BO-ring

1 Kings 15-16 are a schoolboy's nightmare. A king rises, a king reigns, a king sins, a king dies. Then his son rises, his son reigns, his son sins, and his son dies. And so on and on, indistinguishable kings with nearly indistinguishable reigns. Baasha's dynasty repeats Jeroboam's. And it's all written in the repetitive style of an incantation. We learn that kings battled, but never see the battle; learn that they sinned, but never have our lurid imaginations satisfied with detailed descriptions of their sin. Rise-reign-sin-die. Henry Ford didn't know the half of it: History is not one damn thing after another; it's the same damn thing after another. BO-ring.

But, as Dale Ralph Davis has pointed out, this is precisely the author's point: Idolatry is boring. Idolatry produces nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing fresh, no adventure. Jeroboam's takes a walk on the wild side, but his wildness is not just tame; it's somnolescent. Solomon's reign, now that was exciting: political intrigue to get him on the throne, sleuthing to determine which prostitute tells the truth, a continual party in Israel, adventurous endeavors on the high seas, court visits from the exotic Queen of Sheba. And when prophets show up, then things get exciting: Hands wither and heal, altars are split, lions leap into the text and onto a prophet but don't eat the donkey, jars of oil never empty, dead children are raised, bears come crashing out of the woods to slaughter mocking young men, and dead bodies thrown into the wrong grave come catapulting out again. Sin has no creative power, but wisdom, and the word of God, and prophetic flight and prophetic courage - those fill the world with bizarre adventure, laughter and song, excitement and life.

Adam thought that the fruit would enrich his life with wisdom; it didn't, but instead condemned him to an endless round of sweat and pain and work and sadness. But the Lord did not leave things there. He spoke through the prophets and carried them by the Spirit, and wonders followed. He spoke His word in flesh, the Spirit hovered, and the face of the ground was renewed.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, January 29, 2005 at 06:51 AM

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