The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1959-06-19

military strength
under Jehosl1a- b. "a.
phat's leadership. A-@s
He reorganized DR.. Foreman
the army itself and also rebuilt the
fortresses that guarded the stra-
tegic points in Judah But there
were other nations which were
even stronger from a military
view, and they did not outlast little
Judah There were other forms of
strength in that nation.
Support ef Education
In those days there were no col
leges, no schools in our sense of
the word Most of what we now
teach in school was still unknown;
we would call that civilization
''barbaric" if It existed today.
Nevertheless, even bookless people
need education. King Jehoshaphat
saw to it that the schools went to
the people. He routed the priests,
Levites and princes out of the cap
ital city where most of them seem
to have gone, and sent them around
the country to teach the people
where they lived. We can observe
similar movements today in the
village schools of India or the folk
schools of Denmark. Many Amer
leans seem to think you can't have
real education without big expen-
sive plants (including gymnasiums
bigger than anything else); but
where countries are small and
poor, as Jehoshaphat's was by our
standards. YOU have to do some
thing simpler.
Support Of the Courts
King Jehoshaphat knew that
even an educated and well-church-
ed nation needs good courts. His
strong charge to the judges he
appointed is still as good as new.
Incidentally, we note that he saw
to it that every town had a court
If courts are not available, if they
are too far and too few, you get
the "west-o -the-Pecos" stuff,
which is really not law at all J
The king advised the judges to
make their decisions in the fear
of God, not of men. Courts which
make only such decisions as they
know will be popular are basically
unfair. A court must not ask: Will
everybody like this? but is this
fair and just in the sight of God :?
Furthermore, the king warned
those judges against Partially, or
taking brides. 'Peddlers Of inf1u-
ence" were a nuisance in those days
as we'll as these. A court or Judge
that can be bought, a lawyer who
thinks only of his fee and his fame,
are distractions to justice. Some
one has said that the whole pur-
pose Of the law is to protect the
weak from the strong. And when
courts are too weak to do that,
the whole country slides into weak
ness and decay.
Support Of the Church
Little if anything is said about
organized religion in Jehoshaphat's
time. We may assume that the
temple worship was going on, and
we know the king suppressed many
of the local shrines or high
places" as they were called. The
trouble with those high places"
was that they tended to get off
the track and actually become cen
tiers of idolworship, sometimes of
a repulsive sort. But the significant
thing about this kings attitude to
religion was that he expected it to
push out into the other institutions
Of society. When his army was in a
tight place, he prayed, 1--WE do not
know what to do, but our eyes art
upon Thee" He reminded his
judges that God was their Judge
He sent both priests and Levites
out to teach. It takes not only a
strong army, strong educational
institutions and strong courts to
make strong nation; a strong re-
igion is needed as the base of it
all. But the strength of a nations
faith is not shown in it's far-flung
organizations nor in the number
attending public worship. The test
of a nations professed religion
was then and is now: Does it work
out into the countrys whole life ?
Biased on outlines copyrighted by
the Division Of Christian Education.
National Council Of the Churches Of
Christ in the q. s. A. Released by
Community Press Service.J