[ampaterry]

Thank you, guys!

Today is the Fast of Gedaliah. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came against Judah and conquered it. Most Jews fled to Egypt, but a small number remained, and Nebuchadnezzar appointed a leader over them named Gedaliah. The story is recorded in Jeremiah and 2 Kings. Lets read the last part of the narrative:

2 Kings 25:24-26 (KJV);
“And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you. But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.”

And thus the last of the Jews departed from their Holy Land, not to return until seventy years later. For this reason, the Fast of Gedaliah was instituted to commemorate this assassination and exile. The actual date is a few days earlier, but it is forbidden to fast during a celebration so it was delayed until after Rosh Hashana. The fast began yesterday at sundown, and lasts through sundown today.

There is a lesson in this story to us, right now in the 21st century. The people were unhappy with Gedaliah, suspecting him due to his association with the Babylonian rulers of their land. They took action without thought to the consequences; they killed him and only afterward realized they had just forced themselves into exile.

We dearly love to gripe and complain about our leadership. They are either too liberal or too conservative. They are Communist or they are Marxist. They cater to the rich or they cater to the welfare recipients. But we must always keep our wits about us; there is a way to deal with bad leadership, and it is the way of the soap box and the ballot box. The way of the cartridge box has very dire consequences.

May God bless each one of you -