When Jotham was told about this, he climbed up on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you. One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king.’
“But the olive tree answered, ‘Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’
“Next, the trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and be our king.’
“But the fig tree replied, ‘Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’
“Then the trees said to the vine, ‘Come and be our king.’
“But the vine answered, ‘Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’
“Finally all the trees said to the thornbush, ‘Come and be our king.’
“The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’
- Judges 9:7-15
But Jehoash king of Israel replied to Amaziah king of Judah: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, ‘Give your daughter to my son in marriage.’ Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?”
- 2 Kings 9-10
“Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell it to the Israelites as a parable. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A great eagle with powerful wings, long feathers and full plumage of varied colors came to Lebanon. Taking hold of the top of a cedar, he broke off its topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted it in a city of traders.
“‘He took one of the seedlings of the land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water, and it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out leafy boughs.
“‘But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and full plumage. The vine now sent out its roots toward him from the plot where it was planted and stretched out its branches to him for water. It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine.’
“Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? All its new growth will wither. It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots. It has been planted, but will it thrive? Will it not wither completely when the east wind strikes it—wither away in the plot where it grew?’”
- Ezekiel 17:2-10
and say:
“‘What a lioness was your mother
among the lions!
She lay down among them
and reared her cubs.
She brought up one of her cubs,
and he became a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey
and he became a man-eater.
The nations heard about him,
and he was trapped in their pit.
They led him with hooks
to the land of Egypt.
“‘When she saw her hope unfulfilled,
her expectation gone,
she took another of her cubs
and made him a strong lion.
He prowled among the lions,
for he was now a strong lion.
He learned to tear the prey
and he became a man-eater.
He broke down their strongholds
and devastated their towns.
The land and all who were in it
were terrified by his roaring.
Then the nations came against him,
those from regions round about.
They spread their net for him,
and he was trapped in their pit.
With hooks they pulled him into a cage
and brought him to the king of Babylon.
They put him in prison,
so his roar was heard no longer
on the mountains of Israel.
- Ezekiel 19:2-9
I was thinking about an upcoming Deviled Yeggs mystery. A teenager will wear a wire to hear a conversation in a corner booth. But then, there might need to be back-up technology…
It is not like I have not added things that do not exist before.
Pauline Niblick has her death grip that is not a grip, and it has never killed anyone … yet. She taught the technique to Polly Pulice, soon to be married to Handy Randy (Randall Handel). I did my research. There really is no such thing, but police are always trying to find such things. If we had a non-lethal means of apprehending a suspect that has no bad side effects, people would use it. In mixed martial arts (MMA) they have this theory that if you hit someone near the temple hard enough you can kill them, but if it is a glancing blow, the nervous system goes crazy, and the person becomes unconscious temporarily. So, if you hit them in “just the right spot” they collapse. Many of the fighters live by this idea, but there must be long-lasting results of such a blow.
Blaise, commissioned by the Rogues Scholars of the Rogues’ Gallery, invented a stun ray that takes Pauline’s non-death non-grip to the next level. The unconscious part is only half as long, but you can target multiple targets with a single pulse, not harming anyone that was not targeted. I have a feeling that this device is being investigated worldwide. Blaise would not let the government have any part of it, seeing the ways that the device could be used for evil purposes. Also, he was concerned that ramping up the power could make the device a lethal weapon.
I hope people understand that when I wrote the first Deviled Yeggs mystery, Dev Yeggs wanted to be the best dick Tracy ever had. “Dick” as in an idiom meaning “detective.” But it got the phrase Dick Tracy in there. That gave me the name of the city. It only felt right in naming the streets after certain characters in the comic strip series. In about three weeks, a new Pauline Niblick Misadventure will reveal the streets where the Niblicks and the Yeggs live. Dev Yeggs and the Levys live on Chester Lane. The Niblicks live in the next cul-de-sac on Edna Lane. Chester and Edna Tracy were the parents of Dick Tracy. But then again, Chester Gould created the comic strip.
But while we are on the subject of marginally plausible devices or techniques in a fictional story, science fiction blended with other genres. People laughed at Chester Gould’s two-way radio watches that the police used. Chester Gould did not back down. He added a video feature. We can have telephone calls and video calls with our telephones these days, and I have had telephone conversations over my watch. My son complained that signal was a bit choppy, so I discontinued the feature. Gould was just ahead of his time.
But as for the Old Testament parables above. They are a bit allegorical and a bit parable. Jotham, the last surviving member of Gideon’s 70+ sons tells the parable of a thornbush becoming the king of the trees. This is after Israel asked Abimelek to become their judge after Abimelek, a son of Gideon through a concubine, killed all his brothers except for Jotham. Then in 2 Kings 14, Jehoash compares Amaziah to a thistle compared to his cedar to give the idea to Amaziah that he should not think of war. Amaziah did not listen though.
Eagles might snatch a twig from a cedar, but would the eagle replant it? Highly unlikely. But for a shoot from a cedar to become a vine instead of a baby cedar, now we are getting into the implausible range. But God had a purpose. His remnant that would return needed to flourish where they were planted. So that they could be a strong “nation” when the remnant returned. I used quotation marks in that they would not be the same kind of nation, thus a shoot from a cedar becoming a vine.
Ezekiel tells another story about a family of lions. That story is plausible, if turned into the tribe of Judah. Specifically, the two young lions being Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin. The story is a lament of the destruction of Jerusalem and the earthly end to the Davidic dynasty. Jesus would emerge and will return. But for now, they must lament.
Fables and Parables have been used by God and the secular world to relate moral truths and the consequences of ignoring those moral tenets. They are obviously beyond the range of being plausible, at least in many cases, but if the listener or reader relates to the intent of the story, the moral of the story, then the implausible has a plausible and tangible result.
So, if people do not like my whimsy or they think something too far out there to be believable, I may just be ahead of my time. But after I got into the groove of writing these stories, they went from a fanciful mystery story to having a look at a group of Christians trying to make sense out of life in this fallen world of ours. Hopefully there are some moral lessons along the way. Then, the implausible becomes a conduit for the plausible and tangible. And maybe a point is made without being preachy. If not, I hope they amuse you.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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