One of my favorite movies is The Godfather. It is a dark tale about the mafia and the nefarious underworld in which they live true, but the thing that I love about this movie is not that, but the story Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola tell about the family. What I found interesting this morning as I was reading in 1 Kings 2 about the death of King David and his final words to his son Solomon, was a parallel I'd never seen before. King David instructs his son to remain close to God, to follow in all of His ways, and to stay true to the law of Moses with all of his heart and soul, so that there will always be someone from the house of David sitting on the throne of Israel.
But then in verse 5 David says, "And there is something else..." and he begins to talk about some of the men who had caused problems for him. He tells Solomon to, "Do what you think is best." As I was reading this, a scene from the Godfather came to mind. Michael Corleone and his father are sitting in the garden talking about things that are to come in the very near future.
VITO CORLEONE:
So - Barzini will move against you first. He'll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust - guaranteeing your safety. And at that meeting, you'll be assassinated.
(Later) Now listen - whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting - he's the traitor don't forget that.
Then after the death of his father, Michael Corleone proceeds to take out the heads of the five families. It was an interesting thing for me this morning to see King David as an old man telling his son what to do after he was gone, and Vito Corleone instructing his son Michael in very much the same manner. Two powerful men, settling accounts with men who had done their fathers wrong.
Who would have ever thought that I would have seen something from the Bible like that in the movie The Godfather? Strange I know, but then strange is what works for me. Well there's that...strength and honor....
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