Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” – 2 Samuel 15:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 6, 2016): 2 Samuel 15

As Brexit buyer’s remorse continues, maybe the one thing Brexit proves is that it is easy to be on the side that desires to tear down. England actually finds itself in a unique situation. While it desires to put forward its own sovereignty by leaving the European Union (Brexit), it also has to make an argument as to why Scotland, Ireland, and Wales are stronger inside the United Kingdom than they would be if they declared their own sovereignty and went their own way alone. On one side, they want to tear down, making claims about the European Union that really only had a hint of verifiable truth, while at the same time trying to head up their own Kingdom, and hold together a Commonwealth of Nations. (So why should Canada or Australia remain as part of the British Commonwealth.

It was interesting to hear the ‘Brexit Leave’ side argue that the United States would never have entered a union like the European Union. But even that isn’t really true. The United States is an entity made up of several other independent entities. It is a European Union, made up of states that have given up even more for their participation in the Union than the United Kingdom was ever asked to give up to be a member of the European Union. And now, with the reality of Brexit, not only are Scotland and Ireland wondering about their own future within the United Kingdom, but Texas has begun to ask about its own future within the United States – and Quebec is starting once again to ask about its future within Canada. But the truth in all of these situations remains; tearing down and separating is always easier than building up.

Absalom has a plan. And at the heart of the plan is the throne of Israel. It may be that he has realized that the throne will never come his way on its own, so he will have to take it if he wants to be king. And the first step of the plan is to tear down what is already existing. We have no idea whether the claims Absalom heard were valid and proper, but, in the end, that really doesn’t matter. He has no power to act on the claims. The likelihood, which the people missed, was that even if they did give to Absalom the power of the throne, he was probably even less likely to act on their concerns than David was. His purpose was never to serve people, it was to tear down the current government so that he could build his own. And in the end, that was all that mattered.

It is probably fortunate that Absalom never got a chance to complete his plan. I am not convinced that Absalom had the capability to build something worthwhile. But his failure meant that he didn’t have to. The same cannot be said for the ‘Leave’ side of Brexit. Brexit has become the new reality for the United Kingdom and the world. And now we will find out if the authors of Brexit and other leave participants, like Scotland, Ireland, Quebec and Texas, have the ability to build, or only to tear down. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 16