+Z’ev

(Ember Days are quarterly days of fasting and prayer. This include the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the calendar week following Holy Cross Day - 14 Sept)

Commemoration of Theodore of Tarsus

Today’s assigned readings:

1 Kings 22:1-28, 1 Corinthians 2:1-13, Matthew 4:18-25

But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred of them, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” They said, “Go up; for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no other prophet of the Lord here of whom we may inquire?” The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one other by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything favorable about me, but only disaster.” Jehoshaphat said, “Let the king not say such a thing.”
1 Kings 22:5-8

These verses reminded me of another passage, in Amos

And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.”
Amos 7:12-13

Right after 9/11 there was a memorial service held in San Francisco for victims - especially the ones from SF (which was to be the final destination of some of the passengers that day). A member of the SF City Council stood up and said, “America, America, what have you done that they hate you so…”

Of course he was a prophet. I don’t remember his name and I’ve not heard him since. But I’ve heard others like him. It’s not that God hates or dislikes the governance of party X. These prophets seem to be carrying forward God’s dislike of governance, per se, that he first stated when the Israelites asked for a king. God knows a kings going to be up to no good. And we don’t have one example - at all - of a good ruler in the Bible. Saul, David and Solomon are all tricky from the get go - no matter how much God seems to like them at the beginning: but they go bad, either from power or lust, or greed, or idolatry.

Curiously the same problems exist today with our politicians (of all political stripes).

This is not much of a meditation - but I’m certain that simply agreeing with the prevailing powers is not always a good way to agree with God.

While I’m clear that one needn’t simply be a contrarian in order to be a prophet I think a majority of the prophets were contrarians. And while agreeing with your gov’t is not a always a bad thing. The prophets of Israel seem to make quite a living out of it - agreeing with their gov’t, that is. So being a contrarian - simply saying “no” when the prevailing opinion is “yes” - seems to be the more salvic route. Just based on the odds, eh?

The Ember Days were traditionally a time of prayer for the clergy. Maybe we need to pray for more prophets.

Much love,

Huw