PRÉCIS ON THE PLAINTIVE CRY OF ISRAEL: “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”

SCRIPTURE. “Let the groaning and sighing of the prisoner come before You; according to the greatness of Your power and Your arm spare those who are appointed to die! And return into the bosom of our neighbors sevenfold the taunts with which they have taunted and scoffed at You, O Lord!” – PSALM 79:11-12, AMPC

KEY TERM: “KEEP SAFE!” ‘Yathar’ [יָתַר]: “From a base word meaning ‘to remain or be left [alive];’ to excel, abound or preserve; to leave a remnant [of survivors]; show preeminence on behalf of; to keep or save from injury or destruction; to defend from evil; to uphold, sustain.”

QUOTATION. “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s Indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s Indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s Indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s Indifference. ‘Take sides!’ Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” – ELIE WIESEL, Holocaust survivor and author of Night (1960), Nobel Peace Prize recipient, 1986; edited

COMMENTARY. “Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee’ – Such as were so in a literal or spiritual sense; and the sighs and groans of such are not hid from the Lord; they come up into his ears as did the sighing and groaning of the children of Israel when in Egypt, Exodus 2:23, ‘According to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die’ – Not by the Lord, as all men are, but by men; who are under a sentence of condemnation, who are ready to die, being appointed to destruction (Proverbs 31:6), or are in danger of death, as Jarchi observes; the phrase is used in Talmudic writings; whose lives are exposed to danger, who are killed all the day long, and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter (Psalm 44:22), these it is desired the Lord would keep from dying, or cause them to remain in life; or not suffer their lives to be taken away from them, which he was able to do through ‘the greatness of His power;’ though these words according to the accents belong to the preceding clause.

The Targum, and so Jarchi, and other Jewish writers, render the words, ‘Loose Thou those!’ &c. mention being made before of prisoners, or of persons bound.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK. I was awakened early this morning with an urgent sense for us to PRAY for the Israeli Hostages still being held captive in Gaza.

The American Jewish Committee reports that as of January 9, 2024, Hamas is still holding over 132 hostages imprisoned in Gaza after the Ceasefire, including two children. The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 18 hostages due to new intelligence and findings from soldiers in Gaza.

CNN reports that for some of hostages, the conditions were manageable, with some hostages being fed canned chicken and rice (though many refused, believing the food to be contaminated). But for others, such as 84-year-old Alma Avraham, who was among the Israeli hostages freed from Gaza on Sunday, has been admitted to the intensive care unit, Israel’s Soroka Medical Center said. She was in critical condition and being treated in the emergency department after significant medical neglect for the past several weeks while being held by Hamas.

THE POINT. Most of the hostages were being held in darkened, sterile tunnels with no medical or toilet facilities, no regular meals, no sunlight, no sense of time, and very little sleep. ‘Terror’ was the order of the day and night with a number of the Jews resisting full emotional breakdowns.

These conditions are at best described as “Barbarous, ” defined by Noah Webster (1828) as “treated in a savage, cruel, ferocious or inhuman manner.” Beloved, imagine yourselves or your little children in such a place, and then pray as never before as if it were you.

As if it were you! Selah.