9th of Av

Prophets Arise

Madmen

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A rugged prophet is standing before Hazael, weeping. It does not matter if the king has sent 40 camels laden with gifts. Hazael thinks he is only standing in front of this man to get one answer for King Ben-hadad. Hazael, like all of us, if we were in his position, becomes quite uncomfortable to see such a man stand and weep–a man with a hairy mantle and a voice that pierces the soul. The passage states, “Elisha stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep.” When Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?” he answered him in this manner:

Because I know the evil that you will inflict on the men of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, their young men you will slay with the sword, their little ones you will dash into pieces, and their pregnant ones you will rip open.

–II Kings 8:12, TLV

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9th of AV, Widow

Widow–9th of AV

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Rhett Butler pays a pretty penny to have Scarlett dance with him.

“150 dollars in gold for Mrs. Charles Hamilton!”

The crowd is stunned. Mouths gasped open as elderly women fan themselves and grab smelling salts.

Widows don’t dance with men. Widows mourn. They wear dark colors and go about with their heads bowed, but not Katie Scarlett. She is ready to dance a hundred steps.

“She’ll never agree to it,” the auctioneer bellows.

“Oh, yes, I will!” she screamed.

“I am going to dance, and dance! Why I wouldn’t mind dancing with Abe Lincoln himself.”
But a true widow, a woman who loved her husband, and knew him intimately, year after year, becoming more and more one with him, would have found no dance in her feet. No joy or gleam in her eyes. Her sorrow could not be exchanged for gold or dancing with the most handsome man in the room.

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