No more brambles

Text: Judges 9:8-15 “The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us…Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us…Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us…Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon,” (KJV).

The scripture from the Book of Judges talks about the parable of Jotham, who gave a parable of the gathering of the trees, which came to elect or appoint who shall be the king of the trees.

He was referring to leadership, because a man called Abimelech had wangled his way unto the seat of power in government.

He was not the rightful man that was supposed to be there and so, Jotham gave the parable of the trees.

In the parable, he sets forth four different types of trees; each represents four different types of leaders. Let’s consider the following leaders:

Holier Than Thou Leaders
As the trees gathered to elect or appoint their head, they all unanimously agreed that the olive tree was the most qualified to seat on the throne and rule the nation.

To their surprise the olive tree declined and said “…..Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?” The olive tree is a type of believers, Christians and children of God in the church, who are so holier than thou, who don’t believe in involving themselves in politics, who can never accept to be part of the Babylonian system. They believe they have to separate completely the church from the state and have nothing to do with politics. And though they are very qualified, they refuse to get involved.

Professional/Career Leaders
And when the trees discovered that the olive was not forthcoming, they had to make another election and unanimously the fig tree was chosen.

“But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?” “I will not be able.”

The fig tree represents the professionals, those with good careers. They usually say, ‘I will not leave my career to run after political office, because I’m not sure of it. The fig tree also withdrew.

Economically Empowered Leaders
The trees had to gather again for another election. And this time the vine tree was voted. “And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?” The vine tree represents the businessmen and women, those who have companies everywhere, those who are economically empowered and very fruitful. And the vine tree said, ‘No, I will not leave my business enterprise, where I am right now. I am already making it and will continue making it and will never involve myself in dirty politics. The vine tree withdrew.

Worthless Leaders
Who do we now pick to be the king of the trees? They now had another election, and seeing that all the most qualified candidates have declined, there was no other person left again except the BRAMBLE. And unanimously they voted the bramble, and the bramble exclaimed in excitement and rejoiced.

The bramble is not even a tree. It is a shrub and does not even bear any fruit. It has nothing to offer its generation. The bramble is covered with thorns and thistles.

It is very dangerous and injurious. It is very autocratic and brings his people under total subjection. But in as much as all the qualified ones had withdrawn, the only person they could lay hold of was the bramble. Mr. Bramble is unproductive, good for nothing, dangerous and worthless.

We have bramble leaders all over the world. I pray the right man gets unto the seat of authority in Nigeria and all the states in the federation.

Rev. Theodore Effiong
Assemblies of God Church, Calabar
Or Prayer To All Nations (PTAN),
Prayer City, Calabar. CRS
Email: theoeffiong@yahoo.com
Phone – +234 9030012007, +234 7031921770