"Man was not meant to rule over man"
This profound statement I heard for the first time when the dean of the Bible school I was aboutto attend was speaking to the new students. I took her words to heart and kept them in the back ofmy mind. I already agreed with the general concept though I did not realize or understand the deepermeanings and implications until a few years later. I have always been a student of history and to adegree political science.
When I read the book of 1st Samuel I came across the part where Samuel is speaking to God abouthow the people were demanding an earthly king. They wanted a king "just like the other nations". Samuel apologized to God for the people turning from Samuel as their "leader" though that word really doesn't describe his role. Samuel was a prophet of the Lord. He would get messages from God. If he had a question he was able to call upon God and actually get a direct response. Something we all may want, to be able to ask and get a response. This is the interaction.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Behold, you have grown old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us aking to judge us—like all the nations.” But the matter was displeasing in Samuel’s eyes when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to Adonai.7 Then Adonai said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, rather they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds that they have done since the day I brought them out of Egypt to this day—forsaking Me and worshiping other gods—so they are doing to you also.
As can be seen, God told Samuel there was no need to be sorry for it was not he, Samuel, theyhad rejected as their defacto leader. It was God Himself as their King they rejected for an earthly king.God had told the Israelites they were not to be like other nations. They were to be different from allnations. Israel was to be a nation of His priests to all the nations. But, people being people and theIsraelites were no different, they wanted what they wanted, and they wanted it ~now~.God with a heart of love, agreed and said to give the people what they wanted, an earthly king. Itsounds all well and good, but, man being left to fulfill his own desires tends to make a mess of things.
This reminds me of a short story where God and Satan are talking during the Creation process.Satan asks to help in the creation of man. God responds "You want what? You want me to let youhelp create man?" Satan replied: "No, man's laws." God said: "You want me to allow you to create thelaws for man?!" Satan again replied: "No, not at all, I want you to let them do it...."And we see today how man making his own laws has allowed the murdering of babies, the abrogationof God's institute of marriage and a host of other "legalized" insanities.
So, getting back to Samuel and the Israelites and their wanting an earthly king to be their judge,we see the same effect. Kings make laws, then are the judge of said laws. And so God said to give them an earthly king of their own; but, and it's a BIG caveat disclaimer. God told Samuel to tell them they can have their king but you give them this sober warning. BasicallyGod was saying "buckle up, you're about to get what you think you want...".
God as a Divine and perfect King was now to be replaced by an imperfect human, subject to the same lusts, greed, vanitiesof any other person. Contrary to the belief of monarchs through the ages, they were NOT "divine" andthereby "perfect". Their rulings were not "divine", far from it. To this, the inevitable, God was warning the people of what was to come of their demands.
So now, listen to their voice. However, you must earnestly forewarn them, and declare to them the rulings of the king who will reign over them.” Now Samuel reported all the words of Adonai to the people who were asking him for a king. “This will be the practice of the king that will reign over you,”
Gee, what could go wrong? This is God's warning about having an earthly "king" or "ruler".
“He will draft your sons and assign them as his charioteers and horsemen, and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint them as commanders of thousands and captains of fifties, also some to plow his fields, reap his harvest, make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots. Also he will take your daughters to be perfumers,10. cooks and bakers. He will seize the best of your fields, vineyards and olive groves, and give them to his courtiers. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage and give it to HIS officials and slaves. He will also take your male and female servants, your best young men and your donkeys and make them do HIS work. He will also take the tenth of your flocks. Then you yourselves will become his slaves. The king will draft the sons to be in his army. They will "run before his chariots", (protecting the king from the enemies of the king.) (1 Sam 8)
By extension, this means the king will start and enter wars at his discretion and will use your sons to fight and die in those wars for his fame, glory, power, "ego". The king will take your children, servants to work for him. This can be seen through the income tax as we spend one third of our annual income to the government. The king will tax you, your land, income, possessions, and purchases. Eventually the king will completely take you as well.
The king will take some of your sons to plow HIS fields, not your fields, HIS! (where did he get those fields you may ask?) They will reap the king's harvest from HIS fields, not your harvest from your fields. He will have your sons make HIS weapons of war, armor, swords, spears, bows, arrows, chariots; today these are guns, bullets, aircraft, missiles, submarines, aircraft carriers and so on. He will take your daughters too, to cook for him, be his servant(s), and HIS property! He will TAKE the best of YOUR fields, orchards, vineyards for himself. He will use his ability to levytaxes, and a host of justifications for the "king's" lust for power and wealth. (This is where he got those fields mentioned, they WERE once your fields!) The King will take a tenth of your wealth (taxation) and give it to HIS subordinates and slaves. (Today we call that corruption, graft, "pay for play", payoffs, bribes.)(Any of this sounding familiar yet?!) The king will continue to take your sons and daughters to be his "servants"; we see how well that works out with young female interns.
As the ruler's wealth and power grows, it is self feeding, as with any human being there is the desire for more and when you have the power to just take without anyone or anything able to stopyou, it just keeps going. He will continue to take from you, regardless of what it is, all the king needs is his desire to do so and it's done. Just try and say "NO!" to the government! See what happens then. Finally he will take your freedom, "and you will be his slaves".
When he has taken everything from you and you can no longer pay your taxes, the king will take the only thing you have left, your freedom. History has shown this happens in every nation and government that ever existed. People have been jailed for simply speaking against a king or a government. The prophetic words of Samuel hold true to today. God closes His warnings with the following:
18 When the day comes and you cry out because of your king, whom YOU have chosen for yourselves, Adonai will not answer you on that day.”
So when they realize their mistakes and Israel cries out as a result, God tells them ahead of time,He will not answer. It doesn't say He won't hear them, just He won't answer.It says "YOU" have chosen, thus we have "elected" him (her), we as an earthly people have made the decision. No longer do we look to God to select a person to be our ruler, we have taken that responsibility onto ourselves. After all, don't we know better than God who would be the best ruler? One day, maybe, just maybe we'll finally get it through our hearts, minds, souls, that there is only one ruler to be over man, God, Messiah Yeshua. Since we ourselves have also turned away from God as our King, he will turn away from us when we complain about the king "we" have chosen. What's required is first to turn back to Him; but I'm getting ahead of myself.
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel, and they said, “No! But a king should be over us! So we may become like all the nations—having our king who will judge us, go out before us and fightour battles.”
It says they would then be like all the nations. This is a very accurate statement. It is interesting how they claim the king will fight their battles, when in reality, the king is using them and their children to fight HIS battles.
No matter what type of government, "monarchy", "Tetrarchy", "Empire", "republic", "democracy", "theocracy"; no matter what economic system, "communist", "capitalist", "socialist", "nationalist", "fascist"; all have one thing in common, they are comprised of "people", "man (and woman)" . All fall into the same list of failures and society crushing attributes listed. They ALL do exactly the same things. The political class gets more power and wealth as the people get to lose eventually all they
have, even their freedom.
The government God wanted in place was the family. The family is God's design for society. The father runs the family as its head, watching out for their safety, providing their sustenance. Themother then with the father's direction, molds the family, the children, into young adults as they then take on their respective roles and duties as they form their own families. This is God's design. No "government", no "king" to rule and oppress, suppress and crush the people. This is why the man, the head of the household is so heavily focused on in the Bible. It's not a"men are better than women" thing. It has to do with how God wanted the family and thereby thesociety to function.
The closest thing to a government God wanted was a series of judges in each locality to settle disputes. Once the Biblical family unit is understood, the rest makes sense.
coming soon, The Government We Deserve,
“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” — Proverbs 14:34
'People Get the Government They Deserve' Alexander Hamilton
