The Words of the Huish Family
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The Words of the Huish Family |
I enjoyed studying Shakespeare's plays in school. I think I studied Macbeth as part of my English literature GCSE back in the academic year 1999/2000. In my class, everyone had a part to read out: I was cast as Lady Macbeth. I still can't wash the blood off my hands.
I'm up to the Second book of Kings in my 1-year reading plan through the Bible. Chapter 8 reminded me of Macbeth. It's the story of regicide in Aram, a kingdom next to the northern kingdom of Israel (the 10 tribes divided from the 2 tribes of Judah). Check out verses 7-15. Hazael reminds me of Macbeth, a once loyal man who betrays the trust of his king after receiving the revelation that he will become king.
Whereas Shakespeare's witches seem rather ungodly, Elisha -- who delivers the prophecy to Hazael -- is a prophet of the Lord, God. He delivers the prophecy in tears. Perhaps this served as a warning to Hazael and perhaps he had a choice in the matter. After all, just because someone tells you that you're going to become king, doesn't mean you have to follow that destiny: you have your own portion of responsibility.
Perhaps if you're currently studying Macbeth in school, you can drop a reference to these verses of the Bible in your next essay and gain extra gold stars for independent research and original comparative work.