Yesterday I was in the library searching for a book on everyday life in 18th century Yorkshire. As I was browsing the shelves, I made a blindingly obvious realisation - the English define their history by their monarchs. And it goes beyond just a handy label for a period, there is the idea that the monarch emodies something essential about the character of the nation. So Victorian England was prudish because Victoria was prudish. Restoration England was extravagant because Charles II was extravagant. And so on.
It made me think a little about the monarchs of Israel and Judah. In those instances too, the king "sums up" the national character. So when a king is going astray, you find the whole nation is going astray as well. Makes you wonder - does the country make the king, or does the king make the country?
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