Suggested Answers-Prophets Lessons

1. ANSWERS
LESSON ONE
A. 1. (It could have been its arrogance, inappropriate arrogation
of power, or lines of authority confused and abused. It was
disruptive of community norms and ways, offensive to God,
causing division within community, or a breach that may be
irreparable.
This is a harbinger of worse to come.
2. We’ve seen this comparison to animals before.
Even dumb creatures know more and better about
relationship and source of support than these people, who
owe so much to the Divine for their existence, redemption,
and hope, and yet seem neither to know or comprehend.

2. Now it’s sin. “Sinful nation.” “A people weighed down by
iniquity.” “Evil off-spring, corrupt children.” 4.)
B. This is the famous Song of the vineyard. It’s full of
metaphor. For people of faith, obviously, the Beloved is
God. I’ll leave the rest of it to you.
What’s its meaning, as we ponder success and failure in a
society?
Note that the prophet has his own explanation in 7-
forward.
The vineyard is the house of Israel, in the Promised Land.
The shoot of His delight was the people of Judah. Good
grapes would be justice and righteousness from His
people.

3. We were given all the natural ingredients needed to make
the best and sweetest grapes. Something has happened
that has led to a bad yield. What?
We blew it, our promise. How? Why? And, in what ways?
We may have mostly questions at this stage. But answers
come from questions!
C. Chapter 2 begins with God’s telling Jeremiah how
loving and giving God had been to the people at the
beginning and their covenant.
“What wrong did your forefathers find in Me, that they
distanced themselves from Me and pursued futility, and
became futile? But they did not say, ‘Where is God, who
brought us up from the land of Egypt…’ I brought you
into a fruitful land, to eat the fruit and bounty, but you
came and contaminated My land, and made My heritage
into an abomination.” 2:4-7

4. The priests similarly did not say, “Where is God?” Rather
the shepherds rebelled and the prophets went the way of
Baal. 2:8
1. What’s the problem?
(Ingratitude. Distancing suggests there had been nearness.
Also, as we will see, this distancing causes a deprivation as
well of protective proximity of that from which we
distance ourselves. Mendel Hirsch)
2. Pursuit of futility means what? And becomes futile
means what?
(A dominion that is not enduring and, upon its collapse,
its followers will be empty. Abarbanel

5. Or, according to Malbim, when one detaches and
distances oneself from the enduring to pursue what is not
enduring, one pursues futility (emptiness), and becomes
futility.
R E.E. Dessler says that the soul pain in Gehanna is due to
this choice of the path of futility and its consequence.
Futility is the worship of impotent idols (Metzudos), or the
pursuit of materialism or the material forces of the world.
The value of possessions is dependent on how and to
what extent they’re used in service of God. R’ Mendel
Hirsch
3. What’s the meaning of the statement that the people
did not ask, “Where is God…”
(It reflects that people forgot and thus have lost
awareness and gratitude for perhaps the most valuable

6. blessing, that is, being redeemed from enslavement in all
its forms AND being freed to worship God and serve God.
Asking means one seeks and finds answers and is thus
motivated more through the knowledge to serve.
Not asking suggests that one believes one has dominion.)
4. Note language “brought us up” from Egypt, not freed
from Egypt.
It was about moral and spiritual elevation, not being freed
for own purposes. This misperception and misconception
is rather at the heart of the problem.
5. How did the people “contaminate the land?”
(Idol worship. Deprived the land of characteristics that
made it fit for God and His people. Radak

7. Sin contaminates. Further, the more the sin, the more God
retreats. Bach.
What can that mean? How does this happen, and with
what consequence?
The more produce of the contaminated land the people
eat, the more contaminated they become, as does the
land. This accelerates the contamination. Isn’t this so?
Once we stray, the progression of wrong can speed up, as
the pain and loss that are experienced. Indeed it ultimately
leads to God’s heritage becoming an abomination.)
6. Why the mention of priests, shepherds, and prophets?
(It is clear that poor leadership, even corrupt leadership,
contributes mightily to woes. These people benefit
themselves from corruption, and they create an excuse for

8. people to remain corrupt by tolerating it, or even blessing
it.)
7. “Those charged with teaching the Torah did not know
Me.” What does this mean; what’s the problem; and what
might it mean for us?
(The teaching of core principles and good ways is crucial
to passing on the right and good from one generation to
another.
Further, this is essential to sustaining a good and healthy
community and society over time. Once those teachers no
longer know the Source of the good and right achieving
these things is put in deep peril.
Knowing means appreciating benevolence (Mahari Kara).
Radak says not knowing might mean an awareness but
without intention of fulfilling teaching.

9. Or just to be used to earn a livelihood. Malbim.
-----------------------------
What would it mean if our teachers no longer knew of
George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, and thus would
fail to teach knowingly and honestly about their values
and contributions?
Their contributions would be lost. And our nation and
what it stands for would suffer greatly for it. How much
more so, if teachers in Israel no longer knew God!
Or learning to them would be dry without appreciation.
Or learning would only go to what we can get out of it for
getting a job or other commercial purposes.

10. 8. Shepherds rebelled. What could be the problem here?
(It would be disastrous if shepherds (leaders) of the
people went against the Source of good. How might that
be done? To what effect, and if done today?)
D. Let’s now look at animal and other images of the
wayward people:
1) “like a young camel , careening in her ways.” verse 23
2) “like a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness - at
her soul’s desire she sucks in air; who can restrain her
serpentine manner? All who seek her should not weary
themselves, for in her month they will find her.” verse 24

11. 3. “your sword has devoured your prophets like a
destructive lion.” verse 30
Meaning? And meaning for us?
(1) Rashi sees it as representative of one who holds to
youthful waywardness.
R. Mendel Hirsch sees the idea of vacillating back and
forth between enticements that attract their fancy,
whether to one side or the other.
Perhaps: breaking loose in the desert. Or: restively pacing
to and fro (in lust) in heat.
Or, it’s moving forward, without clear direction, aimlessly.
2) This is again an image of easy prey - an animal in
passion “used to the wilderness” (the wilds?), sucking in

12. the air, ultimately totally vulnerable to being taken easily
at mating time by pursuers.
The people are compared in its headlong pursuit of sin to
a wild donkey who sucks in the air of freedom and
outruns its pursuers until the summer month of Tammuz,
when it is sated and plump, and can be easily caught.
(Likened to the month of Av, when Israel’s pursuers
traditionally “caught” it.)
3) This refers to the people who killed Zechariah and Uriah
because they chastised them. Rashi. A lion is thought here
to be an animal that does not kill for food, but simply to
destroy. Me’am Loez
Kings like Manasseh and Jehoiakim killed prophets.
********Do we see parallels in our society that suggest
ongoing relevance of these portrayals of animal images?

13. (Discussion)
E. Now we see a progression of images of clothing. Let’s
look for meaning:
1. She always wants new emblems of wealth but doesn’t
even value them enough to keep them in mind. She’s on
to the next object.
2. This is suggestive of harlotry or adultery, the use of
clothes to attract persons and ways that are evil, wayward.
3. This has the image of hurting other people and creates
the unsightly image of blood on the bottom of the fancy
clothes. Perhaps she got the wealth by robbing or
trampling on the poor whose blood shows on the hem.
F. After a discussion of the history behind these verses,
we’ll discuss these questions…

14. What is it in people that cause them either to forget or
proceed on this fateful and unhappy path?
Is there a way to curb this tendency?
(Discussion)
G. Knowing that the physical activities of gathering wood,
handling flame, and kneading the dough were tasks
engaged in by Abraham’s family, the ancestors of these
people, why do you believe this behavior in the streets
was especially offensive?
(It’s as if the people remember the activities of forebears
of their tradition and have turned their cherished practices
to their own, idolatrous ways.
They are either venerating the customs on their own and
thinking the outward action is all that’s required (as
opposed to honoring and holding to the principles of the

15. ancestors who first did them), or simply exporting these
ways to the worship of alien ways and purposes.
Isn’t this a convenient, ironic, and indeed disgusting way
of hiding their own misbehavior? And isn’t this also a sign
of ways in which people cover up their abandonment of
core principles?
“Hey, look at me: I’m doing exactly what our forebears
did!” (When, in reality, they’re copying outward ways but
violating all the inner ways that had been most valued in
earlier times.)
Can you think of ways people do similarly in our own
times?
(Discussion)

16. H.1. “…they content themselves with the children of
foreigners. 6.
What could this mean, and what’s the problem with it?
(It could be that “children of foreigners” is akin to an
attachment to the “children” of alien ways: such as
modern, fashionable ideas that are born from other
cultures/philosophies that are outside and presumably not
true to the best principles of one’s true culture.
Thoughts about what it might mean in our time?
It could be following new trends that are averse to hard
work, saving, sacrificing for others, caring for others. Look,
too, in the next clause:
2. “Its land became full of silver and gold, with no end to
its treasures; its land became full of horses, with no end to
its chariots. Then it became full of false gods, each one of

17. them bows to his own handiwork, to what his fingers had
made.” 7-8
What could this mean, and what’s the problem with it?
Can you cite examples from history?
(The problem is not with prosperity. Rather it’s with
boundless wealth and the ever-expansive ambition to
greater wealth that goes with it AND a callousness to the
core values that get dumped in the process.
This takes us away from the work of, and devotion to, the
basic principles that should be our concern, focus, and
attention.
The problem is not with horses and proper defense.
Rather it’s about not having an “end of chariots.”
Could this have been Sophocles’ problem with ancient
Athens, as it became more and more Empirical Athens?

18. What about The British Empire? Is it a concern in our own
world with nations with imperial designs?
The problem is not with material things we make. Rather
it’s about becoming so obsessed with things we worship,
and getting and having them. We are no longer “content”
with our own treasured “children” (values).
I. (People act like they’re the only ones there. They’re
unmindful of others and their needs. Further, it’s all about
maximizing what’s one’s, with no place for any other
purpose.
This reminds me of today’s politics. Why?
(Discussion)
J. (This could refer to leaders whose job it was to protect
and care for the poor but instead enriched themselves
and oppressed the poor in the process.

19. The vineyard could also mean God’s world, as it is
described in other parts of the Bible.
These people have taken over the productive capacity of
the world that was intended to be operated in a manner
pleasing to God (fairly, generously, wisely, effectively,
efficiently) and abused their role by going against the
Divine in crucial ways, including engaging in theft,
misappropriation, and mistreatment of those in need.
The poor could be people who are materially poor, or it
could mean people who are in spiritual or educational
need. Instead of meeting those needs, the offender has
used his position for other purposes and left the poor,
poor. This has the effect of crushing all God’s people,
especially through grinding the faces of those in need.)
K. (It appears that the earlier generation may have tried to
hold onto the basic principles while also beginning to
abandon them - especially through outward actions.

20. Clearly, however, they were no longer committed to them.
By the time of the later generation, the disloyalty and the
waywardness had become imbedded in the heart,
suggesting a thoroughgoing abandonment.
It was no longer a matter of copying others’ bad habits; it
had become their own, in their own heart.
We might hold on to certain good ideas, emblems of the
goodness, words and songs, all the while we “worship”
against those principles (vile, material, corrupt, selfish ends
instead of decent, ethical, honest, selfless ends).
We saw this in the culture significantly in the 1920s. Do
we see it now?
Perhaps there also may be a generational worsening or
coarsening that accompanies the progression. Could that
be so also in language, music, mores, and treatment of
others?
Further discussion)

21. LESSON TWO
A. (Judging is done in a fashion (unjust, oppressive, etc.)
that makes its product as bitter to the taste as wormwood.
Those who would benefit from an honest and true

22. implementation of justice are disappointed. Those who
should pay a price for injustice are protected and left
immune.
Wherever Lady Justice peeks beyond the blindfold and chooses
based on power, politics, or other advantages instead on the
standards that are established, this bitterness results in a
manner noxious to God.
Righteousness (which is wholesome) is abandoned from the
courts and other places of judging where adherence to God’s
ways are treasured and cast aside to the ground, perhaps
trampled on, indeed perhaps buried as if trash or something
worthless.
Instead false judgments, corruption and wrongdoing are
pursued. It’s as if righteousness can’t be seen anymore. It’s
buried. Further, it can’t see what’s going on.

23. Isn’t getting righteousness out of the way helpful to doing
wrong and being successful in getting away with it?
Justice is not here constant and regular with “sweet results;”
instead it is distorted to produce poison. It is in utter contrast
to true justice, which rolls on like the ocean and equity being
like a perennial stream. 5:24.
Also, the victims of injustice can be well imagined as being
thrown to the ground, ground into dust, left there abandoned,
etc.)
B. (I like the metaphor for punishment here because it reminds
me of the price a community sometimes pays for being
flagrantly negligent in maintaining essential infrastructure
(whether physical or otherwise) by cutting corners and
“robbing” the needed resources and using them for other
(politically favored) things.

24. Often, when needed resources are “diverted” elsewhere, the
“bridge will collapse,” with severe consequences. Their
“security” is bogus.)
C. In recalling the wicked times, Isaiah speaks fist of palms
“stained with blood,” fingers “with iniquity.” Lips “speak
falsehood;” tongues “utter falsehood.” “No one calls out in
righteousness and no one is judged truthfully: trusting in
emptiness and speaking vanity, conceiving wrongdoing and
giving birth to wickedness.” 3-4.
I want to focus on the image that is painted next: “They hatch
adder’s eggs and weave spider-webs: Whoever eats of the
eggs will die, and when they are squeezed a viper is hatched.
Their webs will not become a garment, and people will not
clothe themselves with their work…” 5-6.
What do we learn from these graphic, literary images?

25. a. Their misconduct has birthed harm just as does the hatching
of the eggs of poisonous snakes. They “gave birth” to
wickedness. (Rashi)
Alternatively, the wicked thoughts were like the material inside
the eggs. Unborn adders strike at the shell until it breaks and
they can emerge to do harm.
When people harbor wicked thoughts it corrupts them, until
they “emerge from the shell” and turn into wicked deeds.
(Radak)
Eating an egg of a poisonous snake is dangerous, as is
pressing it to crack, opening up a young viper. So would be
“eating” the product of wickedness or being near it when it
“hatches.” (Radak, Rashi)
b. Weaving spider-webs or “garments” of webs produces
nothing permanent of value; so, too, the wicked and the world
gain nothing lasting from their deeds. (Radak and Ibn Ezra)

26. Webs are snares, too, for others, catching them in their ways.)
D. Isaiah turns next to these observations: “Their feet run to
evil…their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness, plunder and
calamity are in their roads. They know not the way of peace
and there is no justice in their circuits; they have made their
paths crooked; all who walk them do not know peace.” 6-8.
I’m interested in the pace and place of action. What do you
see?
(It’s not just the doing of evil. The people ran to do it, leaving
little time for them or others to correct it or stop it. Their evil
must, also, be especially powerful, if the doer has the energy
and urge to run.

27. Further, it’s unlikely the evil will be stopped or even later
atoned for, given the limited time for reflection at any stage of
the action.
Their “paths” and “roads” are crooked and full of bad deeds
and calamity. It’s their way, and while wrong, it may provide for
their short-term benefit. It’s even inside of them, in “their
circuits.”
This is not incidental or something they just do “in Vegas.”
They are inured to it at all times, in all places, especially at
home, on their ways. It reflects in calamity and appears
permanent.
Further, it appears infectious. Others who walk with them will
not know peace either.)

28. E. These ways, Isaiah says, have made it so “justice has become
distant” and “righteousness has not reached us.” “We walk in
deep darkness.” “We grope the wall like the blind; and like the
eyeless, we grope; we stumble at noon as in the dark of night;
as if in graves, like the dead…” 9-10.
I’m curious about the image of blindness. Thoughts?
(The consequences of waywardness (without the acts of repair,
repentance, and redemption) for both the victimizer and the
victimized are likened to the forlornness of being sightless. All
appears dark, where there is no justice and righteousness.
One isn’t sure of where one is or where one is going. It may be
in the middle of the day or the middle of our lives, but all is
dark as if at night or in death. Our only contact with the world
is to grope what we can touch and hold on to, as the blind do,
say, a wall. That has a despairing feel, to be sure, and the
verses convey it powerfully.

29. This spiritual desolation is a cause of profound helplessness, in
which we may indeed be as helpless as the dead.)
F. “Justice has been withdrawn and righteousness stands at a
distance; because truth has stumbled in the street, and integrity
cannot enter. Truth became lacking, and refraining from evil
became foolish.” 14-15.
1. What does it mean when “truth has stumbled in the street?”
This is significant because it has caused justice and
righteousness to depart and impairs integrity from entering.

30. (There was no truth in public. Perhaps it existed in private, but
people were ashamed or fearful or weak to display it in public.
It may have been that the bad guys would have punished
them, or they feared they would. Perhaps they were complicit
with the bad guys, or benefited from them in some way, and
thus didn’t want to confront them with truth in public and
jeopardize their status or position.
When society is immoral, otherwise good people are on the
defensive and don’t want to incur the wrath of the powerful.
But when people act in this fashion, truth stumbles; justice and
righteousness depart; and integrity no longer can enter.
Another idea is that it is no longer shameful to lie. Once done
only secretively, now lying in the open is commonplace. This is
how bad things have gotten. There’s no conscience.)
2. Refraining from evil seemed foolish? How?

31. (With truth gone and immorality reigning, one’s left with the
temptation to do evil. It’s easy and seemingly rewarding. Why
not? You’d be foolish not to.
Alternatively, there will be no one left who refrains from evil.
They will have been removed from the world, along with truth.)
G.1. What three sins are disregarded?
They are the cardinal sins of murder, idolatry, and adultery.
Others? Some say it means something else. What else might
that be?
(It could be the cardinal sins. Or, it could be that a certain
degree of waywardness, while not good or approved, does not

32. bring a society down. But more, on top, does, especially if it’s
very serious and very bad.)
2. What is it here?
(It involves corruption in various forms.
Righteousness is so devalued that a person who is righteous
(and lives by it and/or teaches of it) is treated as a commodity.
He/she is not listened to or heeded based on the
righteousness. Rather, how he/she is treated is determined by
how the attainment of money (or power?) is affected by the
treatment of the righteous.
It could also be the more typical sort of graft - for example, in
the case of judges who rule based on payment or power.)

33. 3. What is the meaning of “a poor man for shoes?”
(It could continue the previous train of thought. A poor man
can needs to pay for a favorable ruling, but it can be for the
mere price of a pair of shoes.
It could mean, too, that the poor are not regarded or
respected as people in a variety of ways in which people
should be considered, but rather they are paid off with as little
as the value of shoes to do the bidding of those in power. In
other words, it’s how they are bought off.)
4. What does verse 7 mean?
(Some sages say the perpetual concern of those in power is
how to rob the poor of their possessions.

34. Or, it may be that they use others to beat the poor to the
ground (dust) to be sure they submit to injustice.
Or, it may be that it is fundamental to their use of power to
have the poor submit to their direction in their thoughts and
behaviors.
Further, since humility is not a virtue in this society, those in
power work to make sure to pervert the judgment of the
humble, perhaps by bribery, to be sure they’re not a threat.
Or, it may be that they frighten the humble into acquiescence
to avoid facing judges and other officials who have been paid,
among other things, to treat them badly.”
The last clause seems to be about sexual licentiousness that
extends from one generation to another, involving both, and

35. without shame. Brazen wickedness of this sort desecrates God’s
Name. (Abarbanel)
5. We won’t look at the language in verse 8, but there are
additional elements of corruption here that are worthy of
further study.
It seems to suggest that the wicked are using the proceeds of
the victimization that’s just been discussed to dress up for and
conduct the rituals of worship.
If this is before God, it makes the misbehavior even more
noxious. It must be observed that the priests of the temple are
part of the corruption, too. They are benefitting of these
tarnished proceeds.

36. (If it’s before other gods, it is despicable for other obvious
reasons.)
The people were given the land to live in the ways of God, not
those of the heathens whom they replaced. Further, they were
to be “a light unto the nations” in these ways. Instead
fundamental principles that were central to their society, its
mission, and its endurance have been violated, thus
endangering the ongoing life and success of the society.
H. Even as the Chaldeans were about the conquer Judah,
Jeremiah tells the king that there is a way still to make change
and repent. It’s in these lines. What was so wrong that, if fixed,
society could be redeemed?

37. (Justice needed to be made first (in the morning) priority,
especially by those in power who had benefited by injustice.
Another idea is that the commitment to justice needed to be
so complete that efforts on its behalf would go through the
night and into the next morning, if need be.
Further, it should be done daily, that is, on an ongoing, not
merely an irregular, basis.
It’s not so much that people were being forcibly robbed in
public. Rather it’s that people were oppressed by means of
embezzlement, extortion, or other unfair business and other
practices that had the effect of taking what was rightly one’s
and turning it over to another in power.

38. Can’t this happen to the poor? But can’t it also happen when a
mob unjustly takes the property of those to whom it rightly
belongs? We have examples of both, right?
(Discussion)
(This seems to suggest that these practices of fundamental
injustice are the deepest and most dangerous ills of this
society, which, if fixed, having a saving effect.))
I. This is a statement from God, which is intended to say that if
these practices that have been lost were restored, Judah could
be saved from the tragedy that was about to befall it.
Thus, one can see by picturing the opposite of the statement’s
call something that would resemble the true condition of the
society in jeopardy.

39. We’ve looked at similar language already. But let’s focus here
on: what does it mean to save “the robbed from the hand of
the oppressor?”
(It’s likely we’re talking, in part, about protecting the weaker
members of society from oppression by those who are more
powerful.
One could read verses 13-17 as answering the question by
discussing the fact that the king (or the powerful, more
generally) has built his palace without righteousness and
justice, including inadequate payment to the poor workers.
Indeed in verse 16, we get the idea that doing justice to the
poor and destitute is akin to “knowing Me,” that is to say, that

40. being just and righteous to those in need is a way of
worshipping and being near to God.
Here the practice had been idolatrous, which included a focus
mostly on profit, innocent blood to shed, and oppression and
prosecution.
One, perhaps more metaphorically, could see the house as
one’s life. So, when we act without righteousness and justice
and we fail to reward or honor those people or principles upon
whose value we’ve built our lives, we’re oppressing such people
or principles by robbing them of the credit they’re due.
In either case, a characteristic of the wrongdoer, as here, is not
even to listen when a proper rebuke is made. 21)

41. LESSON THREE
A.1. (Dissolute. It’s as if it’s a banquet, but what does it
celebrate? These wealthy/powerful seem oblivious to the
danger at hand, just as they are to their unethical acts. They
experience all manner of extreme luxury, as if they might be
hoping for the Day of the Lord, but it’s actually at the same
time their demise is imminent. And they are actually bringing it
on.
This contrast is literarily and historically very powerful. They
seem clueless/obtuse, so caught up in their selfish/wicked way,
and/or myopic and disbelieving toward the threat they face. If
they pay any attention at all to the prophets, they think it’s far
off in the future and not relevant to them.

42. But isn’t this so often the case?)
2. Explain the way in which the people think they’re like David
and the way in which the prophet (God) most certainly must
not? Are there ways we may exhibit similar traits in our cultural
ways?
(These could actually be the musicians from the Temple. Or it
could be symbolic of the leaders more generally.
It’s as if they still read, sing of, and value David, though they
miss altogether any sense of his greatest attribute - obedience
to God.
They “play and sing the music,” for themselves and their
enjoyment, and have no understanding of what music meant to

43. David. They play the notes; or they make up and play their
own. They love art! They enjoy it, as it accompanies all their
baseless behavior.
But it is without lesson or purpose. Is that true with our art and
art lovers? Was it so in the cultured times of Germany in the
first half of the 20th century?
They have duties to lead the community and guide and help
others, yet they are indulgent fakes that make them incapable
of discharging their duties responsibly and effectively.
They should be leading Joseph and make him whole and
healthy. Instead they preside over his illness and ultimate
demise and seem to know not and care not.
They should be leading the people. But, they don’t. Their
justice will be to be “exiled at the head of the exiles.”)

44. 3. ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: the prophecies delivered in
chapters 5 and 6 probably came in a period that was not only
relatively peaceful and quiet but also on the eve of ambitious
military campaigns and during an era of success, prosperity,
and security that were second only to the times of David.
How does this help explain the difficulty of Amos’ mission or
that of any prophet whose concerns conflict with those of the
ruling interests and whose predictions of dire outcomes may
turn out true but not until many years down the road?
(Discussion)
B. 1. (It reflects that people forget and thus have lost
awareness and gratitude. Asking means one seeks and finds

45. answers and is thus motivated more through the knowledge to
serve. Not asking suggests that one believes one has dominion.
2. Why the mention of priests, judges, kings, and prophets?
(It is clear that poor leadership, even corrupt leadership,
contributes mightily to woes. These people benefit themselves
from corruption, and they create an excuse for people to
remain corrupt by tolerating it, or even blessing it.
3. “Those charged with teaching the Torah did not know Me.”
What does this mean; what’s the problem; and what might it
mean for us?
(The teaching of core principles and good ways is crucial to
passing on the right and good from one generation to another.
Further, this is essential to sustaining a good and healthy
community and society over time. Once those teachers no

46. longer know the Source of the good and right achieving these
things is put in deep peril.
Knowing means appreciating benevolence (Mahari Kara). Radak
says not knowing might mean an awareness but without
intention of fulfilling teaching. Or just to be used to earn a
livelihood. Malbim.
What would it mean if our teachers no longer knew of George
Washington or Abraham Lincoln, and thus would fail to teach
knowingly and honestly about their values and contributions?
Their contributions would be lost. And our nation and what it
stands for would suffer greatly for it. How much more so, if
teachers in Israel no longer knew God!
Or learning to them would be dry without appreciation. Or
learning would only go to what we can get out of it for getting
a job or other commercial purposes.
4. Shepherds rebelled. What could be the problem here?

47. (It would be disastrous if shepherds (leaders) of the people
went against the Source of good. How might that be done? To
what effect, and if done today?)
C. 1.The conventional view of these verses is that while no such
person could be found, there were good people in Jerusalem.
Where were they? Why might their goodness have been
inadequate? Do we see similar problems today?
(They “stayed inside,” either because they were afraid of being
hurt or attacked by standing for truth and justice in public or
they were insufficiently committed or courageous to truth and
justice to do all that it took to “go public” and fight for the
right against the wrong there.

48. Being moral and ethical in private isn’t enough. The real action
is in the marketplace, the courts, society, and government.
People weren’t honest in business, for example. Without such
public goodness, there is no hope of redemption. Abarbanel.
Another view was that no one would listen to or accept rebuke.
They would escape to their homes. There were none of them
on the streets. Malbim
Discussion)
2. “They must only be the impoverished ones; they act
foolishly, for they do not know the ways of God…I will go to
the leaders and speak to them, for they know the ways of
God…But I saw that together they have broken the yoke,
snapped the straps.” 5:4-5

49. We will return to this reality again because it is a significant
problem that plays itself out in many ways. But what essentially
do we learn here?
(It’s not just people who are poor and ignorant of God who
cause problems.
Greater problems come from those who know right from
wrong, are affluent, and indeed whose job it is to enforce the
good, and yet have cut ties with God (principles of right and
wrong). They, on their own, are often out for their own benefit.
So, the problem is many-fold. Those who should be teaching
right and wrong to the people are themselves detached from
the right and living the wrong.
Does this occur in history, or in our own time?

50. (Discussion)
D. (A big part of the problem is rooted in corrupt leadership,
when the problem is rooted in the “prince.”
It’s easy to see the evil in outward, easily noticed corruption.
What types of corruption are hardest to see and, thus,
especially troublesome?
One thought: when the top leader is or appears clean but
subordinates engage in rebellious or other corrosive behavior.
Another: when the corruption comes in the form of policies
that appear innocuous or even meritorious but have the effect
of undermining the social order, righteousness, or the good.)

51. E. (It’s not saying per se that younger people can’t be good
leaders. See David.
Rather, it suggests a problem with people who are lacking in
knowledge of, and commitment to, the core principles, are
without the experience or capacity needed to lead well, and/or
with perverted or undeveloped character traits.
Mockers are weak, inferior people who are wicked and usually
clever, adept at presenting themselves as righteous when they
really are not.
Their “leadership” typically mocks both the core principles and
the people who are trying to remain true to them in both
leadership and follower-ship.
They’re especially dangerous because their wickedness is very
powerful and often less noticeable.)

52. F.1. We’ve talked briefly about the role of leaders in a society’s
decline. What more do we learn here?
(A false prophet is one who misleads the people by convincing
them that all is well when it is not. Typically, they falsely speak
in the name of God, which gives the people who believe in
God wrong direction, that peace is at hand, when it is not.
These false prophets likely received support from people who
benefited from wrongdoing.
Similarly, the bad priest used religious rituals in a contaminated
way to suggest that if they’re followed all is well with God,
when it very much is not. This corrupts the place of God and
creates further cover for wrongdoing by the people.
“They relieved the impending disaster of My people by making
light of it, saying “Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.” 6:14
(People like an easy solution, a simple, single word from a
leader, that suggests all is ok.

53. Have you seen such things in our world?
(Discussion)
F.2. (The tradition prizes one who rebukes wrongdoers for
injurious conduct and ungodliness (corrupt judging, partial
judging), such as true prophets.
Yet, a sign of a corrupt society is that the wrongdoers who
have power in it hate proper rebukes because it exposes
wrongdoing (likely theirs).
Evil times will not bear plain dealing or honest speech,
especially if it opposes the evildoers.
The action takes place at the gates, which suggests at the
courts and at the concourse of community meeting and action.

54. The wrongdoer abhors one who speaks purely, that is speaks
the truth, dealing plainly and honestly, because that would, by
necessity, be opposed to their crooked ways.
The wrongdoers afflict the just. They besiege them, with hostile
minds watch against, and gladly the occasion to wrong and
grieve, the just (Matthew Poole).
They trample the just. One way is to hurt them in court
through bribes, etc.
Amos is concerned, among other things, for those who are
wrongly the object of physical abuse and personal injury.)
F.3. (People who once had true principles and values that they
knew and embraced have now largely abandoned them. Plus,
they will not take seriously criticism for having done so. They
either don’t agree that they’ve lost the way or don’t want to be
told they have. In any event, they have no intention of
changing back.

55. They have lost the commitment to these core values and either
pretend through meaningless rituals or mere words that they
are still committed or have simply slipped away. Either way,
they have lost true faith in them.
Their speech reveals this loss of faith, again, either through
insincere words about a faith that is no longer true (lip service)
or the absence altogether of words of faith. Radak. Once true
words disappear, faith will, too, over time.
Daas Sofrim suggests, however, on a hopeful note, that what is
lost can be found.)
F.4. (Whether it’s perhaps with a teacher, the police, a clergy
person, a member of our family, a person in a position of
authority, a government official, or perhaps a newsperson, we
don’t want certain people who can hold us accountable to see
what we do when it may lead to tough consequences for
failing to hold up our end.

56. We rather hope such people will either “not see” in the first
place or lower the high standard to which we should be held
to account but failed to do so.
We typically want to hear “smooth words” that make us feel
good and “see fantasies for us” instead of the honest truth.
I have all sorts of examples of this in the education arena. Do
you have examples in your study or experience?)
G. (In a corrupt, evil time, because of the conditions described
in earlier verses, the common person is discouraged from
being involved or speaking out, whether in rebuke or honest
comments, especially if it involves significant personal risk from
the powerful wrongdoers.
It’s essential that wise people speak out “in the gate” to give
moral counsel. When they are repudiated and, thus, fall silent,
the times have reached a very high degree of evil.

57. The prophet still speaks out and so should we, but, though
necessary, the speech becomes less likely when corruption
reaches a high level of penetration. This is so, when it becomes
very hard to do, out of fear or a sense of futility.
Honest speakers may be hurt for their speech. Further, they
may be afraid to seek justice because they would likely be
denied relief. Or they may just think that the one who loses in
the court of judgment deserved it when, in reality, they lost
because they were wronged, as the earlier verses described.)
Does this happen in our time?
(Discussion)

58. LESSON FOUR
A. 1. a. They were threatened themselves. He challenged them
with uncomfortable truths. They wanted him silenced. They
wanted to continue their ways, especially by “validating” the
fraud of their being.
b. Importantly, here, they were able to act especially incensed
that Jeremiah, arguably sacrilegiously, had threatened the
destruction of the Temple while inside the Temple.
It’s as if he was disrespectful in dishonoring the Temple;
whereas, they were the ones who acted in ways that

59. disrespected the Temple and the principles of God, for which it
stood.)
c. Isn’t this exactly what the defenders of a corrupt status quo
tend to do? They don’t want the truth exposed. They want the
tellers of truth silenced or put away.
And they use the optics to strengthen their hand. If the true
prophet says that major institutions of the society are doomed,
the prophet’s detractors will use the promised harm, which
does indeed bode ill for the society (here God’s house, after
all!) as a basis to punish the prophet.
“He’s calling for the doom of all we care for. Let’s do him in!”
Have you ever seen this before?
(Discussion)

60. A. 2. (People want what they want, and they want God’s
blessing for it. When they don’t get it, they start accusing
others. Either someone has been treacherous or wrong or
disloyal or…Rationalization. Blame. Castigation. All of that
comes before admitting wrongdoing, being accountable, or
recognizing the right answer isn’t the easiest or the one they
prefer.
Discussion)
A. 3. (People don’t want to hear the truth, especially when it’s
critical and when it might threaten them and their position.
These people want to continue their wayward behavior, don’t
want to have their wrongs exposed, and perhaps want to avoid
having opposition to them stirred up.
It’s far better to “off the true prophet” and maintain in strength
and peace without the pain and fear of being exposed and/or
threatened.)

61. A. 4. (People generally don’t want to be rebuked, and those
who are the worst offenders particularly don’t. Often, they kid
themselves into thinking they’re good and all is fine through
multiple modes of hypocrisy.
Opposing, detesting, ostracizing, cursing, and even wanting to
get rid of truth tellers who call upon ethical principles to
criticize and demand change is, itself, a common symptom of a
diseased society.
It may, too, be a cursing of the true God, on whose behalf the
prophet speaks, that is taking place. (R. Breuer))
A. 5. (We saw such moments in the lives of Moses and Samuel.
One book that gives us a sense of a leader’s loneliness in our
country is JFK’s Profiles in Courage. Sam Houston stood up
against extension of slavery and lost election.
Churchill opposed Neville Chamberlain for appeasing Hitler and
was banished (until he wasn’t). Lincoln was on the verge of a

62. dramatic loss in his re-election bid before Grant and Sherman
won stunning and unexpected victories.
Over time, we also think of Galileo, Nelson Mandela, Socrates,
and all the many people who sacrificed themselves or lost
position, fame, or fortune to stand up for principle in societies
where the wrong was deemed right and those in the wrong
were in power.)
A. 6. The true prophet is heartbroken at this. How, and to what
effect? What is the effect on the society of this?
(It makes the work of the prophet so much more difficult. The
people seemed impervious to his speech, his warnings, and his
exhortations to be and to do better.
It makes the true prophet look foolish and/or hateful and
unappealing, trembling and shaken.

63. In fact, it may cause the people either to ignore the true
prophet or, more likely, to try to bury or hurt him to get him
and his voice out of the picture.
Without a legitimate place for the true prophet, the society is
less likely to repair and strengthen, leading to more corruption
and weakness.)
Do we have false prophets in our time? What do they say and
do, and to what effect?
Discussion)
B. (Do we also see this outcome at least somewhat in a loss of
awareness or understanding of our Founders and their
teachings, key figures in our history, literature, and traditions?
This was a complaint of Aristophanes in his time, as well as
that of cultural critics throughout time.

64. People lose their way when they lose the guidance of the
words of the wise.
Is their loss of access to the wise God’s doing, or was it theirs
in the first place?
Perhaps God is just “finishing the sentence” that the people
began by losing touch with the wise.
Also, perhaps those who appear on the scene as the new
“wise,” if some indeed appear, aren’t wise at all.)
C.1. (People have accustomed themselves to the idea that they
should sacrifice in order to be right with their “power source.”
This may have been in response to a military victory. They think
all is ok and that they operate with Divine approval.

65. They believe Amos’ admonition and plea for repentance is
unpatriotic, irreligious, and seditious.
Amos sees their behavior, in the midst of prosperity, as unjust
and self-indulgent, and their pride and complacency as
unfounded and unjustified.
Do we recognize this combination of prosperity and
complacency with unjust/wrong behavior?
(Discussion)
C. 2. (These people thought and acted as if only they practiced
the rituals and conducted traditional offerings and activities,
they’d be fine with the God and the authorities that prescribed
them. They were wrong.
None of this would hide their wrongdoing from God, or
protect them from the consequences of their evil and
corruption. Religious services are no substitute for justice.

66. Mere ritual, however punctilious, mere profession of orthodoxy,
however exacting, which is not accompanied by righteousness
and mercy, not expression of inward penitence and purity is
the object of God’s ire. (Ellicott)
How little signification the external rites of religion are, unless
they are accompanied with living faith in, and sincere love to
God, and a universal obedience to his will. (Benson)
Note the sense that God does not like the smell, the taste, or
the sound of these improperly offered sacrifices.
Recall the use of the word, wormwood, to describe the product
of injustice (in 5:7), which represents something that is
intensely bitter. (See 6:12, saying the people “have turned
justice into hemlock and the fruit of righteousness into
wormwood.” It’s as if we’re offering up hemlock and
wormwood to God!
Do we not see some of the same in rituals in our own places
of worship, in our celebration of regional and national festivals?

67. If so, let’s describe and look at examples.
C. 3. a. This is the month of harvesting in which the poor are
allowed to eat from the corners.
When it’s over, the merchants can return to making money off
them. Likewise in the Sabbatical Year, there’s no production,
which leads to profit, and all people can eat from existing
growth.
There’s a sense of impatience, if not actual dislike for the
traditions/rules that support those in need.
When they should be focused on the purpose of the festivals
and the ethics they promote, it’s as if these powerful folks are
simply thinking, “Let’s get back to business!”

68. The natural way of being is not to be compassionate with one’s
fellows in need but rather to get back to times and ways of
exploiting them.
One must wonder why their priests weren’t more attentive and
demanding. Much scholarship believes the priests were “in
cahoots with” the profiteers, that is to say, at least acquiescent
in the reality of what was being done.
(b) There’s a readiness to cheat to gain extra advantage,
whether by weakening the standard by which we sell to the
customer or demanding more by way of money. Mixing refuse
into the grain that is sold is another way of cheating in the
area of buying and selling.
This instinct surely plays out when the powerful play with
monetary policy to strengthen or weaken the dollar to hurt
borrowers in times of need or to take advantage of them with
deflation/inflation policies. If need be, the scales are fixed to
cheat!

69. (c) Finally, we get the sense that the powerful so abuse the
poor they can then take away whatever they have left through
forced sales.
Are there other ways of rigging the marketplace that come to
mind as a result of this study?
C.4. (Discussion)
C. 5. (Again we confront human nature. We continue to hope
that all is well, even though we entirely know that what’s been
done portends now nothing good. Indeed, they are totally
unprepared for the war that is coming. There will be no
imminent healing, but rather rampant destruction.
Verse 16 shows what really awaits the people: “The snorting of
the steeds” of the enemy can now be heard. This is the horse
on the other side that is rushing headlong to wreak destruction
(to meet the horse in verse 6).)

70. D.1. This suggests that people who could have avoided sin
when it was as weak as a flimsy cord (that could have easily
been broken) stayed down the wrong path so long (out of
temptation, et. al.) that it became addictive, and now the cords
bind like thick, unbreakable ropes
2. Could this be applied in several ways?
In one, the truly evil tend to be masterful about trying to make
evil look good and another person’s good look evil. In that
case, as evident as the true evil is, it can be made to appear
the opposite by the wrongdoer. And this appears to have been
done around the “vineyard” in our story.
It’s more complex to think of it this way: but is it possible that
this is about the difficulty in many cases of knowing the
difference between good and evil?
In fact, there may not necessarily be good and evil in certain
circumstances. Often those who benefit from one partisan

71. position work to make it look good and the other side, evil.
The other’s position may merely be ok, or possibly “sweet” or
“tending to light,” but it gets characterized as evil, or bitter, or
dark.
This surely happens in our society, and surely to its harm. This
problem seems related to the next one.
3.“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and view
themselves as understanding.” 21.
This is meant to relate to those who, out of arrogance and
conceit, get it wrong and hurt others, without having proper
and right understanding and wisdom.
4. What’s the concern here?
(People in a corrupt society typically think that “no one is
watching” and they can get away with whatever wrongdoing is

72. done in hiding or cover of night. They think even God doesn’t
see or take note. They don’t want to change and think they
don’t need to because the wrong they do “isn’t seen or
known.”)
There is a common idea in these verses:
People are fooling themselves, others, and God. This often
happens in Prophets when there is waywardness that occurs in
the midst of defying true prophets.
Discuss what the verses are discussing. How might this play out
in our own society? And what harm does it bring?
(Discussion)
E. What interests me most about these verses is to ponder the
practices in the corrupt society Hezekiah reformed, in which

73. people were dishonestly praiseworthy of the vile person and
the miser. What’s going on with that?
(The verses in 1 help us.
The people don’t see things as they are or hear what’s true,
and the heart is false. Why?
Are they paid off? Do they have a stake in protecting the
system?
Are they fearful of being hurt by the powerful for seeing and
being honest?
Do they just not know and not care to know?
When one point of view is pushed by the forces of the status
quo or even by one’s favorite group, a person tends not to
“have eyes open” enough or “have ears open” enough to hear
the truth when it goes against his/her interest and becomes
difficult/painful.

74. This is at the heart of corruption. It causes a person to be
unable to tell the difference between a vile person and a
generous one, or even where the difference is seen and known,
it doesn’t matter because it “pays” not to act on it.
The corruption also welcomes hypocritical flattery, especially in
an environment of fear of telling the truth and/or one where
benefits flow with the flattery – both to the one doing the
flattering and the one being flattered.)
LESSON FIVE
A. (The horse had had its fill of food in the night, yet its
appetite is so unfulfilled it awakes early for more.
Further, it goes for more in ways that are out-of-bounds,
ungrateful to its master who gives it aplenty, seeking to cheat
its neighbor.

75. Or the horse had its fill at night and joyfully continued on its
adulterous ways the next day, happy and without regrets.
Radak
Do we see any of this in our world?
(Discussion)
B. (The people have but do not use their capacity for thought
or empathy. They have the capacity to see what’s right as well
as the condition of their fellow human beings, but they act as if
they’re blind to both.
They have the ears by which they can both learn of their
traditions and lessons about right and wrong but they’re dumb
to it.
Isn’t this the fundamental problem in a society that goes
wrong?

76. (Discussion)
C. 1, 2, and 3
(Arrogance, excessive pride, a surfeit of self-interest and
material-orientation, apparent lack of interest in the concerns
of others and the community, as well as the spiritual - these
are suggestive of an unbalanced way that lacks proper ethics in
thought or action.
Further, it was a way of life in which the people were
complacent, refusing to see their errors, pay the price for them,
or change.)
D. (Rashi says that they were especially proud of their fruitful
valleys that did not require much water. They, too, had counted

77. on their wealth and treasures to make them special and protect
themselves.
Do we?
(Discussion)
E. (Presumably the wisdom of an earlier era is no longer in the
minds, hearts, or spirit of the children. It’s decayed and putrid.
Does this sound familiar? How?
(Discussion)
F. (Even Babylon, which conquers Judah, will face an awful fate.
What do we learn from it?

78. Those who conquer others in imperial fashion think it’s because
of their own power and rightness. They take such power for
granted. But it often doesn’t work out that way.
There are abundant examples of this in history, such as Athens,
Rome, others (?). While there’s a clear sense of God’s presence
in that destiny here, are there factors that are common in both
their rise and fall, and that of others?
(Discussion)
G. (Perhaps arising early in the morning to pursue alcohol
suggests a low place for prayer, study, and work.
Staying up late suggests little time for sleep, family, service of
God and others.
Being inflamed suggests a bad way of being, in all respects,
physically, spiritually, etc.)

79. H. (Discussion)
I. (Possibilities from within the text:
1. They may be “eternally rebellious.”
2. Sin is so ingrained that they remain wayward, even after
occasional apparent return.
3. Once gone, they’re another’s now; that is, they’re now
subject to another god or influence.
4. Life ends anyway, so one might as well stay on one’s current
path.
5. “They hold fast to guile.”

80. They’re so entrenched they would have nothing to hold on to
if they gave up their thievery. Alshich.
6. “They speak untruth; no man relents of His evil...”
Some are interested in repenting; many aren’t.
Many of those who appear to repent do so not because they
truly regret what they’ve done but rather because they regret
what has befallen them.
In other words, they appear repentant only because they were
caught and have had to pay the consequences. Malbim.)
J.1. (They’re virtually irreversibly on the path and with an even
quickening pace. This is so, even though their demise is

81. virtually certain. The path is such that reason is seemingly
abandoned; emotion has taken over; and there’s no wavering.)
J.2. (We should be accustomed to traveling the path of God
generally, and specifically the way of return. Yet, even given
seasons for return (such as the high holidays) and God’s
direction all along, we seem oblivious.
Unlike the course of animals that are directed by nature to
follow predictable paths of return, we seem, even with our
brains and all the teaching we’ve been given, to be unable to
travel the desired path or even the way back that God offers
us.)
K. (This is no longer a pride grounded in the knowing and
doing of good, as directed by God.

82. This is a bloated sense of satisfaction in self, in which the
people are deaf to God’s voice and instead guided by their
own selfish desires. This is a false pride, based on serving false
gods.
The root word for pride, gaown, has a sense of arrogance and
swelling.
In a nearby verse, the people are told not to be
“haughty”(gabah). The idea is not to feel so exalted (or proud)
that they will not listen to rebuke that is related to their
turning and going in a better direction.
Here one gets the idea that there’s inattentiveness, a lack of
concern or awareness to their true condition, and an
unwillingness to be open to the idea that they’ve done wrong
and need to change.
The prescription in verse 18 is for the people (as represented
by the king and queen) to humble themselves. Alshich says this
means to lower themselves from elevated seats of royalty and
sit on ordinary seats with the common folk.

83. There’s also a sense of the criticism of the monarchs that they
had not done enough to rebuke the people properly and
effectively lead them in the right way. (Thus, part of the
problem with this society is due to bad leadership.) (Alshich))
L. (Discussion)
M. (Lord of the Flies. Nazi depravity. Contrast of US during the
Great Depression and GB during Nazi airstrikes)
N.1. (Every part of the nation, from the greatest to the
lowest, was guilty of sin, in some form or another.
(Targum, Rashi)
Isn’t it often the case that waywardness in a society isn’t
isolated to just one group and rather spreads throughout

84. the whole “body” of the community? Yet, isn’t the
temptation to think one side is wrong, and the other
(mine!) is right. Isn’t this so in current times?
Does the fact that all isn’t whole mean that all are sinful in
the same way? If not, how might there be different ways?
(Some might acquiesce to others who are more active in
the sin.
Some may just be quiet or uninvolved, out of fear or
inertia.
Some might help support the active sinners in different
ways.
Some may push one wrong while others push other
wrongs, and they “agree’ to accommodate to the others
as a part of a strategy to get one’s way. “You get yours; I’ll
get mine.”

85. Can you think of other ways, perhaps even examples?)
N.2. (Often, the outward behavior of the people and the
leaders appeared respectable, but their hearts were bad. The
evil of many people was principally to flatter the wicked.
There were so many ways for all sorts of people to be a part of
the fabric of a corrupt society in which all, therefore, were
responsible for its waywardness.)
(I have a story of it in the area I know best. Do you have
knowledge or experience that would shed light? Discussion)
N.3. (We see the superb metaphor for the great span of the
society from the canopied tree (so grand and capable of

86. beauty and strength) to the reed (lowly and insignificant), from
the respectable and established leader (the elder and the
distinguished-looking man) to the false prophet (the misleader
who, likely for personal gain, assured the people of salvation
though the evil done precluded salvation).
Leaders and minor members were all responsible for the
downfall, and all would pay the price of exile.
The people were capable of discerning the truth and acting on
it, of resisting the bad leaders, but did not do so. The people
were capable of repenting but did not do so. The leaders were
evil and corrupt, but the false prophets were the worst.)
N.4. Principally, this verse shows that all people in a society
that declines will be affected. But the sages see something in
that also teaches us about the cause of decline as well.

87. (The idea that the children are found in the street suggests that
the parents have allowed them to roam on the street rather
than to be in school or study hall or home.
We even see an image of older children, with their own secrets,
as in gangs.
The responsibility is both for men and women, suggesting
mothers and fathers, and those who repent, but may have lost,
the traditions, that is, the elders.)
O. (It has a narrow opening. It’s to be filled, presumably with
good things. In this case, it was not. Once bad things go in and
clog it up to where it can’t be cleaned or fixed (through
censure and reform, for example), it can’t serve its purpose
(Here the Potter was God.)

88. Earthenware breaks easily and cannot easily be prepared. This
may be true of society, too.
Note that the evil mentioned here was filling the place “with
the blood of innocent people,” presumably “their sons” burned
in fire as sacrificed to Molech.
Further questions:
Do you have any thoughts about what a modern day
equivalent of offering our children up to Molech might be,
metaphorically?
And, why might doing such things be like putting a substance
in a bottle that causes it to be so clogged and tarnished as to
be incapable of being cleaned and used again?)

89. LESSON SIX
A. (We are called to live in righteousness. We have a righteous
purpose. This involves rightness, justice, and equity.
It recalls the covenant, our being bound to the core values that
were established at the outset of the “enterprise.” It involves
relationship with the Source that holds us up, and “by the
hand,” and for the purpose of being a light to the nations.
We are to live by these values and, by modeling them, spread
them (Torah) elsewhere in the world. This will cause others to
see, to cause justice, mercy, and freedom to be dispensed.

90. Doesn’t a good community, city, or nation aspire to be this
model for others, too? And haven’t the best in history been
successful at that?)
B. (We saw language about brides with jewelry and adornments
in early Jeremiah. The people had abandoned them.
Here we see the prospect of their being restored. Or, possibly,
they’re to be valued once again and, thus, be better preserved.
This might be another way of saying the marriage is valued
and strong, that is, the marriage between the people and God
(and that the elements and treasures of the marriage) are
appreciated and valued. The core values are cherished and
maintained.
Also, it could be that the land will be re-populated with good
people as a bride is with the many treasures of the marriage.)

91. C.1. (It suggests that people are flocking there. It’s a good and
desirable place to be. Children are returning, which is
meaningful in so many ways. And the community, generally, is
expanding.)
C.2. (The people find the use of their tongue once again to be
to teach of values and virtues. They understand the needs of
their times and how to bring awareness to those who want to
garner knowledge to meet those needs. They’re constantly
attuned to the Source to hear, too, as a disciple would be.
Further, the people are open, not closed, which includes
openness to rebuke and the strength of resisting (or even
being attacked by) the evil ones and false prophets. This was
not so before.
It’s the adversary, not the commoner or leader, who is like the
garment that is weak and susceptible to the moth. This is as it
should be.)

92. D. (Water is suggestive of Torah, or, put another way, the right
way, the core values, the abiding principles.
It costs nothing to buy access to them. Actually, they’re free
and available. All the material things and pursuits that the
people had sought in futility, by contrast, were expensive and
led nowhere satisfying.)
E. (1. We see so much here about Divine preferences for our
action – that those burdened by unjust servitude be freed, that
the poor and hungry be fed, and that those physically and
spiritually/ethically/educationally naked be clothed.
Our serving these Divine purposes adds to the light, for all, and
diminishes the darkness.
2. Take note that “your healing will sprout.” What does this
mean?

93. (We heal from doing this. And our healing sprouts into new
growth – perhaps more wellbeing, greater production, and
more and healthier people and community.
Isn’t this clearly a healthy turn for the community?)
3. This is pleasing to God, and we’re drawn near to the Divine
now and in the future. We’re closer to the Source of our values.
In a secular sense, we could think that what we’re doing is also
pleasing to the memories of those who founded our society
and its principles.
That this leads to peace and harmony is contrasted to the
divisive and ugly nature of the unhealthy society.
The contrast is between “deepest gloom” and “noon.” It’s like a
“well-watered garden” and “a spring of waters whose waters
never fail.”

94. 4. Finally, there’s a suggestion that the effect of turning in this
better direction can result in restoration and repair of the
damage done in previous sinful times.)
F. (1.We recall images in our earlier study of animals that could
find their way to their food sources though we couldn’t. Now
we can.
2. There were shoots in the vineyard that turned out inferior
grapes. Now we sense these are shoots that will yield the
sweet and the plentiful.
3. Unlike the earlier images, the bride and groom here are
beautifully dressed and value their clothes and jewelry.
4. The house and vineyards here are contentedly inhabited and
productive.
5. There’s peace among the animals, including the ones prone
to violence, and the snake is in its place.

95. CONCLUDING EXERCISE