Ahab and Jezebel are the central characters in this chapter but other unnamed people carried out the vile plan. Ahab was greedy but inept. Jezebel schemed and plotted and others executed the plan. It is the others who caught my attention. Verses 8-11:
Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city with him. In those letters she wrote: "Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death." So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them.
Few vile people work alone. History records the most vile people manipulating others to do their bidding by either force or persuasion.
These unnamed ‘elders and nobles’ were complicit in carrying out Naboth’s murder and property seizure.
Few in the world are truly evil or vile people. Ahab was but floating in my thoughts is complicity. Am I aiding and abetting injustice by my actions?
Our lifetime has seen its share of self-seeking evil people; Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Omar Kaddafi, Idi Amin, Charles Manson, and Jim Jones. But not all evil kills. Bernie Madoff and various financial scams represent another kind of self-seeking evil, crime syndicates another, drug cartels and drug lords another. In each case there is a mastermind bent on self-seeking evil or greed or power, and hundreds of “lesser lieutenants” -elders and nobles- who carry out the atrocities, the ‘business’ and the scams.
God’s poke is about being complicit. Do I turn a blind eye or aid and abet someone who is out of line? Do I tow the line in a business that is crossing into the unethical, if not illegal, to save my job or reap a personal reward?
The list of possible questions are endless. Am I knowingly complicit? That is what the Spirit is asking of me and revealing to me this morning. How about you?
Lord, show me if there be any wickedness in me and if so lead me to repentance and confession, that my guilt may be nailed to the cross and covered by the blood of Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment