As always, I hope this can be a serious study of the Christian Bible, and I only ask that those who participate try to stay away from personal-level attacks. All pertinent comments are welcome, regardless of whether you are a believer or not.
This week, we continue with the book of 2 Chronicles. It seems to hold a lot of interesting, if unintended, lessons on the relationship between religion and government.
2 Chr 34:3-5 – For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles, and the carved and the cast images. In his presence they pulled down the altars of the Baals; he demolished the incense altars that stood above them. He broke down the sacred poles and the carved and the cast images; he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
I’m reminded of many other instances in history when children inherited thrones and “regents” held real political power. Here, it really appears that the priests took full advantage of their position of power over the child king. If this isn’t an object lesson for us today as people like Pat Robertson and his ilk try to gain political power, I don’t know what is.
Also, with this “holy” example of religion-government partnership in the Bible, I wonder why any Christian or Jew might have criticized the Taliban for having done precisely this same thing in Afghanistan?
Comments?
