“What if”
games are fun to play, a fact that is evidenced by the number of “what if”
novels and articles have been written over the length of history. What if the
South had won the Civil war? Common opinion seems to be that a South victory
would have resulted in the creation of three nations in the place of the United
States – the Union, the Confederation, and The great nation of Texas. Without
the North winning, the dream of a United States would have been dead.
Another
interesting “what if” scenario was suggested by Gore Vidal in his novel “The
Smithsonian Institution” (the novel that he believed was the basis for the “Night
at the Museum” series of movies, although the movies were actually based on a
Children’s book by the same name.) According to Vidal, the key ingredient to
avoiding the Second World War was to not elect Woodrow Wilson as President of
the United States. His logic was that without Woodrow Wilson, there would have
been no League of Nations. And without a League of Nations, the environment
that allowed Adolf Hitler to rise in Germany would have never come into being.
And of course, with no Hitler there would be no Second World War.
But there is
maybe a more likely scenario. What if Woodrow Wilson had not only set up the
principles which would guide the creation of the League of Nations, but had
also been successful in drawing the United States into the League (The United
States of America never joined the League of Nations, despite the role that
President Wilson played in its creation.) But if the United States had joined the
League, their support for Britain and France may also have changed the environment
in central Europe, and Hitler would never have been allowed to rise. But all of
this is nothing but speculation.
Biblical
experts have long enjoyed another “what if” situation – what if Paul had not
appealed to Rome during his time in Jerusalem. And the most obvious answer is
that if he had not invoked his own Roman Citizenship, then King Agrippa could
have set him free, and maybe his eventual death in Rome might have been delayed.
For some, this event is included as one of the mistakes that Paul made during
his career.
But others
have looked at the situation and argued that even this may not have been a
mistake. Because Paul appealed to Caesar, the Empire paid for Paul’s journey to
Rome, a place that Paul had never visited, but had always wanted to visit. In
this act, the empire furthered Paul’s missionary experience as Paul preached
the Gospel through the trip to Rome. It also meant that Paul would have the
chance to preach in front of the kings of the Gentiles – an event that had been
prophesied at the times of Paul’s conversion (15 But
the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen
instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the
people of Israel – Acts 9:15.) It might have
been that all of these circumstances had been made possible by Paul’s call to
Caesar at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
While there is nothing in this passage to argue that King Agrippa was
ever close to accepting the Christian faith, some have argued that his honesty
in this situation and his willingness to hear Paul and accept what it was that
Paul was saying may have resulted in the king having the blessing of God on his
life. The life of Agrippa II is a bit of an anomaly. Born early in the ministry
of Jesus, Agrippa ruled over most of the latter half of the first century,
dying somewhere between 94 and 100 C.E. In contrast, over the period of his
life twelve Caesars ruled in Rome. Ananias the High Priest was killed by his
own people at the beginning of the First Jewish Roman War. Governor Festus died
within two years of denying Paul justice. Governor Felix perished in the eruption
of the volcano Vesuvius in 79 C.E. And the Sanhedrin who had plotted both Jesus’
and Paul’s death was forever eliminated in 70 C.E. following the fall of
Jerusalem. Only Agrippa II seems to have held his political position throughout
the latter half of the Century and only Agrippa died of natural causes at the
close of the First Century. And with the death of Agrippa, the house of Herod
had finally written its final chapter.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 27
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