Theological Commentary: Click Here
This is a
tough chapter to read. First, it is a
chapter full of wrath and judgment.
Second, it is a chapter where God tells His servants to not have mercy,
to show no pity, and to not spare anyone who deserves judgment. As I said, it is a hard chapter to read.
In the midst
of this judgment, I find it interesting to look at the servants. Even more particular, there are the number of
servants. One solitary man is given the
task of going through the city and finding all of the righteous people who
object to the idolatry being done. On
the other hand, six people are assigned the task of going through the city and
slaughtering the idolatrous.
The ratio is
pretty simple. It is six to one. Six people are needed to handle judgment; one
is needed to handle righteousness. That
really says something.
Don’t get me
wrong. I’m not trying to be
alarmist. I’m not saying the sky is falling
and the end is near. I am saying,
though, that rebellion begets more rebellion.
In a city of apostasy, it is easy to become apostate. In a city of selfishness, selfishness spreads
like wildfire. If we live in a community
of rebellion against God, it is normal to be rebellious.
People tend
to follow the norm. We like to think of
ourselves as individuals who are free-thinkers, but the truth is that many of
us are conformists who want to be part of the whole. So when everyone else is being an idolater,
the mob mentality wins and most people surge ahead and become idolaters.
This is an
important message. The faithful belong
to God, not the world. The faithful
desire to follow God, not the world.
When everyone else is following the crowd, the faithful stand up and
follow God.
I think that
this is the reason that there is only one man sent out to measure the
righteous. Mob mentality. Crowd think.
People doing what everyone else is doing, not thinking about what God
really wants of us. God desires people
who follow Him when everyone else is heading away into the self-centeredness of
the world.
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