Like a flute, my heart moans: Empathy for Enemies

Jeremiah 48:36

Can we expand our empathy to include those across the border from us?

Scanning the horizon, the old prophet of Jerusalem identifies the  neighboring nations, each with its complex conflicts with Judah. The final chapters of the book of Jeremiah scan each of these nations with prophetic visions that are as much about them as they are directed towards Jeremiah’s own people, then and now, with life lessons worth learning. Moab’s sin is arrogance, he claims, too reliant on its military strength and wealth, its people did not care of those in need and turned away from justice, looking away from the pain of Judah under Babylionan siege. The consequences? Utter desolation. Jeremiah outlines how Moab will mourn its losses, decimated by the war with Babylon that will crush it as it already crushed Judah. But although Jeremiah describes the future fury in great detail he includes a few notes of empathy, describing his heart as a musical instrument of mourning: 

עַל־כֵּ֞ן לִבִּ֤י לְמוֹאָב֙ כַּחֲלִלִ֣ים יֶהֱמֶ֔ה וְלִבִּי֙ אֶל־אַנְשֵׁ֣י קִֽיר־חֶ֔רֶשׂ כַּחֲלִילִ֖ים יֶהֱמֶ֑ה עַל־כֵּ֛ן יִתְרַ֥ת עָשָׂ֖ה אָבָֽדוּ׃

“Therefore,

My heart moans for Moab like a flute;

Like a flute my heart moans

For the people of Kir-heres—

Therefore,

The gains they have made shall vanish —”

Jeremiah 48:36

Why this empathy to an enemy nation, with multiple territorial conflicts over the generations? Some explained it as the familial links - if mythic - between the two nations. Moab’s origin story, found in Genesis (but not in Moabite sources)  is that the nation was born from Lot, Abraham’s nephew, who escaped Sodom with his two surviving daughters, hiding in a cave in what would become Moab. The name means ‘From the Father’, hinting at how the daughters got their father drunk and got pregnant from him in order to perpetuate life. It still makes Moab to be relatives of Abraham’s children in Judah. A more completing reason for the empathy is the intermingling of cultures, their proximity and economic-social interactions. They weren’t always in conflict through the centuries of the First Temple era. 

The third reason is simply a humanistic approach, so important to lift up today: Empathy for your enemy is what the prophet wants us to embody, then, and now. 

To further drive this home, Jeremiah uses a few verses that would seem familiar to the reader of the Hebrew Bible - they echo identical verses already mentioned by Isaiah, a century earlier, and also by Moses, in the Book of Numbers, earlier yet: 

In Numbers 27, following a triumph of the Israelites over Moab, the Torah cites an ancient Moabite song of defeat: 

“Therefore, the bards would recite: “Come to Heshbon; firmly built and well-founded is Sihon’s city. For fire went forth from Heshbon, flame from Sihon’s city, consuming Ar of Moab, the lords of Bamoth by the Arnon. Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! His sons are rendered fugitive and his daughters captive, by an Amorite king, Sihon.” 

Compare this poem to verses 45-47 in today’s chapter:

כִּי־אֵ֞שׁ יָצָ֣א מֵחֶשְׁבּ֗וֹן וְלֶהָבָה֙ מִבֵּ֣ין סִיח֔וֹן וַתֹּ֙אכַל֙ פְּאַ֣ת מוֹאָ֔ב וְקׇדְקֹ֖ד בְּנֵ֥י שָׁאֽוֹן׃ אוֹי־לְךָ֣ מוֹאָ֔ב אָבַ֖ד עַם־כְּמ֑וֹשׁ כִּֽי־לֻקְּח֤וּ בָנֶ֙יךָ֙ בַּשֶּׁ֔בִי וּבְנֹתֶ֖יךָ בַּשִּׁבְיָֽה׃ וְשַׁבְתִּ֧י שְׁבוּת־מוֹאָ֛ב בְּאַחֲרִ֥ית הַיָּמִ֖ים נְאֻם־יְהֹוָ֑ה עַד־הֵ֖נָּה מִשְׁפַּ֥ט מוֹאָֽב׃ {ס}  

“For fire went forth from Heshbon,

Flame from the midst of Sihon,

Consuming the brow of Moab,

The past of the people of Shaon.

Woe to you, O Moab!

The people of Chemosh are undone,

For your sons are carried off into captivity,

Your daughters into exile.

 But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come—declares YHWH.”

Jeremiah 48:45-48

Scholars suggest that Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah - or whoever edited these volumes later - copied the same ancient victory song which must have popular enough to remain known in their respective eras, inserting it into the prophecies about Moab’s fall. Some even suggest that it was originally a Moabite lament. In other words - either as a way to gloat - or honor the voices of the victims - those words echo from book to book. But Jeremiah adds another important note at the end of his version: A future note of consolation -- Moab will be one day built again.  Empathy for one’s enemy, always a moral responsibility, here assumes poetic purpose. May we always be able to weep with the losses of those on the other side, lament with innocents whose lives are lost, and dream along with all of us, kin or not, of restoration and renewal. Jeremiah, prophet across borders, reminds us that we have hearts with many rooms.

Hope and healing, peace and restoration of hope to us all.

Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.

#Jeremiah #Jeremiah48 #ProphetJeremiah #ירמיהו #BookofJeremiah #Jeremiad #Prophets #Neviim #Hebrewbible  #Tanach #929  #labshul #belowthebiblebelt929 #Gaza #Moab #empathy  #empathyforenemies #morelovelesshate #solidarity #propehtsacrossborders #flute #recycle #Moabite #heartwithmanyrooms