At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill, and Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so you won’t be recognized as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there—the one who told me I would be king over this people. – 1 Kings 14:1-2

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 13, 2016): 1 Kings 14

Why does Prince George wear short pants? The media decided to ask this question during the Royal visit to Canada, a place not necessarily known for its warmth at this time of year. Okay, it is not yet December, and the Canadian tour consisted of a single stop in Victoria, a city on an Island just off of the west coast (or left coast as they are fond of saying) of the country. Victoria is also probably one of the warmest places you could winter in Canada, yet still, the question remained. Why always short pants?

For most of us, it was probably thought to be just a fashion decision by mom and dad, or maybe the future king had decided that that was what he wanted to wear - who knew that there was an actual answer to the question. The answer – Royal boys wear short pants until they are around the age of seven. William wore them, and Charles wore them. George’s short pants are a nod to tradition – and proof that the young prince won’t be visiting Edmonton in January anytime soon. It is one of the differentiating markers between the Royal Classes and the average person in Britain. If you are a Royal, you wear shorts until you are of an appropriate age. If you are a commoner, then you wear trousers. Who knew?

The markers that divide the Royal and the commoner are slowly falling away. But some, like the tradition of wearing short pants, remain. But there is another reality. Royals are not all that different from the commoner. We are all of the same makeup and the same basic construction. We are all people. And even royals get sick. (The idea that a Royal wears shorts during childhood may extend from the secure knowledge that a Prince will never have to put up with the unpredictability of the weather. They will always be protected from the elements.)

Jeroboam’s child got sick. The fact that he was a child of the King of Israel did not protect him from illness. And in this case, the illness was serious. And so he instructs his wife to disguise herself and go to the Prophet in Shiloh (incidentally the former resting place of the Tabernacle) and ask the priest Ahijah for advice. Some scholars have wondered about the wisdom of disguising herself for a prophet who was blind in the first place, and Jeroboam’s belief that somehow he could hide from God, but that may not have been the purpose of the disguise. It may not have been God that Jeroboam was trying to trick. Rather, it might have been his own people that Jeroboam wanted to keep in the dark about his wife’s trip to inquire of the prophet of an outlawed God. Jeroboam had made a production over the installing of idols in Israel. But it becomes apparent here that the idols were only serving a political purpose. The idols were all about the division of the Kingdom into a north (Israel) and a south (Judah). But when disaster happened, even Jeroboam knew that the calves he had made were useless. There was only one God, and his temple was in Jerusalem.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 15