all would know that there would be no forgiveness. His advice now is to tell Absolam to kill David. rapidly, now.
1Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. 2I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged, and throw him into a panic; and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, 3and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.” 4The advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
5Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear too what he has to say.” 6When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has said; shall we do as he advises? If not, you tell us.” 7Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8Hushai continued, “You know that your father and his men are warriors, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the troops. 9Even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits, or in some other place. And when some of our troops fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.’ 10Then even the valiant warrior, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear; for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior, and that those who are with him are valiant warriors. 11But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beer-sheba, like the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. 12So we shall come upon him in whatever place he may be found, and we shall light on him as the dew falls on the ground; and he will not survive, nor will any of those with him. 13If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.” 14Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring ruin on Absalom.
15Then Hushai said to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and so I have counseled. 16Therefore send quickly and tell David, ‘Do not lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over; otherwise the king and all the people who are with him will be swallowed up.’” 17Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel; a servant girl used to go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David; for they could not risk being seen entering the city. 18But a boy saw them, and told Absalom; so both of them went away quickly, and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard; and they went down into it. 19The man’s wife took a covering, stretched it over the well’s mouth, and spread out grain on it; and nothing was known of it. 20When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have crossed over the brook of water.” And when they had searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.
21After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, “Go and cross the water quickly; for thus and so has Ahithophel counseled against you.” 22So David and all the people who were with him set out and crossed the Jordan; by daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan. 23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order, and hanged himself; he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.
Ahithophet was smart. He was a master of realpolitik. And he was quite aware that if Absolam did not move fast, he would be defeated, and die, with all his allies. So he went home and killed himself, in a manner that indicated that he was accursed (Deut 21:23). And as such he stands as a warning.
Realpolitik, worldly wisdom, craftiness and shrewdness are useful. But they are tools. They are means, not ends. They can be used for good or for ill. A truly wise man acts righteously — and at times ruthlessly, to remove that which is evil from their own lives and from their community.
We are not supposed to be producing evil, but justice.
1Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
It is true wisdom to produce Justice. To refrain from oppression, and to do good. To be content with one’s situation, praising God. Not all of us are as happy as Ben Yakov, sitting in the Holy Land, contemplating the law, with wife, kinder and kindred around. Enjoying the sabbath rest.
Many of us are not Eloi, but Morlocks, We are grinding away, trying our best, and dealing with defeat. We elect fools as leaders — Absolam would not need guidance to deal with them, and he was nowhere near as effective as David or Solomon =– and when there is an effective leader who tries to preserve the nation he is steward of the left (generally fools) moan, writhe, and complain that this is injustice and unfairness.
Missing the point. Technique is not wisdom. Seeing the easiest option, or the most effective option, is not the just option. True wisdom comes from a terror of the LORD, (the very word terror, or the very word God, is unspeakable on the Left) when moves through the nations, setting things aright.
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