Senseless killing! This is one of those stories that just baffles me. Ishmael goes to Mizpah, sits down to eat dinner with Gedaliah (the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the people left in the land after the exile) and kills Gedaliah and everyone with Gedaliah. He then takes the rest of the people (those whom Babylon had left in the land) captive and sets out for the Ammonites. Johanan and his men hear of it and go get these people from Ishmael. They are happy to see Johanan. Ishmael escapes. But, now those people who had been Ishmael's captives are afraid of the Babylonians because Ishmael had killed Gedaliah. Nobody wins!
It reminds me of the many civil uprisings that happen around our world, even today. One uprising after another. For what? What was Ishmael doing trying to enslave his own people? Why? Power? Ego? What? Why do rulers insist on enslaving their own people? Subjugating them to laws that are not fairly balanced for all people? I don't get it. I do get people rebelling when they are the subject of cruel and inhumane laws of the land. But, I don't get why others want to subjugate and persecute them in the first place. Lots of uprisings and wars could be done away with or avoided if we could just learn to respect others a little bit. I suppose it comes down to that same old sin wherein we choose other gods before the one true God; and, often that other god we choose is ourselves.
I cannot help but wonder, this morning, who is winning in Egypt? I suspect no one. Everyone is suffering. May God help the Egyptian people to figure out a way to end the persecution and bloodshed of their own people.
God's Peace - Pr. J
It reminds me of the many civil uprisings that happen around our world, even today. One uprising after another. For what? What was Ishmael doing trying to enslave his own people? Why? Power? Ego? What? Why do rulers insist on enslaving their own people? Subjugating them to laws that are not fairly balanced for all people? I don't get it. I do get people rebelling when they are the subject of cruel and inhumane laws of the land. But, I don't get why others want to subjugate and persecute them in the first place. Lots of uprisings and wars could be done away with or avoided if we could just learn to respect others a little bit. I suppose it comes down to that same old sin wherein we choose other gods before the one true God; and, often that other god we choose is ourselves.
I cannot help but wonder, this morning, who is winning in Egypt? I suspect no one. Everyone is suffering. May God help the Egyptian people to figure out a way to end the persecution and bloodshed of their own people.
God's Peace - Pr. J
No comments:
Post a Comment