Thankfully God has already blessed me with an iPad. If he hadn’t this might be another post about wrestling with my own consumerism in spite of rampant poverty around the world. Instead I can look at the iPad Mini without any envy or need to buy. I’m happy with my full-size iPad but I can see how someone might want a smaller version.
Here are some biblical people and objects that also could have done with a smaller version.
The Ark
I helped build a church in Honduras and it was a lot of work. It wasn’t a large structure but hand-mixing cement and moving cement blocks took a lot out of me. If I struggled with building a small church I cannot imagine how Noah handled building the Ark. The Ark was 450’ long, 75’ wide and 45’ high. That is an extremely large boat and I would not have wanted to be the one to build it. If I were Noah I would have bargained with God and asked him if we could make the Ark a little smaller. Noah could have left behind some of the uglier animals like snakes and naked mole rats. Maybe the Ark was supposed to be bigger and Noah did negotiate a smaller boat, which meant unicorns had to be left behind.
Eglon
Eglon is one of my favorite biblical characters because the Bible basically calls him a big fat guy. Jacob is known as the father of a nation, David is known as a man after God’s own heart and Eglon is known as a big fat fatty. If Eglon had been a little smaller maybe he could have jumped out of the way when Ehud stabbed him. Even if he couldn’t have avoided getting killed, had he been a little smaller he wouldn’t be remembered as the Jabba the Hutt of the Bible.
The Wall
I love the story of Nehemiah. He totally shows that leadership is at its strongest when it is completely dependent on God. God gave Nehemiah an enormous task: to repair the wall around Jerusalem. I’ve been to Jerusalem and it’s not a giant city like Los Angeles, but I wouldn’t want to build a wall around it. Had the wall been a little smaller Nehemiah’s task might have been a little easier. Had the wall been a little smaller, though, Nehemiah might not have depended on God as much to complete the task.
Smaller doesn’t always mean better but in the case of Noah and Jeremiah it would have meant a little easier. And for Eglon it would have meant a little less embarrassment in death. I don’t know if smaller is better for an iPad, but I’m happy with my Angry Birds as they are.
What other Bible characters or objects could have benefitted from a reduction in size?
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