History of Trespass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"William Johnstone observes in his study of Exodus and Chronicles that the Chronicler blames the death of Saul on the ma'al by which he ma'aled against the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"History of Trespass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"William Johnstone observes in his study of Exodus and Chronicles that the Chronicler blames the death of Saul on the ma'al by which he ma'aled against the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-17T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/\",\"name\":\"History of Trespass\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-17T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-17T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"William Johnstone observes in his study of Exodus and Chronicles that the Chronicler blames the death of Saul on the ma'al by which he ma'aled against the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"History of Trespass\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"History of Trespass","description":"William Johnstone observes in his study of Exodus and Chronicles that the Chronicler blames the death of Saul on the ma'al by which he ma'aled against the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"History of Trespass","og_description":"William Johnstone observes in his study of Exodus and Chronicles that the Chronicler blames the death of Saul on the ma'al by which he ma'aled against the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2016-06-17T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/","name":"History of Trespass","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-06-17T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-17T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"William Johnstone observes in his study of Exodus and Chronicles that the Chronicler blames the death of Saul on the ma'al by which he ma'aled against the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"History of Trespass"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":18197,"date":"2016-06-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2016-06-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T00:00:00","slug":"history-of-trespass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/06\/history-of-trespass\/","title":{"rendered":"History of Trespass"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

W<\/span>illiam Johnstone observes in his study of Exodus and Chronicles<\/em><\/a> that the Chronicler blames the death of Saul on the ma\u2019al<\/em> by which he ma\u2019al<\/em>ed against the Lord (95; 1 Chronicles 10:13-14). It\u2019s the same term used earlier in Chronicles, and in each case it \u201cpunctuates the decisive periods of Israel\u2019s history; from first to last, on West Bank and on East, in North and in South. Israel in its occupation of the land has been characterized by ma\u2019al<\/em>\u201d (96).<\/p>\n

The genealogy of Judah is interrupted by a reference to the ma\u2019al <\/em>of Achan, the troubler of Israel who seized Yahweh\u2019s plunder and brought disaster on the nation (1 Chronicles 2:3). The Chronicler claims that the transJordanian tribes likewise committed ma\u2019al<\/em> (1 Chronicles 5:25). Ultimately, this history of ma\u2019al <\/em>ends in exile (1 Chronicles 9:2). <\/p>\n

After 1 Chronicles 10, \u201cthere is a long gap, but there are a further 12 occurrences [of the word] in 2 Chronicles\u201d (96). The gap corresponds to the reigns of David and Solomon, which the Chronicler presents as a rare un-ma\u2019al <\/em>period of Israel\u2019s history. The earlier tendency resumes with the reign of Solomon\u2019s son Rehoboam, and continues through Uzziah, Ahaz, Manasseh, and finally spreads to the entire nation under king Zedekiah (97). As Johnstone puts it, \u201cThe Chronicler\u2019s message is clear: his explanation for why Israel is \u2018in exile\u2019 is that from beginning to end of its occupation of the land . . . Israel has been guilty of ma\u2019al<\/em> and paid the penalty for it\u201d (97).<\/p>\n

What is ma\u2019al<\/em>? Achan is a paradigmatic case: He violates herem<\/em>, seizes God\u2019s holy things as his own, commits trespass and sacrilege. Johnstone sees the concept as \u201cdouble-sided\u201d: \u201cma\u2019al<\/em> is not only to deprive God of that which is rightfully his; it is also to misapply what has thus been wrongfully gained to one\u2019s own profit.\u201d It can be an individual or national trespass. As a nation, Israel owes God \u201cexclusive obedience and utter reliance,\u201d and exhibits ma\u2019al<\/em> when she turns \u201cto other gods\u201d thereby \u201cdefrauding God and misapplying that which is holy\u201d (97-98). The results can be catastrophic: Uzziah becomes leprous, Saul dies, the people are sent away, the land is devastated: \u201cin a word, forfeiture of status, life or land\u201d (98).<\/p>\n

Chronicles is not only about Israel\u2019s history of ma\u2019al<\/em>, but about the atonement that undoes the trespass and restores Israel\u2019s fortunes. Johnstone points to the rededication covenant-making of Hezekiah, whose ceremony includes king, priests, prophets, and people \u201charmoniously integrated with one another in a national act of atonement,\u201d an act of un-ma\u2019al<\/em>ing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"