Knight Rider

Tales of heroes in the Bible are numerous and their stories are, quite frankly, unbelievable.
Are you "hero material"? Maybe you can be. 

I'm Jeremy Shank and this is the Religion and Chess blog for Aug 9, 2024.

Take a young shepherd boy named David tossing a sling shot stone into the forehead of some giant named Goliath.

How about a man called Samson who carried the gates of a city wall all the way out into a field far from town. His greatness was measured by the length of his hair. (None of our chess champions had hair quite like that, but they managed to have hair at least.)

The prophet Elijah ran with Flash⚡ like speed ahead of the chariot of Ahab when the flood storms came upon the land after a 7 year drought.

The stories go on. People tested by their faith and displaying great faith in the midst of incredible circumstances.

Maybe the last piece on the chess board you would think of as a "hero" would be that little horse figure. And, yet, I can think of numerous times where that little horse has gotten me out of a jam or helped pull off a win. Whoever thought this game up was really using their ol' noggin when they decided to make this piece move in an L shape. There's no other piece like it in any game none to man. I really can't think of anything to compare it to from any board game. Most pieces in any game follow a path, move up or down, side to side. Nobody else moves like this. 

Not only does it have that crazy L shape to move with but it can actually jump over other pieces. Nobody else on the whole board can do that. Compare that to Jesus walking on water. Who else can do that? Even the Queen in all her powerful splendor of moving in any direction all she wants doesn't have the ability to jump pieces, put the King in check and then swipe over and grab a Rook or a Bishop with that L move. The effectiveness of the piece has much to do with just how powerful you understand the Knight to be.

Here's some excellent advice on how to use the Knight move to your advantage.

I'm thinking of a similar animal from a Bible story that you might not think of as a hero.
But the way he was used is brutal, honest and even a bit cynical. (For the animal, anyway.)
We have to go to the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Numbers 22:21-41        New International Version
 
Balaam’s Donkey
21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. 22 But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. 23 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, it turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat it to get it back on the road.

24 Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides. 25 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat the donkey again.

26 Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. 27 When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat it with his staff. 28 Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”

29 Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

“No,” he said.

31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown.

32 The angel of the Lord asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.[a] 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”

34 Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back.”

35 The angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s officials.

36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite town on the Arnon border, at the edge of his territory. 37 Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send you an urgent summons? Why didn’t you come to me? Am I really not able to reward you?”

38 “Well, I have come to you now,” Balaam replied. “But I can’t say whatever I please. I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.”

39 Then Balaam went with Balak to Kiriath Huzoth. 40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep, and gave some to Balaam and the officials who were with him. 41 The next morning Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth Baal, and from there he could see the outskirts of the Israelite camp.
Footnotes
Numbers 22:32 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The donkey came to mind as I thought of that little chess piece. 
This four legged creature gets put through so much for the sake of our survival. 
Even on the board, how many of us sacrifice one or both of those horses too quickly and way too soon in the game? I used to live with a viewpoint that suggested that the real worth of the L jumper was to pick off the bishops and get them out of the way. All too often, my opponent was left with one or both knights and then slaughtered me into a corner submission of checkmate. I've seen it happen many times where those horses are sacrificed all too easily. 

If we stop to think the context through about Numbers 22, God seems to be with the people of Moab as well as with the people of Israel. As the Hebrew people are entering the Promised land, their instructions were to drive out all those who worshiped other gods, all those who did not follow the Lord God Almighty. But, Moab or Edom in the very south of the Canaan-land was technically a part of the over all area known later as Israel. And, it's all because of another Old Testament character. Esau. Remember the story of Jacob and Esau? The elder brother sold his birthright away for a bowl of venison. It is later that he and his descendants take up residence all the way to the south in this region known as Edom. And, it shouldn't be any surprise that there is some knowledge here of the Lord in this place. The king of Moab is scared that these people who came from Egypt will over run their land. And, so, lets call on our "holy man" to come and pronounce some kind of rejection on them. Some kind of denouncement that will drive them away. 

Couple life lessons here...
(Maybe has nothing to do with chess)
It's easy to think that God is with us and that we are right about everything while everyone else around us need to listen or get things right. The Moab king does not seem to know that God is the one leading this enormous band of people into the land. A similar mindset leads us in today's world when we see success or blessings happening in another church or group of people. We get greedy. We get envious. We get scared for our own existence. Its funny or weird how seeing someone else experiencing growth and blessing brings out the worst in us instead of a hearty blessing in return. "Congratulations man, Your people were in bondage in Egypt for....what? 400 years? Man, I bet you guys are glad to get out of that place. And, God is leading you here. Well, man, this place is pretty cool. We've been living here for a long time. Come on in and see for yourselves." Nope. We get defensive. We get hasty. We get down right nasty thinking about what we could have for ourselves and, quite frankly, we don't want anybody else to experience what we have found ourselves. 

It can be that way right here in this arena as well. 
I appreciate when people want to help others learn and grow on this chess board. 
All these blogs are full of rich content that people want to share to help others learn the game.
In the church, our work is to make disciples. We are here to help other know what it means to follow Jesus. Not what it means to be a member of our group or organization. Not to inflict our viewpoint on them and them a follower of us. I might be drifting away from where I began here. We were focusing on that little knight piece and I'm getting on my soap box about different issues. Maybe we can bring it all together....

Heroes. Knights. Donkeys. Chess boards. Bibles. 
We got all the right ingredients for a pizza buffet.
(Only there are sermons and chess lessons here instead of pizza.)
BOO!!!!! you say. Yea....I know. 

Who is the real hero in the Balaam story?
What's the real lesson here?
That donkey is the real hero. 
The lesson is that God can speak through anybody. 
Sometimes that little knight is thought of as an insignificant piece. 
We like power and being able to move clear across the board if we want. 
Diagonally or in a row or column. What's a little L jump going to do? 
The donkey in the story of Balaam is beaten, not once but twice, just because Balaam is frustrated and can't see what the donkey sees. How many times on the chess board or in life do we get upset because we can't see ahead a few moves? We don't understand what is coming next and we take matters into our own hands and the whole thing winds up a blunder.
If we could slow down and think a few moves ahead, maybe we can find a different answer instead of jumping to conclusions. Who hasn't toss their knight into trouble or sacrificed their horse for a bishop too quickly? 

30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

Man, just the other day I got into trouble against ReverendK.
In a game where I thought I had the upper hand at one point; just a few moves later, I find my self staring down two gallant riders. (You can imagine where this goes from the screenshot.) It didn't end well. 

A hero can be a small, smelly, hairy creature. A hero can be someone from our sci-fi world. A hero can be anyone willing to do the small work. Next to the King, the horse makes the smallest moves. (Well, the pawn....) In life, we don't have to do the big mighty things to be doing what God wants us. Oswald Chambers would talk about doing the everyday, mundane things and doing it all for the glory of God. 

I came across this in my awards and medals area today.
I don't remember this game. I'd have to dig through my history and figure out what game it was. 
But, it's nice to know I actually pulled off a win this way.

Go for the gold, folks. Be a hero.