Tearing Open the Heavens

If only you would tear open the heavens and come down!
Mountains would quake before you like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil.
If you would make your name known to your enemies,
the nations would tremble in your presence. (Isa 64:1-2, CEB)

It's easy to scoff (I've found) at yesterday's news regarding little Gove and his issue of the King James. Though I suspect his idea was actually meant well. 400 years of a fine piece of literature are worth celebrating. Even if it's not the earliest, the most accurate or the most readable English version of the Bible. It's just that the idea of Gove writing a few words in the frontispiece blows the whole thing for me. And I'm unsure whether, like the original, the Government is planning to issue the Apocrypha.

But it's also something so kind of retro. It's almost like a recreation of the original concept where the idea was for one Bible to be put in every church in the land. But that's not because they were in need of an English Bible - they'd had those for ages. Rather it was James's way of imposing some uniformity and a bit of respect for those in authority - after all, the Geneva Bible was also available, but it had a habit of referring to king as "tyrants". And writing seditious comments about the authorities in the margins. And you couldn't have that, could you? After all, Job 6:23 (KJV) says " Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? " - whereas Geneva says "And deliuer me from the enemies hande, or ransome me out of the hand of tyrants?". And you start to guess why James might prefer a more... more gentle reading of the activities of the powerful.

And so Dave's Government have decided that they will reproduce that act of conformity by issuing the copy of the Bible that was meant, among other things, to ensure we knew our place. As I say, I'm sure they're not thinking like that. But that's how James's Government must surely have thought.

Some people believe that authorities think religion is good, because it keeps the populace well-behaved and kindly. Let's face it, the Big Society, if it ever appears, will need to be heavy on support from religious groups. But if the Mighty/Tyrants were really to use the Bible to enforce public conformity, they'd have to remove a few bits. Like anything to do with the mis-use of power. Or money. Or, these days, care for foreigners. Or, most of all, anything that suggests there is a higher authority than the Government. So maybe the ultimate Bible issued by a Government would just be Romans 13. Apart from that, the Bible is a collection of books that is a threat to the authorities. Their rule is flaky, their kingdom temporary and their hopes destined for flames - as everyone that ever tried to cling to power discovered, from Gaddafi to Maggie to Tiberius Caesar - one way or another it all goes west in the end. And we can't depend on their competence forever.

"O that you would tear open the heavens and come down". The world will dissolve in ashes, the 5-year plans indefinitely suspended. The secret police forces will be in the open. The prisons thrown open, the wrongs righted. The tyrants will flee. They all want stability - whether a Big Society where everyone's in it together, another 5 years, a single currency, the next great push, or a boot stamping on a human face - forever. They all want stability because that means they'll always be in charge. But the world's not like that. God's not like that,. The future's not like that. They all come to an end - human, fallible, fragile as they are, no matter if they think they're gods.

I remember a moment of wonder in politics - in 2002. Estelle Morris stepped down as Education Secretary, admitting she wasn't up to the job. The Guardian list a couple more examples.  Oh that other leaders, managers, politicians would admit they weren't up to the job. Then they might do the jobs better, remembering that their downfall is coming, their jobs are merely temporary - and they're not good enough for them anyway.