Week 7: Tuesday The Trees

The legendary Canadian power trio RUSH recorded a song in 1978 titledThe Trees. It includes these lyrics:There is unrest in the forestTrouble with the treesFor the maples want more sunlightAnd the oaks ignore their pleasSo the maples formed a unionAnd demanded equal rightsThey say, “The oaks are just too greedyWe will make them give us light”Now there’s no more oak oppressionFor they passed a noble lawAnd the trees are all kept equalBy hatchet, axe, and sawThe song’s author, Neil Peart, was more than likely familiar with Jotham’sdiscourse on the trees. Peart was addressing issues of social inequalityand collectivism through the observed natural order. But Jotham isoutraged that his kinsman Abimelech has interrupted God’s natural orderby jumping the line and declaring himself king. This is an unfortunatedevelopment that can only end badly.