From the Pastor’s Heart / By Dr. Robert Kennedy OP-ED
I thought I heard correctly; the report of a Russian soldier in Kyiv whose phone message was intercepted. According to the news report, he was phoning home to tell his mother that he had just broken into a store and taken a mink coat and other treasures that he hoped to bring home. He also reported that his friend had secured some treasures that he would be taking home. While he was stealing from the Ukrainians, I was amazed that he used some “curse” words to describe them.
The above reminds me of a story that you must have heard of the Irish Crown Jewels stolen from Dublin Castle in 1907, along with the collars of five knights of the Order of Saint Patrick. The theft has never been solved, and the items have never been recovered. But here is a little piece of the history as I have read it from Wikipedia. The jewels were part of the original regalia of the Sovereign, which was more opulent than the insignia of an ordinary knight member of the Order of St Patrick.
The king’s 1783 ordinance said the jewels were to be “of the same materials and fashion as those of the knights, except those alterations befitting the dignity of royalty. The regalia was replaced in 1831 by new ones presented by William IV as part of a revision of the Order’s structure. They were delivered from London to Dublin on March 15, by the 18th Earl of Erroll, in a mahogany box together with a document titled “A Description of the Jewels of the Order of Saint Patrick, made by command of His Majesty King William the Fourth, for the use of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and which are Crown Jewels.”
They contained 394 precious stones taken from the English Crown Jewels of Queen Charlotte and the Order of the Bath star of her husband George III. They were assembled by Randell and Bridge. On the St Patrick Blue Saltier enamel badge, the green shamrock was of emeralds and the red St Patrick Blue Saltier enamel of rubies. The Order’s motto was in pink diamonds, and the encrustation was of Brazilian diamonds of the first water. On realizing the theft, notices were issued that described the jewels, but they have never been found. Multiple books have been written since with rumors and speculations of who could have stolen the jewels, but the riddle has never been solved.
If you are not aware, you might think that the above theft by the Russian soldiers and the theft of the Crown Jewel are unique phenomena, but they fit the pattern of multiple wars that have been fought in historical times, not only with individual soldiers stealing treasures but with an entire governmental order raping the treasure of one country to prop up their own country. For example, you might recall how the former president Donald Trump of the United States, although he didn’t do it, boasted at one of his rallies that the only interest that he would have in the Iraq war was “to bomb them up and take the oil.”
After hearing the voice of the Russian soldier to his mother and thinking of the millions of Ukrainians running from their homes with their one suitcase or little canvass bag, I began to think of the biblical story in Joshua 7 in which God told Joshua that as he led the people of Israel into battle against the people of Ai, the people of Israel were not to take anything of the town of Ai, for it was under “a bond” that is a pledge of a curse. However, one soldier named Achan stole what must have been the most beautiful piece of clothing he’d ever seen, “the Babylonish Garment.”
He took the garment and buried it in a hole in his tent. And it brought a curse on Israel to the extent that they lost the war. Joshua was very upset and went to his tent to pray, asking God how he could lose the war against such a little nation. Then the Lord told him, there is an accursed thing in the midst of the camp. And he could not stand before his enemies until he took away the accursed thing from the midst of the camp. So, Joshua launched a search and found the culprit who had stolen the garment. And, according to the method of judgment allowed, the culprit was forced to make a public confession, and the just punishment of death was administered by stoning to Achan and his household.
The punishment might seem rather harsh to us, but there are some profound lessons that we might learn from the story. Here are three points from a sermonic outline that I was reading some time ago on the accursed thing from Ai.
I. Sin is an accursed thing.
II. The accursed thing is too often among a people when engaged in war.
III. There is a need to remove this accursed thing from among them if they hope to stand before their enemies.
Without comment on the three points, I add the following three points:
- God frowns upon those who go into another country and steal the treasures and livelihood on which the people of that country have to live. If you think that I am being punitive, just reflect on “The Rape” of Africa, India, and other places in the world from which the gold and diamond, bauxite, other precious metals, etc., have been taken by the colonialist occupying powers.
- The bombing and destruction of the people’s property in Ukraine
- is no exception and must be called theft. Yes, it is stealing happening under the eyes of God, who is seeing even more transparently than we are seeing. But God will bring a just recompense to those who are stealing and destroying as they are.
A comment from the sermon that I have been reading on the cursed garment states:
Moreover, sin practically defies the power and anger of God, for his laws are guarded with awfully severe sanctions. He has declared he will arm himself with power and take vengeance on those who obey not the truth but unrighteousness. And therefore, to violate the laws of God, and to go on in the course of doing so, is a practical declaration that we disregard the anger of God and have no fear of what he has threatened to bring upon us. The language of sin is that we are stronger than the Almighty; at least, we are not afraid of his power or wrath. All this is included in sin, on which account it may, with the highest propriety, be called an accursed thing.
I do not know that I need to say more on the curse of the bond, in this short reflection, except I must emphasize that there is going to be a judgment of God against all of the evil that we are seeing in the land. My stomach is churning as I watch the theft and brutality in Ukraine and other places in the world and where the strong is moving against the weak. I am simply praying that God will set up the promised kingdom sooner than later.
