From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Thu Dec 05 2002 - 09:01:40 EST
RFaussette@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 12/5/02 12:00:46 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> gmurphy@raex.com writes:
>
> > . Thus your last sentence - with its implied
> > criticism of the canonical
> > text - quite misses the point.
> > Shalom,
> > George
> >
> >
>
> That last sentence was not mine - if this sentence below is the one you're
> talking about - and I have simply quoted the text in the part of the post I
> did write - God does predict the efficacy of cunning... that's pretty
> straightforward and in the text. If you don't want to use the word approve
> that's fine. Then use the word predict - because that's what God does,
> predict that cunning will win out.
>
> NOT MINE:
> When we saw that in the 9/11 episode, we were repulsed. Should we be any
> less repulsed when we see it incorporated in canonical text?
Why would anyone have thought that it _was_ yours? It was
clearly Howard's
statement, & in our subsequent exchange he & I are apparently in agreement.
Waiving for now questions about the ambiguity of the oracle
in Gen.25:23 which
Bob Schneider has noted, the difference between "predict" and
"approve" is huge: It
isn't simply a matter of terminology. If I "predict" that Miami will
beat OSU in the
Fiesta Bowl it doesn't mean that I "approve" of that outcome. God
does not "approve" of
everything that happens in the world, in the sense that all things
are in accord with
God's character, even though God is the ultimate cause of everything
that happens.
I think it should also be noted that the fault of being
"cunning" - to the
extent that it is a fault - is more ambiguous than, e.g., murder or
adultery. We admire
subtlety & cleverness, & the plot of a film like "The Sting" can be
enjoyed by good
law-abiding folks. So when Israel recognizes in the story of its
ancestor Jacob its own
story, it sees that ambiguity - cleverness, the ability to outwit
enemies &c, but also
the dishonesty to which those traits are easily applied.
& in any case, I think that trying to connect this part of
the Jacob cycle with
the story about his breeding of sheep in order to say something about
the intelligence
of Ashkenazi Jews is quite forced.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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