In studying the final 16 chapters of this long saga this week, once again current events gave me a rare flash of intellectual brilliance: Manasseh, the final king of Judah before the exile of Israel to Babylon, and Cyrus, the king of Persia 70 years later who allowed Israel to return home, shall evermore be known as “The Theophobes – Basket of Deplorables.”
Over the past few days we have been introduced to crazy “phobes” – homo, xeno, and others. Who knew that millions of people suffer from these horrific conditions all across America? If you break down “phobe” to its linguistic root, “phobia” means fear. “Homo” means human, so homophobe literally means fear of humanity, not fear of homosexuality. So a presidential candidate creates words designed to mask a sin abhorred by God so that it can include far more people, deemed to be fearful when they are not. They are simply speaking biblical truth.
Similarly, “xeno” means stranger, so a xenophobe is afraid of strangers. But again the word is broadened contemptuously to mean fear of all immigration into America. So those of us who would prefer not to be murdered by terrorists while sharing coffee with coworkers are accused of hating all immigrants. We do not fear strangers, only terrorists.
So what is a “theophobe?” Learning straight from this candidate, I created this word myself based on my study of Manasseh and Cyrus. The derivation of “theo” is God, so a theophobe should be someone who fears God. But to follow the candidate's deception, these two kings did not fear God; for most of their lives they believed they were greater than God! So a theophobe believes she is greater than God.
But here is where the parallel runs off the tracks. The person who coined the phrase “basket of deplorables” in the past week, who is supposedly a “good Christian”, also decreed that these pathetic, fearful “phobes” are “irredeemable.”
What?
Manasseh (Chapter 33) defiled everything holy to God and caused his people to sin. But when God’s judgment fell so heavily upon him in captivity, he repented to God, sincerely, completely, passionately:
13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.[1]
Even Manasseh was redeemable.
In Chapter 36, Israel goes into exile and slavery for 70 years. But the last verse says:
23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’ ” [2]
A pagan king declares the God of Israel as the God of heaven over all nations and sponsors Israel's return home! Cyrus, a pagan non-Jew, was redeemable!
So if Manasseh and Cyrus were redeemable by God, a modern politician declaring anyone to be irredeemable thinks she is even higher than God! Meet the party of the Theophobes. They can even overrule God.
NO ONE IS IRREDEEMABLE IN THE EYES OF GOD!
May the God of all nations protect us from rule by the Theophobes!
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (2 Ch 33:13). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (2 Ch 36:23). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.