Eucharistic Meditation, January 30

�Anyone of Baasha who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the field the birds of the heavens will eat.�E

The dynasties of Jeroboam and Baasha are remarkably similar. Both kings are confronted by prophets; both enjoy comparatively long reigns, but are followed by sons whose reigns are very short; both dynasties last only a bit over one generation, and then come to a catastrophic end.

One of the similarities has to do with the prophecy that both dynasties will be utterly decimated, a prophecy summarized in the threat that the dead will be eaten by birds and by dogs, which both Ahijah and Jehu predict. This is not a random prophecy. It means that the families of these two kings will be so completely wiped out that there will be none left to bury the dead, nor even any left to chase away the predators.

This threat is common in the OT, and amounts to the curse of the covenant. To come under the curse means to be torn in pieces and given to the birds and beasts to eat. Occasionally, there are scenes of a moderated curse. When Abraham cuts covenant with Yahweh by splitting animals in two, he chases away the birds that seek to consume the carcasses, and when members of Saul�s family are executed and exposed, Rizpah watches the bodies to prevent them from being eaten. But for Jeroboam and Baasha, there will be no Abraham no Rizpah, to chase them away.

This may seem like an odd thing to bring up before we celebrate the Supper, but in fact there is good reason for it. In revelation, after harlot Jerusalem falls, angels issue two suppers: One is an invitation to the birds of the heavens to �eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves.�EThe other is the invitation to the saints to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The two meals are inseparable, and they point to the two alternative destinies for human beings: We are either eaten and consumed in the wrath of God, or we are invited to consume bread and wine at the marriage supper of the lamb.

In fact, the connection is even more intimate than that: For the one we consume here at this table is the one who bore the curse of the covenant, who suffered the full weight of His Father�s wrath, for us. The one we consume at this table is thus our Abraham and our Rizpah. And it is only because He was consumed in the fire of God�s wrath that we are preserved to consume Him at this table.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, January 30, 2005 at 09:14 AM

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