Yahweh vs. Jupiter

Jupiter is the god of politics. Ramses 2^nd, pharaoh of Egypt, was a most faithful servant of Jupiter and the most powerful ruler of his time. Because Jupiter justifies everything in politics, Ramses felt perfectly justified in making slaves of all the descendants of Abraham living in Egypt during his reign. Ramses lived off their vitality and so did Jupiter through him.

Yahweh, our one true god, revealed himself to be very different from the false god Jupiter. First, Yahweh identified not with the ruler of Egypt but with his slaves. He identified not with the one central person but with hundreds of thousands of marginal ones. Yahweh committed himself to liberating his people from the political control of Ramses.

Second, when Yahweh did liberate his people, he didn’t topple Ramses and put his man Moses in control of the Egyptian state. Yahweh didn’t even tell Moses to politically organize the Israelites to force Ramses to let them go. Yahweh simply told Ramses to let his people go. In the end, he did.

Our world always pressures us, through bribes and threats, to devote ourselves to Jupiter the god of politics. But there is another different god. This is the one true god who freely in love devotes himself to us and who, by doing so, liberates us from Jupiter, political leaders, and every illusion about politics. Our privilege each day is to express our gratitude to him.

Copyright © 2012 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.