Money, Sex and Power

Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. Micah 2:1 ESV

Beds – What do you think about when you lay awake at night, unable to sleep? What comes to mind when your mind is free of the day’s distractions? Perhaps we get a better insight into our true selves in those moments when we waver on the verge of unconsciousness, when we aren’t yet asleep but not wide awake. Perhaps the ghosts and goblins of our unrestricted psyches give us cause to shudder at what might be true.

When the prophet speaks to the ones who devise wicked plans as they lay awake, he uses the Hebrew word mishkebot. Yes, it means “beds,” specifically, the place of lying, the couches of rest. But the root of the word gives us a better appreciation for the strength of the word. That root is shakab, “to lie down.” It occurs most frequently in connection with two human actions: sex and death. In fact, most of the derivatives of shakab are connected with illicit sexual relations such as adultery, fornication and homosexuality. All of these actions involve the death penalty so perhaps it isn’t so unusual to see the other nuance of this word associated with lying down to die. When the Bible uses a word that implies legitimate sexual involvement, it uses the word yada’, not shakab.

With this in mind, the derivative mishkab takes on a dark coloring. These are not beds of married delight. These are not places of shabbat rest. These are scheming couches, places where plans of abuse and destruction are concocted. These are beds where illicit, damaging strategies are conceived, contrived and completed. The nighttime, when the social and spiritual restrictions of the day are temporarily set aside, become the seedbed of wickedness. Convinced they are able to make what was barely a dream become a reality for personal advantage, these devisers arise refreshed to commit sin. The bed produces violence rather than harmony. And in its wake comes the second nuance of shakab—death.

What do you think about when you lay on your bed, unhampered by the press of responsibilities and the restraint of divine expectations? What objectives come to you in the semi-consciousness of your dreams? What fantasies do you entertain? Are you lying on the mishkab of Micah’s judgment? Or have you taken every thought captive?

Topical Index: dream, fantasy, bed, mishkab, shakab, sex, death, Micah 2:1