Even though it's got some great stories and is rather interesting historical reading, 1 and 2 Kings is kind of long and dreary. It's the account of the decline and fall of Israel, and it's a little like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
According to the Deuteronomistic History theory, it's the final part of the corpus that starts with Joshua, or possibly Deuteronomy, that explains why God's Chosen Nation of Israel ended up conquered first by the Assyrians and then by the Babylonians.
And the reason is pretty straightforward. Over and over and over, it says that so-and-so "did evil in the eyes of the LORD," which meant they did not worship Yahweh solely, exclusively, whole-heartedly.
I noted chapters 16 and 17 of 2 Kings the other day when I was reading. These went into great detail about the apostasy, how some of the later kings deliberately added in worship rites and objects that came from pagan civilizations. In chapter 16, it was because king Ahaz of Judah was trying to curry favor with Tiglath-Pilesar of Assyria. In chapter 17, it was a broader indictment of all of Israel, which was only slightly more apostate than Judah.
I got to thinking about how the Bible rails again and again about worship practices, that is, worshiping false gods of other nations. I've wondered in this blog before about which "gods" or idols people of our time worship rather than the Creator we recognize in the Bible.
Another thing the Bible rails about again and again is social injustice--neglecting the poor, the widowed, the orphaned. Also, unethical business and judicial practices are frequently in the crosshairs.
Ya know what the Bible doesn't rail on and on about? Homosexuality. Yes, there are a handful of passages that seem to condemn it--but there are lots more that condemn adultery of any kind. And of course, everyone knows what Jesus said about homosexuality.
Okay. I came out of the closet. I'm conflicted about an issue that just doesn't seem that cut-and-dried to me, based on how I read the Bible.
Mark Twain once said, "It's not those parts of the Bible I don't understand that scare me — it's the parts I do understand.” I interpret that to mean that each of us has enough on our plate doing what the Bible tells us clearly. I, for one, don't have much patience with people who are so sure of their righteousness that they can rail against less obvious principles.
Well. I'm glad I got that off my chest. And perhaps at some point God will show me that my ambivalence on this topic is tantamount to the apostasy of the nation of Israel during the era of the divided kingdom. I actually ask Him pretty often to make it clear to me and to show me where I'm being stiff-necked.
Meanwhile, I'm going to keep reading my Bible slowly, deliberately, in alphabetical order. Hopefully, this will help keep me from my own slo-mo train wreck.
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