Current Events

This morning's lectionary told the story of Abimelech, a ruler of Israel around the time of Jesus' ancestor Ruth (c. 1200 BCE). Abimelech and men of Shechem had been collaborators in the killing of Abimelech's seventy brothers. But then the men of Shechem turned to robbing travelers on the mountain roads, and Abimelech went to burn them up in a tower (Judges 9:22-25, 50-57). A woman in the tower threw a millstone down, which crushed Abimelech's skull. He begged his armor bearer to run him through so he wouldn't die by the hand of a woman. The incident was God's requiting of both sides.

As many before me, I wish I could see it on CNN.
"We've got the armor bearer here, Wolf. Tell me, sir, what were Abimelech's exact words?"
Red oblong underneath reads, "Woman kills Abimelech; Israel goes home."

As many before me, I would love to see today's news written up to resemble Scripture:
"An evil spirit rose between NATO and Russia. Certain rulers named Medvedev and Putin encamped against Tskhinvali to destabilize Georgia."

An old Christian saying advises us to pray with "the Bible in one hand, the newspaper in the other." Unlike the reporters of the book of Judges, we're not in position to point out God's requiting in this current war.