Popular Exposure

CHAPTER 22

1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of

the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of

Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David,

thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter

in by these gates:

3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and

righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the

hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no

violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the

widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall

there enter in by the gates of this house kings

sitting upon the throne of David, riding in

chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and

his people.

5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by

myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall

become a desolation.

6 For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house

of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head

of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a

wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

7 And I will prepare destroyers against thee,

every one with his weapons: and they shall cut

down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the

fire.

8 And many nations shall pass by this city, and

they shall say every man to his neighbor,

Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great

city?


Today was a busy day, spent at the lake. As we

were heading back to the house, I was thinking...

things could be worse.


I noticed this morning, that the newspaper picked

up on the Solzhenitsyn story. Better late than

never. I suppose that since he was not able to

rise to the status of a celebrity, his passing is

not expected to make the front page. He had the

courage to expose one of the darker elements of

life in the Soviet Union. That, in itself, is

worthy of mention.


When you stop to think about it, how many living

in the U.S. today are willing to expose

government excess and corruption, at the expense

of their personal comfort? Not so many. I'd

guess that it's not because there is no

government excess and corruption. But there's no

question that given the current political

climate, you'd want to have more than a spare

pencil, you'd want legal counsel. One of the

problems with the excess and corruption in

government, is that the courts have managed to

put a strangle hold on public life. And like

Solzhenitsyn said, there is no moral courage

sufficient to correct this deficiency. Another

way to put it is, we're basically happy to live

like prostitutes.


It seems that the only place that exposure is

going to get you, is lots of exposure to the

court system. Jeremiah's situation was even more

one-sided. Jesus said it well, there is a wide

road and a narrow road. In other words, there is

the popular way and there is the unpopular way.

Nothing has changed in all these years, as far as

that observation is concerned. Everyone wants to

take the easy way, that's one reason why it's so

popular. The narrow way tends to expose you to

alot of trouble.


Another way to look at it is to say, if it's

popular, it's probably not good for you. If

everyone else is doing it, then you better have

another look. In the passage above, Jeremiah had

some news for the king. He's saying that it

doesn't really matter how popular he is. G-d's

not concerned about popularity, he's concerned

about doing what's right. In fact, by

definition, G-d can only do what's right. He's

not looking for your vote, to decide what to do

next. He's only providing full disclosure about

how things are going to get done. And as far as

the kingdom of man is concerned, that's never

been popular.