Today’s Scripture Reading (December
4, 2015): Joshua 13
The play “King
Charles III” is currently being performed in London and it imagines how the
ascension of Prince Charles to the throne might take place. The play envisions
a beleaguered King Charles III fighting against Parliament for the freedom of
the press, a king fighting against his own children, and against the memory of
his first wife, Dianna, who appears in the play as a ghost. In the end, King
Charles feels betrayed by his son and abdicates the throne in favor of William,
whose coronation closes the play.
Unfortunately,
the plot almost makes sense. Many observers has questioned whether Charles has
the vision necessary to become King and unite the Commonwealth. And it might
start with the name. I do not advise the Prince, but if I did my first piece of
advice might be to stay away from the moniker “King Charles III.” Charles has
not been a great name for a king. Charles I was executed, Charles II was known
more for his philandering than his rule, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, who was
known as the young pretender, thought of himself as King Charles III (and, no
he did not reign – under that name or any other. He simply believed that he
should have.) Charles should never align himself with that past, especially
with people already questioning his ability to rule. If Charles ascends the
throne, he should take a page from his grandfather’s book who decided to reign
as King George VI, rather than King Albert I. His reasoning for adopting one of
his middle names as his regnal name was that he wanted to show a connection and
anchor himself with a strong past as he moved forward into his vision of the
future. Charles Philip Arthur George may want to do exactly the same thing,
distancing himself from the name King Charles as it was used in the past as
well as from his own marginal history as a prince. (Although the romantic in me
would love for him to reign as King Arthur.) With the name change Charles might
just be able to imagine a new future for both him and the Commonwealth
So much of
what happens in the future depends on what we can imagine. Sometimes we forget
that. God places a vision inside of the heart of Israel. He promises that if
they were willing to follow him, he would move before them and chase out the
inhabitants that still occupied the land. According to God, all of Canaan was
supposed to be possessed by Israel. But the people could not envision that
world. Instead they became corrupted by the land that they were supposed to be
influencing. They became dominated by a world that they were supposed to be
dominating. They were intended to be leaders, but really all that Israel ever
was over these lands were the great pretenders. They believed that they should
be kings over the realm, but they had neither the vision nor the trust in God
to make that a reality. For a short period, under the reigns of David and
Solomon, Israel exerted influence over this entire area, but it was never
really theirs. They had abdicated the throne in favor of those that God had
instructed should be removed and they never even bothered to claim the promise
which God had made to them.
Maybe the
worst of it all was that Israel forgot the meaning of their name. Israel basically
means “Triumphant with God.” And that was the real promise. God was willing to
allow Israel to live up to their name.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua
14
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