(Hebrews 10:16-17) This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Once upon a time, there lived a certain prophet whose name was Abner. As was often the case in those days, this purveyor of divine promises and enforcer of divine decrees was little esteemed and lightly regarded by the people to whom he was sent.
One especially bleak and bleary winter, the prophet’s God appeared to him on three successive nights outlining a message that he was to deliver to the faithless king who currently occupied the throne. This monarch’s grandfather and father before him had been faithful kings, and he had begun his reign well enough, but ever since he had taken one of the foreign princesses to wife, his faith had begun to wane in the same measure that his appetite for her pagan-ish practices had begun to wax. He had even begun to house and feed a handful of the prophets and priests of the local deities.
The day after the third night of revelations, Abner requested and received an audience with his sovereign. As always, he bowed himself low before the king, reintroduced himself as the messenger of God, and was about to relay his message when the king abruptly cut him off saying, “It has occurred to me recently, that any beggar off the street could march in here claiming to speak to me on God’s behalf. Therefore, before I countenance whatever it is you have to say to me, you must first pass a simple prophet’s test. The next time you conjure up your God, ask Him to make known to you the sin of my youth. If you divine correctly, then I will listen to your heavenly harangue. But if you do not bring me the correct answer, or have no answer at all, then you will that day receive the stony recompense of the false-prophet. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes m’lord” said Abner meekly. “But I must tell you two things. Firstly, I do not ‘conjure up’ Him who sits above the heaven of heavens. And secondly, I can only speak to you what He is pleased to make known to me. Nothing more, nothing less. But if it pleases m’lord, then I will ask the Lord of lords for the answer to your question.”
“It does” said the king curtly.
On the third day following the king’s inquiry, Abner appeared again before the royal throne looking both calm and a little puzzled.
The king arched his eyebrows, cocked his head slightly and asked, “Have you an answer to my question prophet? Has your God revealed to you the sin of my youth?”
“I have a word from your Lord, m’lord. Although, as usual, His reply to my question, is not quite what I expected. And perhaps not what the king wishes to hear, nor enough to save me from the pile of stones outside the city gate.”
“Proceed” said the sovereign warily, rising to his feet.
“Last night, during the third watch” said Abner softly, “the Lord appeared to me and directed me to ask Him the question whose answer He already knew, and had already determined to give me. But as a I said, m’lord…”
The king broke in suddenly, “You weary me with your ramblings prophet. Get to the point, if indeed you can. What was the sin of my youth?”
Abner continued, “Your God and the God of your fathers has given me a reply to the king’s question. He said to me, ‘Tell him that I don’t remember.’”
For half a second the king’s nostrils flared in anger, then quite suddenly his knees buckled and he sat down very un-royally upon his throne. While the king sat in stunned silence, Abner delivered the whole of his original message, after which the king rasped, “Meet me at the stoning pit, three days hence at even.”
And so began the great cleansing of the land as both king and prophet united to purge the kingdom of its idolatry, and as they did so, singing psalms and declaring to the people the mercy that makes no earthly sense. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be.
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