Heroes

Stolen entire from The Orthosphere.

Are Your Heroes Worthy? by JMSmith

“To teach us reverence, and whom we are to revere, should ever be the chief aim of education.” - Thomas Carlyle, “Review of Goethe’s Works” (1832)

Commenter Ian objects to my irreverent opinions of some heroes of the Old Testament.  I understand his unease because I long read the OT with the pious presupposition that these characters were indeed heroes.  But then one day my pious presupposition was not working and I just read the words.

What is admirable about Abraham?  What kind of man pimps his wife and then plays the jealous husband for cash and prizes?  Abraham pulls this stunt twice!  What is admirable about Jacob?  What kind of man steals his brother’s birthright and goes on to embezzle his father-in-law’s sheep and goats?  What is admirable about Joseph?  What kind of man exploits his government post and a famine to expropriate and enslave the nation he governs?  What is admirable about Rahab the harlot?  What kind of a woman helps foreign spies so that she and her family can escape a massacre of her own people?

When a pious presupposition is not whispering Hero! Hero! in your ear, your lying eyes begin to see a shifty rat.

Recall that the soul of a people is revealed in its heroes.   Whom they reverence and teach their children to reverence (not always the same person) is supremely important.  One way to understand a people is therefore to read their legends and folktales and histories and ask, Who are the heroes?  Are they brave warriors?  Pious saints?  Patient scholars? Or are they, as in these cases, shrewd and devious tricksters?

Are they men who outwit unwary yokels with sharp dealings and shrewd fraud?

When I say sharp dealings and shrewd fraud, I do not mean simple intelligence.  I believe simple intelligence is in every culture admired.  I mean craft; I mean guile; I mean devious design.  I mean a man, for instance, who would set another man up to hit on his wife in order to extort cash and prizes.

Imagine that you knew a man in real life who, with his snaky wife, made millions with this loathsome scam.  Would you tell your son, “That man is a hero, my son”?  Would you say, “Son, I hope you will grow up to be just like him some day”?

All of this makes me wonder what happens to our souls when we read the legends and folktales and histories of a profoundly alien race, and then stifle our natural revulsion with a pious presupposition.  “That sure seems rotten, but I guess it must be alright.” What sort of confusion enters into our souls when our hearts recoil from some outrageous roguery, but our heads say, “No, no, this is really a man (or woman) to whom all honor and glory are due?”

Whatever happens, I very much doubt that reading about rascals with a pious presupposition is a hermeneutic conducive to spiritual health.

Note: hermeneutic is a method or theory of interpretation.

Many (most? all?) politicians operating on the national level have snaky wives and have made millions with loathsome scams. That seems to be the nature of the beast, or maybe it's just a contagious disease. Still, we vote for them because they are the ones who have climbed to the top of the pile. We don't vote for them because they are paragons of virtue, we vote for one because the other is much worse. The lesser of two weevils as it were.

The Lesser of Two Weevils - Master and Commander
Dinerboy11