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Upon their return from exile, Yahweh's "chosen people" started dreaming big dreams of restoring their mythical glory days.

 

Constitutional Law

Part 2: “What Were They Thinking?”

Digression: “A History of Government in 6 Revolutions: From the Paleolithic to Philadelphia”

117. Inventing God and Law: Humility is Hard

 

Title: Part K: Humility is Hard

 

Pane 1: Two Yehudite men react with horror and dismay, one grasping his head while the other flings his arms wide to bewail the heavens. A Yehudan woman looks on with disdain, her hands on her hips.

 

NARRATION:

Though their captivity barely lasted 50 years, the Yehudite elites had plenty of time to reflect on what had just happened.

 

MAN 1:

What just happened?

 

MAN 2:

We wuz special!

We wuz powerful!

 

WOMAN:

Well, we wuz wrecked.

Maybe this’ll teach us some humility.

 

-=-

 

Panel 2: Two small figures look at the broken, razed, and smoldering ruins.

 

NARRATION:

But humility is hard.

After the Persians “freed” them, a thin trickle of former exiles returned (over a period of many decades) to the rubble that was once Jerusalem…

…and they returned with dreams.

 

-=-

 

Panel 3: A sparkling, dreamlike throne room, all pastel blues, greens, and yellows, with Egyptian-style columns, a great skylight in the ceiling, a highly-polished marble floor with geometric designs, and decorations everywhere. Soldiers with spears and shields stand at attention along the walls. King Solomon sits on a golden throne, wearing a golden Babylonian-style crown, his feet on a cushion. He is gesturing to an empty golden throne and cushion at his side. The Queen of Sheba, in a sheer red gown and a nifty headdress, is addressing Solomon. She holds a pet cheetah by a dainty chain. A barefoot slave girl fans the air with a long pole at the end of which are a spray of ostrich tail feathers. Other barefoot young women sit on the floor or dangle their legs over the edge of a platform. The scene is far too sparkly and shiny to be real.

 

NARRATION:

In this minor province of the Persian Empire, they dreamt of restoring Yahweh’s kingdom. And they dreamt of restoring those mythical glory days of King David… the majesty of Solomon… the opulence of the Queen of Sheba…

It sure wasn’t going to happen on its own.

They needed something new. Something big.

They needed…

 

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