Plagues in Ancient Israel

What are the causes of plagues?  The ancient Hebrews, like the Greeks, had their accounts.  The answers might surprise you.  For example, the LORD afflicted the house of Pharaoh because Pharaoh desired to take Sara as his wife (Gen 12:17-20), or when the LORD sent ten plagues upon Egypt in part because Pharaoh would not let Israel go and worship (Ex 7:14-11:10).  There also is the account when David was incited to take a census of the people of Israel that resulted in the LORD sending a plague on Israel (2 Sam 24:15; 1 Chron 21:1-17).  After David had realized that he had sinned, he is presented with three options: 1) three years of famine; 2) three months of war; or 3) three days of pestilence.  David decides to trust the LORD, because of his great mercy, rather than going to war and falling into human hands.  So the LORD sent a plague on Israel and 70,000 died.  As the disaster approached Jerusalem, the LORD held back his hand near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.  Soon after, David purchased the threshing floor from Ornan, built an altar to the LORD, and offered up whole burnt offerings (עֹל֖וֹת) and peace-offerings (שְׁלָמִ֑ים).  David then called upon the LORD, who answered from heaven with fire.  The plagues ceased. This location would become the future site of the Jerusalem temple on Mount Moriah built by Solomon (2 Chron 3:1), the Second Jewish Temple, and the present-day Temple Mount in Jerusalem.           

Plagues in Ancient Greece - Redux-Saga

In the 2^nd century CE, the Cynic philosopher Oenomaus of Gadara criticized the Athenians who murdered Androgeus, Son of King Minos of Crete, who were then struck with a severe pestilence.  The Athenians sought a divine oracle for direction to stop the plague.  They are told to send seven grown youth and seven maidens to Crete to be sacrificed in Minos. 

Of plague and famine, there shall be an end,

If your flesh and blood (female and male) you send,

By lot assigned to Minos, you shall send forth,

Upon the mighty sea, for recompense you set course,

Of evil deeds; so shall the god forgive.

Oenomaus mocks the oracle and rebukes the Athenains for not saying, “Would it not have been better to repent?”

Runes from Palace of King Minos, Knossos, Crete 

Islamic Waqf closes Temple Mount in Jerusalem to all worshipers and visitors.

WORLD ISRAEL NEWS:  The Islamic Waqf Council announced Sunday it is closing the entire area of the Al Aqsa Mosque to prevent to worshipers from praying there “for their own health safety,” Jordan’s Petra News Agency reported.

A Moslem worshiper wearing a mask against the coronavirus at the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. (Facebook - AlHayat) 

God’s Three Arrows: “wars, pestilence, and famines” or “faith, hope, and love”?

I have been thinking about the recent pandemic.  When I was teaching in an old Cistercian monastery in Austria, I remember seeing a representation of the “Grim Reaper” in the small rural town of Gaming.  It made me think about Europe’s history and her dreadful encounter with various plagues.  I wondered to myself, “What would it have been like to live in times such as those?”  History has had its moments of such tragedies such as the Plague of Athens (5^th century BCE), the Plague of Justinian (6^th century CE), and the Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague (14^th century).    

I also asked myself, “How would I react if I ever lived through something like that?”  “Would I be afraid?”  Or “Would I be a sense of comfort for others?”  One way to approach the question is to engage an argument that the pandemic is sent from God.  For an atheist, this would be a moot point.  For those who believe in an Almighty God, however, the premise would be welcome to some, questioned by another, and rejected by others. 

In the 17^th century, William Gouge published a work entitled God’s Three Arrows: Plague, Famine, and Sword.  I do not intend to give a general or exhaustive account of this work, but only to borrow the title to raise the question “does God sent forth plague, famine, and war?”  There is evidence that the Hebrew prophets indeed did express views on such matters (Jer 28:8).  Furthermore, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of the LORD letting loose on the people sword, famine, and pestilence (Jer 29:17).  Moreover, the LORD sent a plague against the people who rebelled against Moses and Aaron, but in the end, Moses and Aaron made atonement for the people and the plague stopped (Num 16:41-50).  However, the clearest reference is found in the prophetic book of Ezekiel that refers to the LORD God who sends forth judgment (Ezk 14:21), which elsewhere are likened to deadly arrows (5:16-17; 6:11-12).  So yes!  According to prophetic writings of the Hebrew Scriptures, God sent forth these kinds of judgments.  This view appears in Second Temple Judaism (Sir 39:25-35; Sib. Or. 3.295-349; esp. 330; Pss. Sol. 15:5-11) and Jewish Christian apocalyptic literature (Rev 6:8; see also Lk 21:10-11).  Eventually, the Jews miserably suffered under the Romans with the destruction of the Second Temple during the First Jewish Revolt (CE 66-70).  Ultimately, Jerusalem was raised to the ground and all of Judah became desolate after the Second Jewish Revolt (CE 132-135).  The Roman historian Lucius Cassius would later describe how Jews perished by famine, disease, and war (Dio Cassius, Rom. Hist. 69:12:1-13:2).

On a more positive note, the Hebrew Scriptures also clearly express the hope that the people should and could stop these disasters through repentance and turning to God (1 Kgs 8:37-40).  If the people would humble themselves, seek and pray, and turn from their evil ways, God would hear from heaven, forgive them and heal their land (2 Chron 7:13).  Even to this day, Jews and Christians hold to this promise.  

Is the coronavirus one of God’s arrows sent in judgment?  As a human being, some could respond “yes” to others “no” and still others merely laugh.  What might be a better and alternative response?  There are “arrows” or perhaps better yet “olive branches” that we humans can offer Faith, Hope, and Love!”  Let us not be afraid!  In our hearts and minds, let us turn to God.  Let us turn away from what is evil to the Good.   

Plagues in Ancient Greece

What is the cause of plagues?  The ancients had their tales.  The answer from Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus (5^th century BCE) might surprise you.

Sophocles (5th cent. BCE)

The story opens with a scene at Thebes in southern Greece, which is located between Italy and present-day Turkey.  The people are gathered at the altars before the palace of King Oedipus where they are offering up prayers and incense.  When the king asks why they are morning, the priest of Zeus tells him it is because of the blight, plague, and death that ravages the city.  Oedipus informs the priest that he had sent his relative Creon to consult Pythia at Delphi (the high priestess at the Temple of Apollo) to learn what must be done to protect the city.  When Creon returns, Oedipus asks what instructions the oracle had given to purify Thebes from the raging disaster.  He is told to punish the man who shed the blood of King Larius.  This he promises to do.  Unbeknown to the king, though, the victim who will suffer at the king’s own hand is a tragedy. He wants to blame someone else, but the king himself is the guilty party.  He had mistakenly killed his own father and married his mother.   

Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque closed because of Coronavirus.

In light of the coronavirus, the Jordanian Wafq has closed the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.  However, they will allow Muslim prayer on the open areas on the Temple Mount.  Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani said, “all prayers will be held in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa mosque and the doors will remain open to all worshipers.”      

   

Hamas Banner on Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif

This past Friday, a banner was hung on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif near the purification fountain (al kas), which is used for ritual washing before entering the nearby mosque.  The banner has a Hamas soldier on the left with a rifle in his hands.  In the background is an image of the Dome of the Rock.  On the lower right are four individuals who have a red x on each of their faces.  The figures are US President Trump, Egyptian President Sisi, Saudi Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, and one other individual.    

Picture of the purification fountain taken in the summer of 2017 (LFL)

Picture of Hamas Banner near fountain (credit: Facebook/Aaron Abisror)