Quick question: Of the twelve sons of Jacob, who was the youngest? If you said, Joseph, you’d be right. Who was the oldest, the first born? If you said Reuben, you’d be right. Why do I ask? Well, in our first reading we read, “For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born.” How did Jeremiah get something so basic so wrong? Every Israelite would have known that Ephraim wasn’t even one of the 12 sons of Jacob (aka: Israel). Who was Ephraim? He was a son of Joseph; that guy who saved the family from famine and would later have a hit Broadway musical named after him. So, Jeremiah is calling a grandson of Jacob, aka: Israel, Israel’s first born.
The simplest explanation of this mistake is to understand that God doesn’t always follow the ways of man. In human tradition, it’s usually the oldest son who gets the first shot at following his father as the king. Or, in modern times, it’s usually the oldest child that becomes the executor of the parent’s estate. It’s a way to bring some commonsense solution to a common problem. However, this policy doesn’t always hold. Check out Mehmed II, an Ottoman Sultan. Mehmed’s father Murad II had killed his brothers to take the title of Sultan. Mehmed actually told his favorite son to kill his brothers before they kill you, so you’ll follow as Sultan. It appears that us humans consider other things more important than birth order.
Quick, another quiz. Of the following nations, which nation is the oldest and which is the newest; Italy, France, Germany, the USA? Even though the USA is thought of as the newest nation, it’s date of origin 1776 far precedes those dates when the modern nations of Italy, France and Germany were established. There may be historians among my readers who will dispute this, but any look at the tumultuous stories of modern Europe must consider the crazy fights for “who’s king of the hill” in those lands and give me some credit for discovering this common misconception among historians.
The blind man, Bartimaeus, told Jesus “I want to see.” Our job, as believing Catholics is to see the will of God in our lives and as citizens of this great nation to help it be a light to the nations. So, if we want to “see” the future of our nation from God’s perspective, might you indulge me with one last quiz? If you had a choice between one group of leaders who believe our US Constitution should be changed to include a federal right to abortion and another group who wants the population to discuss and debate and to the best of our national psyche come to a consensus on this life issue, who would you favor? Is the future of democracy set before us today? If so, will the earthly pattern of picking our “kings” harmonize with God’s perspective or will the nations of the world enshrine the ways of those false gods of old, Baal and Molech? Under whose rule will we find both God’s laws and God’s great mercy to those who want to see both His justice and His kindness?