ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Pulelulu Sune 28, 2023

אטד The Bramble King

KO E TU‘I TALATALA’AMOA

JUDGES 9:14-15

"THEN ALL THE TREES SAID TO THE BRAMBLE. YOU COME AND REIGN OVER US.' AND THE BRAMBLE SAID TO THE TREES, IF IN GOOD FAITH YOU ARE ANOINTING ME KING OVER YOU, THEN COME AND TAKE REFUGE IN MY SHADE, BUT IF NOT, LET FIRE COME OUT OF THE BRAMBLE AND DEVOUR THE CEDARS OF LEBANON.'"

FAKAMAAU 9:14-15

14 Pea toki lea ‘a e ‘Akau kotoa pē ki he Talatala‘āmoa, Ha‘u koe, ‘o pule kiate kitautolu. 15 Pea pehē ‘e he Talatala‘āmoa ki he ngaahi ‘Akau, Kapau mo‘oni te mou fakanofo au ke tu‘i kiate kimoutolu, pea mou omi ‘o hūfanga mai ki hoku malu: pea ka ‘ikai, pea ke ‘alu atu ha afi mei he Talatala‘āmoa, ‘o keina ‘a e ngaahi sita ‘o Lepanoni.

Compared to the NT and early rabbinic writings, which are full of mashalim ("parables" or "allegories"), the OT has relatively few. Jotham's fable, in Judges 9, is one of the more memorable. The trees, in the market for a king, offer to anoint the olive tree, fig, and vine, but they all refuse. But not the atad ("bramble," a species of buckthorn); it's all gung-ho for the job. This scrawny bush, riddled with thorns, represents the lowlife, brother-murdering Abimelech, whom the foolish citizens of Shechem had crowned. In the end, as Jotham predicted, this bramble king torched his own people. Afterward, his skull was crushed when a woman weaponized a millstone and brained him with it. Not all fables, it seems, end with "happily ever after.”

The crown of thorns topping the head of the King of kings was meant as a mockery, but how fitting it was, for the Messiah died for lowlifes too. For murderers and thieves and-most menacing of all-the self-righteous. His bramble crown marks true, selfless, divine royalty.

O thorn-crowned King, lover of humanity, reign over us in the power of your absolution.