Flame of God

Watched a DVD on the Hittites, the ancient people who ruled an empire in Anatolia (central Turkey)  during most of the second millennium BC. Scholars are divided on whether the biblical Hittites and the people of Anatolia are the same.

Their capital city Harusha included a royal archive where more than 10,000 clay tablets were found.

Their peace treaty with the Egyptians now stands at the entrance of the Security Council of the United Nations in New York.

The love affair of one of their monarchs and his wife is the earliest recorded instance of true love in a royal marriage. Don’t ask me to spell their names.

Their law code was remarkable for its sense of history. Their cuneiform tablets carefully recorded past rulings.

But I am fascinated by one Hittite in the Bible: Uriah, whose name means “light or flame of Yah.” He was one of David’s mighty men, listed among the 30; and husband of Bathsheba.

David saw his wife bathing, summoned her and slept with her. When she became pregnant, David recalled her husband from battle, told him to go home and sleep with his wife.

 But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.”

 2 Sam 11:6-14 (NRSV)

David next got Uriah drunk. But he didn’t go home. So David sent him back to the battle, carrying his own death warrant.

Uriah is a warrior in the old tradition of holy war, which included the prohibition of sex (even with your wife) while on a campaign.

In this simple story his loyalty shines through. He will not be distracted. He thinks of other soldiers who are fighting, and is unwilling to enjoy himself.

The author of 2 Timothy, traditionally Paul, wrote:

Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer.

2 Tim 2:3-4 (NRSV)

John of Patmos envisions the redeemed as 144,000 martyrs who follow the Lamb wherever he goes, who have not defiled themselves with sex while on campaign.

(For those puritans among us, not only sex defiled; the scriptures also are said to “defile the hands”—meaning here is a fundamental energy like radioactivity which you don’t fool around with. You handle with caution.)

Uriah, flame of Yahweh, was a candle in the wind, whose light shines still.