Bizarre Prophetic Commands/1/en

Bizarre Prophetic Commands

Introduction

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Divinely Provoked Humiliation?

Most people would probably not envy the prophet's life. Spending one's days chastising a nation who does not want to change and foretelling doom and destruction to those who don't want to hear is not an easy task. Often, prophets were ridiculed, imprisoned, or physically threatened when their message was not to the liking of the masses or rulership. Sometimes, though, the prophetic mission itself provoked humiliation or distress, as Hashem tasked the prophet with performing bizarre actions and deeds as signs for the nation.  Some of the more troubling of these include:

• Yeshayahu's nakedness – In Yeshayahu 20, the prophet is commanded to remove his sackcloth and shoes, and walk around naked "three years as a sign and wonder for Egypt and Kush".
• Yechezkel's lying on his side – In Yechezkel 4, he is directed to lie on his left side for 390 days and then his right side for 40 more days to "carry the sins" of Yehuda and Yisrael. Hashem further tells him that that he will tie him with rope so that he not turn from side to side during his symbolic besiegement.
• Eating barley bread in dung – During this period of time, Yechezkel is commanded to eat meager rations of multi-grain bread, baked in (or on) human dung, as a sign of the imminent famine to be brought by the  Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.
• Yechezkel's shaving of his head and beard – In Yechezkel 5, Hashem tells Yechezkel to shave his hair and beard, to burn a section, cut a section and throw the last third to the wind as a sign of the destruction and exile of the nation.
• Hoshea's marrying a prostitute – Finally, in Hoshea's very first prophecy, he is commanded to marry a prostitute and have children with her.

How are we to understand these missions?  Why would Hashem direct a prophet to engage in embarrassing behavior?  Would not such actions cause the prophet to be viewed with disrespect by the nation?  Why would anyone heed the messages of a prophet who marries a prostitute or take someone who walks around naked seriously?  Could Hashem not have relayed these messages via means which would not be so distressing and harmful to the reputations of His prophets?

Commanding a Transgression

In addition to the shame caused by some of the above actions, in some fthe cases it seems that Hashem might even be commanding the prophet to perform an action which is prohibited by the Torah.