Like the others.

Silly Israel! 

After God had chosen his people and given to them a land flowing in milk and honey, they still longed for more. It wasn’t enough to have a home of their own, nor to live in communion with God. No, they wanted something else. Looking at other nations, they wanted to be like them. Their neighbors had bigger armies, more wealth, and kings to lead them. 

“We want to be like them,” they cried to Samuel, a priest.

“But that’s not who you were created to be,” he replied. “You were created to be different, a nation under God.”

“They’re not,” they demanded. “We want to be like them.”

So, with great reluctance, God allowed them the freedom to become who they wanted to be. A king was crowned, a mighty army established, and, for a time, the economy seemed to explode.

“See,” they boasted. “It’s proof that this is God’s will!”

The Priests listened and walked away with great sorrow. They could see what the others could not. They knew God sought a different kind of nation, one that lived in communion, or friendship, with Him, and lived in a way consistent with that relationship. It would change the way they teated one another, the world itself, and people from other nations.

The new nation soon saw itself as the center of things, and placed God off to the side. Everything was measured as to whether it benefitted, or hurt, the nation, and their new nationalism gave them enormous pride. They refused to listen to those who spoke out against the new nation, the ones who pointed out the inconsistencies between they were living and the faith they professed. “You’re nothing but false prophets,” they exclaimed at the nay sayers.

As the people hoped, the nation became a nation like all the others. Some saw this and shouted cries of delight. Others wept.

Silly Israel