Tag: politics

The Bible in a Year – 3 May

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

3 May. Isaiah chapter 18-22

These chapters continue the series of political oracles of previous ones, and as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it really needs a proper commentary to understand them.  But the gist of them is that Judah should not rely on any of these foreign nations, even Egypt, for protection against Assyria, for all of them would fall to Assyria in due course.  Judah was better being independent.

 

In this ‘Brexit era’ in Britain it would be easy to see in this a message that we  should be proud to be self-reliant (“strong and stable” in our Prime Minister’s words). But time and again God warns his people that self-reliance, even reliance on the gifts that God has given, are actually a recipe for disaster just as much as relying on others for help.  The Lord alone is our refuge, strength rock and so on.  If Britain has a prosperous future then, just as for Judah in Isaiah’s day, it will only be if we turn to God.  That does not mean declaring ourselves a “Christian country” in some neo-Crusader sense and tearing down mosques. Rather it means being continuing to be open, tolerant, generous in foreign aid, welcoming of strangers (especially those in need such as refugees), and committed to trade justice rather than “free trade” or damaging trade barriers.

 

The last of these oracles in chapter 22 is directed at two particular government ministers – the commentary explains that these were real men. One of them was self-seeking and corrupt, and would be deposed and replaced by the other who was God-fearing and like a father to his people.  Nevertheless he too would be brought down by the unrealistic expectations placed upon him.  Neither should we expect too much from our own leaders at this politically difficult time.  But as an election looms we should ask ourselves, “who would lead this country in the most unselfish, generous ways?”

The Bible in a Year – 4 April

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

4 April. 2 Samuel chapters 1-3

Following the death of Saul, the kingdom is temporarily divided, with David reigning over the tribe of Judah in Hebron (not yet Jerusalem), while Abner, commander of Saul’s army, leads a successful coup, with all the other tribes showing allegiance to him. That is, until first he suffers military setbacks against David’s better army, and finally a squabble over a woman turns him against his own court and he goes to seek peace.  But he is murdered by the brother of a man he had killed. Oh, and David gets his favourite wife back, despite the tears of her second husband at the prospect of losing her. Michal must have been a good woman.

 

One of the facets of David’s character that comes through many times in these stories is his reluctance to gloat over the death of his enemies, or to be directly responsible for the death of another leader.  He spared his rival Saul’s life at least twice and wept when he died; and now he mourns publicly for Abner who had been his enemy in battle.  Slaughtering soldiers and taking captive civilians was another matter, but he seems to have regarded killing a king or military leader as a sin, on the basis that they were appointed by God to their positions.

 

As late as the Middle Ages, it was part of European Christian theology that kings had a “divine right” to rule, and the letters “DG” (by the grace of God) on our coins are the last echo of that idea, in an age when politics is seen as a purely secular matter.  We may no longer believe that presidents, titular monarchs and prime ministers have a divine right to their posts, but it is still right that we should pray for good and upright leaders, and for God’s will to be done in our parliaments.

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 22 March

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

22 March. Judges chapters 10-12

Several more of the ‘judges’ of Israel are listed here, although only Jephthah’s deeds are recounted in detail.  Although the length of each one’s reign is given, it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of the passage of time when reading the historical parts of the Bible.  But we are given a signpost in Jephthah’s statement “While Israel lived in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its villages, and in all the towns that are along the Arnon, for three hundred years”. After that length of time, the original conquests had become history and needed to be recited to new generations to remind them of how they had come to be where they were.

 

As always, it’s not easy to see a connection between ancient history and our own time.  But human nature never changes and I did spot one connection. Jephthah was ostracised by his half-brothers and went off to the “land of Tob” (well east of the Jordan) where he gathered a band of outlaws.  But later he was called upon to join them in a common struggle, make peace with them and be their leader.  This week Martin McGuinness died. He too spent his formative years in the political wilderness as an IRA terrorist, but the time came when he came to see that it was in everyone’s interest to renounce violence, make amends with former enemies and lead those who had once rejected him.