Okay, I'm back for the last reading.
It's from Ezekiel, and is in preparation for Passover, which is coming up in two weeks or so.
He's explaining how God has laid out societal obligations of the people and the rulers.
Suffice it to say, God is not happy. The kings and princes have been taking property from people for personal use. They have been hoarding more than the fair share of contributions that are supposed to be offered to God.
He tells them to quit it.
The passage opens with the statement that people must still make expiation for their own transgressions. They have to pull their own weight, just like the rulers. But it is the ruler's job to apportion sacrifices properly, to make sure there isn't thievery and that everyone is contributing their fair share.
And they have to pay their contributions just like everyone else.
They don't get to give the public monies to their friends or family. They don't get to invest the public pension fund in the rare coin business of a wealthy ally. They don't get to mix lobbying funds with tax money and go on public junkets to confer with quasi-enemies of the nation.
They have been entrusted with power. In our society, that's by the people. In all societies, it's by the grace of God. And God thinks words and sucking up is nice and all, but he really cares a lot about what you are DOING with THINGS that BELONG TO OTHER PEOPLE.
Every once in a while, says Ezekiel, you have to cleanse the temple with a sacrifice. Why? Because unwitting or ignorant people may have defiled it.
You have to do periodic accounting, in other words, because we all screw up. Sometimes, we forgot to carry the one on our taxes. Then, we have to do something to fix it.
And Ezekiel lays out exactly how much from the public stores that the Prince is supposed to give to the priests ... just so that there isn't any funny business. Why are the unwitting subjects forgiven, but not the goofy ruler? Because he's been entrusted with the community pool of resources.
The ruler will perform his expiation publically at the gates of the temple, and then the people will attend to their business at the temple throughout the day. The ruler's business is transparent, and it provides the example of right conduct for all the other people.
At the same time, the ruler doesn't get to witness any of the other people's expiations. He has to leave after doing his business with the priests, just like everyone else. The business of each subject is PRIVATE. The doings of the ruler are PUBLIC.
Finally, Ezekiel talks about governmental (royal) land and citizen's (people's) land. The ruler can lend out a gift to a subject for a short time, but it must revert to the royal line when he dies. This is true of land or any property.
In our system, the same is true. Administrations can give short-term leases to companies or citizens, but LOOTING is when they intend to transfer public land or monies wholesale to private hands in perpetuity.
At the same time, the ruler cannot take the property of subjects and give it to his sons.
We have slightly different rules. The government can buy out land from people. Yet, we don't have different rules ... a good President doesn't seize the assets of the people and dispense them to a select few.
This is the recurring theme.
Transparency of governmental business and governmental transgression prevents the misappropriation of property. In so far as the rulers are citizens, they can't have their property stolen by the public treasury. But, the trust involved in the public's pooled resources requires that it not be given hastily to an assembled few, but serve to deal with the problems and transgressions of the society as a whole.