18. Consider the following passage.Jeremiah 26:20-21 There was also a man prophesying in the name of the L-rd, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jearim, who prophesied against this city and this land the same things as Jeremiah. King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and all the officials heard about his address, and the king wanted to put him to death. Uriah heard of this and fled in fear, and came to Egypt.Uriah was scared for his life so he fled to Egypt. However, the Torah says in three separate places [Ex. 14:13; Deut. 17:16, 28:68] that it is forbidden for a Jew to return to Egypt. How did Uriah know that his action was permitted? Even to save his life, how did he know that it is permissible to violate a biblical commandment to save his life if not through an oral tradition [Rashbatz, ibid.]?
1. It never says or implies that what Uriah did was lawful. The text simply tells us what he did.
2. Returning to Egypt is never stated as a capital crime. Uriah was faced with two choices: either certain death, or commit a non-capital crime. The decision here is very simple. Of course one commits a non-capital crime to escape certain death. There is no need for an oral law to tell us this.
3. Did Uriah sin by going to Egypt? If so, then no amount of Oral Law could allow it to him; if not, then no Oral Law is needed to allow it to him at all. In this, the case is the same as the previous ones.
Posted by Ami at February 27, 2004 01:19 AM | TrackBack