Thursday 20 October 2016

Some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats. – 2 Chronicles 17:11



Today’s Scripture Reading (October 20, 2016): 2 Chronicles 17

Just two blocks east of the White House in Washington, D.C., stands the Willard Hotel. The hotel’s proximity to Washington power has made it a place of stories for much of its history. It was in his hotel room at the Willard that Martin Luther King, Jr. composed his “I Have a Dream” speech. The cast of characters that has stayed at the Willard includes, among many others, P. T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Harry Houdini, Gypsy Rose Lee, Emily Dickinson and Charles Dickens. Many Presidents have graced the halls of the Willard. In fact, it is thought that every president since Franklin Pierce has either slept or attended an event at the hotel at least once. Abraham Lincoln, under threats of assassination, was even housed at the Willard Hotel for almost two weeks before his inauguration on March 4, 1861.

But maybe the story that defines the history of the hotel, and this is a story that the hotel actively promotes, is that President Ulysses S. Grant had a habit of wandering over to the lobby of the Willard Hotel to enjoy a glass of whiskey and smoke a cigar during the evenings in Washington. It was a way for the President to relax after a hard day in the office. It didn’t take long for the people to begin to understand that if they wanted an audience with the President, the easiest way to get that audience was to walk over to the Willard Hotel in the evening and talk to him. Many of these people began to bring the President gifts or offer to buy the President drinks during these nocturnal visits. Of course, the gifts were not given out of the generosity of their hearts. They wanted to have influence with the man in charge, hoping that they could sway important decisions in the government to go their way. According to Willard Hotel folklore, this is where the term “lobbying” was coined by President Grant. Grant used the word to describe these annoying nightly visitors who came to him in the lobby of the Willard Hotel and who seemed to want nothing more than to disturb his whiskey and cigar with their meaningless prattle.

Whether or not the term “lobbying” was coined by Grant at the Willard Hotel, we do know that the practice is much more ancient than the people who came to the Willard Hotel to try to influence President Grant. Even in antiquity, individuals and nations would make voluntary payments to a king to gain power and protection in the king’s court.

In the case of Jehoshaphat, the “lobbying” came in this passage from two distinct groups of people. “Some Philistines” probably indicates the portion of the Philistines that had forged strong ties with David. These Philistines still wanted to be included under the protecting influence of Judah, and so they “lobbied” Jehoshaphat for protection. The Arabs were nomadic desert wanderers. Like the group of Philistines that brought tribute, they required the protection of a nation. After Judah had defeated Edom (it is likely that the Arabs had “lobbied” for Edomite protection up until that time) they came to Judah with gifts hoping to influence the decision making in Jerusalem to supply protection for their nomadic tribes. The tribute was a small price to pay for a voice in a government that at this time dominated the political landscape in, at least, that portion of the Middle East.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 17

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