There is an old nursery rhyme that, I think, comes from England:

This rhyme is about Guy Fawkes Day and tells us that Guy Fawkes commemorates an event in history when treason of a very serious nature was committed. 401 years ago, in the year 1605, a number of Roman Catholics in England who felt that they were discriminated against by the Protestant majority and leadership in the country, planned what was later known as "The Gunpowder Plot" against the authorities, who were scheduled to meet for the official opening of Parliament on the 5th of November that year. Preparations began more than a year before and a tunnel was dug from a neighbouring house to a spot directly below the Parliament building where 36 barrels of gunpowder were accumulated to enable the rebels to blow up the entire building. The name of the person appointed to set the fuses alight, was Guy Fawkes. However, the authorities heard about the conspiracy and in the night between 4 and 5 November the cellars underneath parliament were searched and Guy Fawkes was arrested. He was tortured until he gave the names of his fellow conspirators. A few months later Guy Fawkes, and several others, were hanged, with the charge of treason.

So, Guy Fawkes day is the commemoration of some kind of treason that took place more than 400 years ago – during the dark hours of night in some dark corners of England. I am not sure that there is any reason for us today to have anything to do with this feast or celebration, or whatever it is called. Why all this urgency to remember a night of gunpowder, treason and plot (as the nursery rhyme compels us to do) when very little is done to remember a treason of a much more serious nature – the treason against the Almighty and his laws? One dictionary says "treason is the highest crime of a civil nature of which a man can be guilty." What about crimes of a moral nature? What about mankind’s rebellion against the Almighty? Is it not betrayal when the trust and lovingkindness of the Creator is trampled upon? Should unfaithfulness and disloyalty and disobedience against Yahweh, the supreme One, not be regarded as treason of the highest order?

Guy Fawkes is celebrated in November, the eleventh month of the Gregorian calendar. It is equal to the eighth month of the Scriptural calendar. Interestingly enough, in Scriptures we learn of another celebration, also in the eighth month, that is linked very closely to a well known king of Yisrael, which is remembered up to this day for his acts of treason – not only against his earthly superiors but also against Yahweh, the Almighty. The king is Yaravam (Jeroboam) and the celebration I am referring to, was the feast that he ordained to be celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month, in Beit El, as a substitute for the regular Feast of Tabernacles to be held in Yerushalayim, in the seventh month. Let us take a closer look at this infamous king of Yisrael and his acts of treason and see if we can learn anything from his life and, especially, from the acts of treason that he committed.

History proves that Yaravam, even as a young man, made a series of wrong choices that eventually earned him the reputation as the king who had set a standard of rebellion and disobedience against Yahweh and his ways – a standard upheld, and carried further, by many of the subsequent kings of Yisrael. When the prophet told him that he was going to become king of the Northern tribes, Shelomo (Solomon) was still king of both the Southern and the Northern tribes. Yaravam, in his eagerness to see the fulfilment of the prophesy, tried to lift up his hand against king Shelomo, soon after he had received the prophesy. We are not told what form of rebellion this was, but we know that the timing was completely misplaced and Yaravam was subsequently forced to flee to Mitsrayim (Egypt). In the same way our own eagerness and inability to wait upon Yahweh, and his perfect timing, often paves the way for much sorrow and even suffering, that could so easily have been avoided.

The "highlight" (or lowest point) of Yaravam’s career of treason came when he turned his back on the rules of worship that Yahweh had established. Not wanting his people to come into any unnecessary contact with the house of Dawid (and the kingdom of Regavam) in Yerushalayim, he appointed Beit-El and Dan as the two new centres of worship for Yisrael and made two calves of gold as symbols of the strength and creative power of Yahweh, setting them up in the places of worship in Beit-El and Dan. He instituted a new, non-Levitical priesthood, which meant that anyone who wished could act as one of the priests of the high places. And above all, he took it upon himself to tamper with the appointed times of Yahweh by moving the time of the Feast of Tabernacles exactly one month forward. A short-sighted person may look at all of these changes that Yaravam introduced and conclude that they were clever and strategic political moves. But Yahweh’s Word, and history, remind us that through straightforward disobedience Yaravam opened the door for idolatry, immorality and eventually, the disintegration of the Northern Tribes of Yisrael. When later kings, like Omri, did what was wrong in the eyes of Yahweh, they received a testimonial, saying: "He walked in the ways of Yaravam, son of Nevat, and in his sin by which he had made Yisrael to sin, provoking Yahweh, Elohim of Yisrael with their worthlessness (or "emptiness").

Whether we are leaders or followers, we need to ask ourselves if perhaps we have allowed any form of worthlessness or emptiness to threaten our loyalty and our faithfulness to Yahweh, our Creator and our only Redeemer. Perhaps, like Yaravam, we have tried to avoid one trap and over a period of time have fallen into a much bigger one. Some of us, perhaps, may still struggle with rebellion against keeping the commandments of Yahweh. Or with some form of idolatry – thinking that our calves of gold are not that "bad" because they are symbols of the strength of Yahweh – they are used with good intentions. Perhaps we still view the feasts of Yahweh as something that we may ignore or even replace with other feasts as we see fit. Whatever form of treason against the Almighty we may be involved in – even of the slightest nature – Yaravam’s life is a reminder that we need to mend our ways. And remember, Yahweh our Father is capable of turning something very bad into something very good – in the same way that He turned the calamity of the disintegration of the Northern Tribes into a keynote event within the bigger picture of people emerging from all the nations of the earth, choosing to follow Yahweh and to be identified as part of the people of Yisrael!