Today's Scripture Reading (January 4, 2023): 2 Chronicles 16
Blockades have been a reality
in our world for almost as long as history has existed. Even in our
contemporary world, blockades exist. Since 2007, a blockade has been in place at
the Gaza Strip in the Middle East. Israel and Egypt maintain the blockade, but
for competing reasons. Israel has closed the Gaza Strip to the rest of the
world, hoping to keep weapons from reaching Hamas, a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic
fundamentalist group and a militant nationalist organization. Egypt has joined
the blockade, also because of the presence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but
their stated reason is that they want to give the Palestinian Authority a
chance to rule and not be forced into a relationship with Hamas or forced to
make the decisions that Hamas wants to be made in the area. And so, the
blockade continues.
More recently, Ukraine and
Russia have been trying to blockade each other in the Black Sea. Since February
24, 2022, Russia has been actively trying to block Ukrainian access to the
Black Sea. In response, Ukraine mined the Port of Odesa, the largest port in
the Black Sea Basin, to prevent Russian intrusion. Each is trying to hurt both
the military presence and the economic advantage of the Black Sea to the other
nation.
While blockades exist in our
contemporary world, they are also harder to make effective in our era. While in
ancient times, blockades just had to concentrate on stopping land and water
access to a particular area. In our contemporary world, we also have to be
aware of air travel into an area. Yet, we still attempt to stop travel and the
transfer of goods into specific regions of our world.
Baasha, the King of the Northern
Kingdom of Israel, wanted the upper hand in his conflict with Asa, the King of
the Southern Kingdom of Judah. And so, he decided to blockade the main road
that went North from Jerusalem at Ramah, a town just five kilometers north of
Jerusalem and in the territory belonging to the Tribe of Benjamin. Because of
Benjamin's alliance with Judah, the presence of Baasha's army in Ramah meant
that Baasha's forces had already left the confines of the Kingdom of Israel and
had taken control of a city under Asa's control. He aimed to stop the trade from
going in and out of Jerusalem meant for the northern nations. Baasha also
wanted to prevent any of his people who wanted to travel south to Jerusalem from
partaking in any significant religious celebrations at the Temple. By taking
over Ramah, he wouldn't have stopped either of these activities from happening,
but he would have made them both more difficult and expensive, which would have
slowed both trade and religious tourism from taking place.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles
17
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