Greatest line of the last year – It seems that we woke up one morning and discovered that somehow, to be psychotic and delusional became a right to be protected, rather than an illness to be cured.
I don’t now who said it but it is an amazing line and so true. Something to think about in the New Year. Long ago when David was fleeing Saul who was crazy and had tried to kill him several times, he fled to the King of Gath and the servants of the King knew it was David and they knew that he had killed Goliath who was a hero of Gath. As they began to discuss all this David got nervous, and in order to escape what was shaping up to be a scary situation, he started to act like he was crazy. He scratched at the city gates and let his spit drip off his beard. When he was finally set before the King, he, the King said something amazing – “Do I have a shortage of madmen that you brought this fellow to me?” That is a great question. We certainly do not seem to have any shortage of lunatics, and the fact that they seem to have strong supporters should not go unnoticed. Every year at this time we have lists of people or movies or sporting events of note. It might be interesting to have a list of nut jobs over the last year and see who is number one.
In the near and mid- east the insane are supposed to be Divinely inspired and to be under the Divine protection. Supposedly that is why David did what he did at the court of Achish. According to a Bible commentary I read, it is only within the last few years that any provision has been made in Palestine for the restraint even of dangerous lunatics, and there are many insane persons wandering at large there. That explains a lot I guess. But the question remains how did it become a right to be protected rather than an illness to be healed?
