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The Holocaust & the Hidden Face of God
By Christine Darg, Jerusalem Channel
“Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel,
Savior!” (Isaiah 45: 15)
As we meditate on
Holocaust Memorial Day, the Hebrew phrase “hester panim,” the hidden or
concealed face of God, is a concept in Judaism that is sometimes applied to the
Nazi Holocaust.
It is one explanation
for God’s seeming absence during the horrors.
The concept
of hester panim is also alluded to in Purim commentaries since the
Book of Esther does not overtly mention the name of God (although his name is
encoded as an acrostic).
The hidden or
concealed face of God is one reason why during Purim masks and costumes are
worn.
In the Torah in
Deuteronomy 31:17, the Almighty warned that he would hide His face and withdraw
his favour from his people if they disobeyed and served other gods:
“And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake
them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters
and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not
these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’”
Consequently,
according to the great commentator Rashi, it would appear “as if” God
didn’t see the distress of his people.
In Deuteronomy 31:18,
in the original Hebrew, there is an idiomatic expression, a play on words that
does not translate into English but amounts to a double hiding.
The conclusion,
interestingly, is that the Jewish sage of the Middle Ages, Aben Ezra, as well
as the Ramban and other revered rabbis have explained that there would be two
hidings of God’s face in Jewish history.
The first
hiding was after the destruction of the First Temple during the Jews’
exile to Babylon; that hester panim lasted only a relatively
short time — 70 years — about a generation.
But the second
hiding has been extensive — the current Diaspora in the nations, which
started with the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, and is coming to a
conclusion beginning with the rebirth of the modern state of Israel.
During many dark
periods during the Diaspora, the Jewish people have had to perceive God’s hand
of preservation in the shadows.
Indeed, miracles of
preservations are happening all the time, but they are not as obvious as the
parting of the Red Sea.
But increasingly, for
those who have eyes to see, God is shining out from behind the clouds.
Recall during the
Gulf War how Iraq rained down 39 Scud missiles on Israel, and Israel’s
divine preservation was a public miracle!
As an evangelical
believer, I find it infinitely fascinating that the Talmud comments on
Jerusalem’s widowhood after the destruction of the Temple as a temporary
situation.
Jerusalem is likened
to a woman whose husband has gone overseas but who has every intention of
returning!
The same analogy is
made in the Midrash in Kohellet Raba — a parable about a woman
who makes herself beautiful in the absence of her husband, because she must be
ready for his imminent return.
Revelation 19:7 speaks of the Bride of the Messiah, who
anticipates his imminent return: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give
him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself
ready.”
According to the
Jewish Tanach, the Hebrew Scriptures, God himself has described his hester
panim in Hosea 5: 14-15
“For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion,
And as a young lion
to the house of Judah;
I, even I, will tear
and go away,
I will take away, and
there shall be none to deliver.
I will go and return
to My place,
Till they acknowledge
their guilt, and seek My face;
In their trouble they
will seek Me earnestly.”
The Bible makes it
clear that the time of hester panim will end after the
Holocaust, according to Ezekiel 37:
“Then he said to me: ‘Son of man, these bones are the
people of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we
are cut off.”
“12Therefore
prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My
people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring
you back to the land of Israel.’
“13Then
you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and
bring you up from them.
“14I
will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own
land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done
it, declares the Lord.’ ”
Thankfully, living on
Israel’s resurrection side of the Holocaust, we know that the second period
of hester panim is drawing to a close. God is coming out of
hiding.
Jerusalem will
experience the outpouring of the spirit of grace and supplications. (Zechariah 12:10)
All Israel shall be
saved. (Romans 11: 26) It is the most exciting prophetic
time to be alive!
“’In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a
moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,’
Says the LORD your Redeemer.” ~ Isaiah 54: 8
“’I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will
have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,’ declares the Lord
GOD.” ~ Ezekiel 39: 29
“In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of
His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He
bare them, and carried then all the days of old.” ~ Isaiah 63: 9
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