No Honest Reading of Scripture will Permit Us to Wash God’s Hands of the Consequences of his Partisanship

If you appreciate my work, pay it forward. Literally! Become a paid subscriber.

The lectionary psalm for this coming Sunday is Psalm 124, which begins by singing:

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side -- let Israel now say --if it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us.”

God is on our side.

This is a conviction commemorated in the Old Testament lectionary passage, Esther 9, which hallows the days “in which the Jews gained relief from their enemies.”

“God is on our side” is an assertion made by both invaders and defenders in Ukraine today just it arises in the partisan battles between Democrats and Republicans.

Quite obviously, both sides who so say “God is on our side” cannot be right.

But if we obey the Bible, if we attempt to say only what scripture permits us to say, then neither can both be wrong.

Neither can both be wrong.

One of them is correct.

Only the religion of Plato is as politely distant and dispassionate as we would prefer. The God of Israel is not a God who refrains from taking sides.

Read more