(Gen 14:14 KJV) And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
There are those who are taken captive, like trapped animals in cages, fish in tanks, insects in jars and then there are human hostages. So why are we outraged by human hostages but barely moved by other creatures taken into captivity? And is captivity really that bad? After all… creatures in the wild have to constantly search for food, face the elements and live always with the threat of predators… how much safer is a box with a window and a keeper who shoves food through a hole everyday and pets us?
Yes I am being sarcastic… there is something about being ‘naturally free’ that evokes fear in the captive heart. Creatures born and raised in captivity are almost lost when released back into the wild having had their natural instincts corrupted. More than this, captive human criminals nearly always become recidivist offenders either through habit or because there is a comfort factor in prison that is easier than living in an alien world.
Looking back at the Old Testament we see a common theme - Most of the truly Godly Jews were nomadic tribesman that lived freely in nature bereft of kingship. In fact most of their struggles were about either maintaining or obtaining their liberation from captivity and slavery to men, until they opted to have a King other than God…
So what is so wrong with living freely in the fields and forests and why is it considered wild, when so called civilization just cloaks the wildness with clothes, walls and laws… and much of what occurs behind closed doors is probably lawless?
‘Wild and free’ men are considered dangerous by society because they are ‘above the law’ as indeed is…. God.
Moses tried to lead the Jews out of slavery in Egypt into the freedom of the wilderness but he struggled to remove the memory, habits and luxuries of Egypt out of the Jews. John the Baptist was the first hero in the New Testament and he was a ‘wild man’, Jesus was probably his best friend and one wonders if he was any less ‘wild’ than John the Baptist- since he also spent much of his time in the mountains and only came into the towns to save sinners with his word and his works…. Did Jesus have a house and a mortgage?
So why do we put up with the comfort of our captivity and slavery, like frogs in tanks of water being boiled slowly? Probably because we do not see our tanks as ‘captivity’, being born into a human society, it is considered normal to obey the laws of that society. So apathy always prevails…. until the frog or that which it values, is brought close to extinction. After all , what is wrong with captivity, when one has food and a place to sleep?
Yet, there is still a greater prison that we fail to see because its benefits make us blind and we cling to this captivity, without even recognizing that its walls are just flesh and blood.
(John 8:31-34 KJV) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin
CAPTIVITY