Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; look behind you, Benjamin! Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of punishment; among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, November 15, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
For some reason I was just struck by this: “Look behind you, Benjamin!” Hosea is proclaiming God’s judgment and calling the people to send out warnings: horns, trumpets, alarms. But the tribe of Benjamin? Look out behind you! It’s like something out of a horror movie, honestly. Something terrible is coming. You don’t know when or where or how. And then, there it is, and it’s too late to do anything about it.
It makes me wonder about our human tendency to culture our own obliviousness to the damage we cause, so that we don’t have to think about consequences. The last two passages from Isaiah spoke to our interdependence with people and nature, and once again, this passage brings up that theme in my mind. How often are we the tribe of Benjamin, continuing to act in ways that we know—because we have been told a million different times!—will have serious consequences? Even as we see those consequences begin to happen (climate change, for example) we continue to rationalize them away. At what point will we “look behind” ourselves and come face to face with the monster we have created?
We would all do well to listen to the prophets of our time—the scientists, the justice-workers, all those calling out warnings—and continue to pray for the clarity we need to change before the point of no return.
Do I fear the future? Why or why not?
