Tao Bible - Jeremiah 39:10

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.
~ King James version ~

Tzu-ch'i of Nan-po was wandering around the Hill of Shang when he saw a huge tree there, different from all the rest. A thousand teams of horses could have taken shelter under it and its shade would have covered them all. Tzu-ch'i said, "What tree is this? It must certainly have some extraordinary usefulness!"

But, looking up, he saw that the smaller limbs were gnarled and twisted, unfit for beams or rafters, and looking down, he saw that the trunk was pitted and rotten and could not be used for coffins. He licked one of the leaves and it blistered his mouth and made it sore. He sniffed the odor and it was enough to make a man drunk for three days. "It turns out to be a completely unusable tree," said Tzu-ch'i, "and so it has been able to grow this big. Aha ! - it is this unusableness that the Holy Man makes use of!"
~ from Chapter 4 of the Zhuangzi ~

In the Biblical account, the Babylonians remove all the well-to-do from Israel and take them as captives back to Babylon. The poor are left behind to live in their homeland.

In the story by Chuang Tzu, the tree that is gnarled is not cut down, thereby allowing it to live out its life in peace.

Scott Bradley has written quite a bit about the usefulness of uselessness. In both cases above, those deemed as useless are the ones who come out unscathed.

Might there be a lesson here?

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