It follows, of course, that the Mosaic vision of reality nearly disappeared

We left off with five corruptions that the rule of Solomon the Wise introduced into Israel, things which directly and seriously were contrary to the Mosaic Law and in service to the power of Solomon and his dynasty and his establishment. The warnings that God told Samuel would come with a monarchy came on hard and strong with Solomon. And Walter Breuggemann notes that not only was it with the acquiescence of the Temple priesthood and authorities, they were beneficiaries of the corruption.

All these things in the Solomonic moment transpired under the effective umbrella of the Jerusalem temple, surely the quintessence of Cannaization of Israel. . .

Brueggemann notes that the opulence, not only of the material wealth of Solomon but also in the intellectual establishment has been called, even by himself, as "enlightenment." So politics, religion and the educational establishments were all part of the system which, in other places, Brueggeman notes required the grinding taxation and oppression of the laboring classes, the farmers, especially, but also those who labored in other kinds of production. It would be nice to know if that divine warning given to Samuel as the People clamored to have a king was in the scripture before Solomon's time or if it is a post-exilic reflection on the evils that came with having a strong king. If it was an afterthought it's noteworthy that our time's most fervent floggers of scripture, the "evangelicals" to a lesser extent "traditional" Catholics are the corrupted priesthood and laity who are knowingly, enthusiastically supporting our stupid and unwise monarch even as they have had more than enough time to see through things as people, quite often, credentialed with more education than even most of the better off peasantry and working class of that time. I'd say, if anything, we are more corrupt than those who were the "illiterate goat-herders" of anti-religious invective. Consider how even our self-designated drivers of the opposition can be counted on to do and say things that benefit the Trumpian grasp of power, in 2020 as much as in 2016! As much in 2016 as in 2000 and 1980 and 1968!

The sift in presuppositions wrought by Solomon can hardly be overestimated. It is likely that David, genius that he was, managed to have it both ways, and , as Stefan Haym has observed, there is a greatness in David that Solomon could only imitate and even then to poor effect. In any case it is clear that Solomon had a social vision contradictory to that of Moses. The possibility of an alternative consciousness or an alternative community was quite removed from Israel in Solomon's time. The king characteristically could countenance no such notion. It seems likely that criticism could no longer be practiced because the transcendent agent necessary to criticism was gone. And we may hypothesize that promises which could energize are now all confiscated for royal use. Solomon was able to create a situation in which everything was already given, in which no more futures could be envisioned because everything was already present a hundred-fold The tension between a criticized present and an energizing future is overcome. There is only an uncriticized and unenergized present. It follows, of course, that the Mosaic vision of reality nearly disappeared.

 

I will interject that chief among the things lost within that vision is the radical egalitarianism and the prevention of the establishment and serving of an acquisitive, ever accumulating economic elite.

In this context I want to explore three dimensions of the Solmonic achievement that are important to our general thesis. These three elements summarize the dominant culture against which the prophets are regularly a counterpoint.

I will go through these at length because Brueggemann gives more than a list of terms for them but goes into what those terms really mean and each one will require a day to go through them and we will see if I can relate them to the Trumpian moment we find ourselves in.

One thing. If Trump wins or steals the election (as did Bush II and Trump 2020 did with the help of our own priesthood, the Supreme Court, and the corruption baked into our equivalent of The Law, the Electoral College) you can fully expect the mass media, most of the so-called independent media to genuflect and declare that we have a king, even as they don't call it that. And they will find many academics and members of the scribbling class and "public intellectuals" to support him just as happens whenever a dictator takes full control. Those with something at stake in the system will support that system as "institutionalists" as "career 'public servants" as "upholders of law" (don't get me started on that great and misguided hope, Robert Mueller).

 

Typing this,  I think I know what it was that led me to to think of that obscure, difficult Bob Dylan song that was going through my head yesterday, the prophets were rebel poets who had no access to modern copyright law and contracts. Bob Dylan is, I think, someone who probably knows a thing or two about being tempted to betray a prophetic vocation and how hard it is to practice one. You've got to be careful about making your money from your prophesy, it's a tricky thing to pull off. Most likely in the future it will be a lot more dangerous to practice the prophetic job.