Pay Taxes, Worm!

“There shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the glorious kingdom; but within a few days he shall be destroyed, but not in anger or in battle.  Daniel 11:20

From 1 Samuel to the letter to the Romans, tax or taxes is the subject many times in the Bible. And the things we see in taxes today, we also see in the word of God. Political patronage, national duty, how to avoid them, consequences if a person does that, and so on, all appear for our education through the years of the Bible. And entering into this epic journey is the despised tax collector. Yes, that one who in his zeal for the governing authority takes a bit too much in the opinion of the taxed population. Way back in Daniel, during the Exile, another tax collector was promised to Israel, the glorious kingdom, but this one will only last a few days. 

A few days? Why bother to mention him at all then? 

There is this word - imposes - that speaks of a political power over the imposed-upon person or nation. We wouldn't like this word in that context and neither did Israel, as we can easily see by the tax collectors in our Lord's gospel. These shameless characters were known as the worst of the lot, traitors to their people and stooges of the hated Roman conquerors. 

"Pay taxes, worm!" They shouted out from their little boxes of highway robbery. (Might be a bit of literary license going on there.) 

Imposes, we don't like that word much and this goes all the way back to when God imposed one little rule on a certain naked couple: Don't eat of this one tree in the Garden. Hmm, yes, serious consequences came from that bit of disobedience. One might even blame the invention of tax collectors on that fall. Whether we obey the imposition or rebel, obey under duress, or obey gladly, probably says much about what we think of the authority issuing the imposition. The disobedience of eating the forbidden fruit said a few ugly things from the created first couple to their Lord God. Things such as, we don't need You, we want to do what we want, and others of a separating nature. 

So, as I am about to launch into a review of the Bible in this not-so-short message, perhaps you can tell that I have a cold. And this sickness has imposed a few things on me that none of us like. A response to those things is a certain literary loquaciousness on my part, plus I no longer know how to spell 'loquaciousness' the thing tells me. 

Trust in God, even when the imposition seems overdone, and He will see us through the storm.

Bucky