Cybercolumn by Jeanie Miley: Priests and kings_110104

Posted: 10/26/04

CYBERCOLUMN:
Priests and kings

By Jeanie Miley

Prowling around in the book of Isaiah in preparation for teaching my Thursday morning Bible study, I suddenly got curious about what it was that old King Uzziah had done that had set off such a bad turn of events for himself and the Hebrew people.

My curiosity took me back to 2 Chronicles 26 and an appalling account of the downfall of a man who started out as a good king who did what was right in the eyes of God, apparently seeking God in all things.

What riveted my attention to the story, however, was the turn in the story when Uzziah, who had become increasingly more powerful, fell victim to his own greed, pride and arrogance. Uzziah’s downfall was secured when he went into the temple to burn incense, presuming to perform a sacred task that had been assigned to the priests, the descendents of Aaron, who were consecrated specifically by God to burn the incense.

What caught my attention and held me spellbound to the old, old story was the searing awareness that when kings and such take over the sacred tasks that belong to those called out by God to mediate the sacred, the people get confused, and trouble breaks out for everyone.

On the other hand, when the priests are not vigilant about their sacred calling, when they don’t guard their hearts, their pulpits and their altars with all diligence against the temptations of power and prestige, and when they are seduced away from their primary and holy task of reconciling people to a vital, personal, love relationship with the Almighty, the people they have been entrusted to lead get confused and lost.

"And when the people get confused, they think that the politicians speak for God and the priests can tell them how to vote!"

Finishing with my preparations, I finally came to the point of putting my Bible and commentaries away and turned on the evening news. That old, old story kept playing in my head as I watched the news channel through the next couple of hours, and the next morning, I woke up with the solemn conviction about how dangerous it is for everyone when the kings think they are priests and the priests think they are kings. Indeed, confusion reigns when the plans that God set in motion for how things work best get perverted by the greed for power, control and supremacy.

Poor old King Uzziah. He broke out in leprosy, but that was only the beginning of the trouble that filtered down to the children of Israel in the terrible way that rot always does flow downward from the top.

"People exploited other people and use them as objects.

"Cities were plundered.

"The people of God were enslaved.

"People chased after false gods.

"Injustices of all kinds reigned.

"War broke out over and over.

"The goodness of God was spurned, and his gifts were misused."

The people saw good as evil, and evil as good, and could no longer tell the difference between darkness and light, for they had become blinded by pride and arrogance and their utter confusion.

And all the time, they worked really hard to fashion fine and fancy worship to impress God and divert his attention from the fact that they had lost their way and played the harlot, hooking up with the very practices and people who would use them, abuse them and discard them.

It’s a dangerous thing to read the Bible seriously, and I suppose that is why there is so much biblical illiteracy, even among those who, when polled, want to be counted in the column that says “Christian.”

From where I stand, it seems to me that it might not be a bad idea for those of us who love the church and also love the world to take a thorough look at what happened to the children of Israel when their leaders got confused and tried to be something that God never intended them to be and refused to be what God has called them to be.

It’s a sobering reality that God will not be diverted, and his purposes will not ultimately be perverted, no matter how hard we try to turn his ways upside down and inside out.

We frail and fallible human beings may get confused, but the Holy One never does, and for that, we must give thanks.

Jeanie Miley is an author and columnist and a retreat and workshop leader. She is married to Martus Miley, pastor of River Oaks Baptist Church in Houston, and they have three adult daughters. Got feedback? Write her at Writer2530@aol.com.