The Daily: Monday August 26, 2024

Daily Lectionary Reading: Psalm 11 (NRSV, The Message); 1 Kings 5:13-18 (NRSV, The Message); Ephesians 5:21-6:9 (NRSV, The Message)

King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered thirty thousand men. He sent them to the Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts; they would be a month in the Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
1 Kings 5:13-18 (NRSV)

The scriptural story of the nation of Israel is a valuable way to reflect on the rise and fall of nations especially in relationship to God.

To build the temple of Solomon's dreams, he used forced hard labor. If we imagine that, to fulfill God's will or plan, we must infringe on the rights and wellbeing of others, we have misjudged God's plan. To insist otherwise is to plant the seeds of destruction for our society, our nation.