Give Us A King

GIVE US A KING

Israel had the most perfect government but didn’t know it. God was their king, offering all the rights and protection that any king can possibly offer, and more.

But even when they have it good, people want more. Blessed though they were with God as their king, they wanted to be like the nations around them and have an earthly king sitting on a throne ruling over them. "Appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have," Israel told the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 8:5).

"Samuel, just go tell those people what having a king will be like. Dispel their erroneous notions and perhaps they’ll give up their quest to be like the nations around them," God told the prophet. Samuel obeyed and delivered a stirring message that should have raised a some doubts and put the skids to this movement.

"You think you want a king? Do you know what having a king will be like? He’ll take your sons for military service, whether they want to go or not. He’ll use the strength of your sons to plow his own fields, not yours. Your daughters will be called to serve as his perfumers, cooks and bakers. Your fields and vineyards you have worked so hard to maintain and bear fruit will be confiscated by the king and given to his officials. Taxes will deplete you of cattle, crops and even your servants. When the grip of government control tightens around your necks and you cry out for relief, no one will help you in that day. Care to rethink your request for a king?"

"No, no!" the people answered back. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles" (1 Samuel 8:19-20). Freedom isn’t something you can force on people. God realized that, so he told Samuel to give the people the restrictive measures they requested. Only the grip of unlimited control will make them realize the safety and protection they thought they wanted from an earthly power was but the forerunner of oppression.

Freedom requires levels of personal responsibility and integrity that many people are not willing to muster. It is easier to be told when to plant and when to harvest. It is easier to be told how much to turn over to money handlers to set aside for our retirement (Social Security). It is easier to trust that the earthly powers to whom we submit seek our peace and safety. It is easier, but it is often delusional, too.

In a letter to Colonel Carrington, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The natural progression of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground." He added that the great confidence people have in President Washington could put them sleep, and that "after him, inferior characters may perhaps succeed, and awaken us to the danger which his merit had led us into." (Jefferson: Magnificent Populist, p.85). Jefferson feared that the trust the people of America put in the integrity of President Washington would cause them to lose the vigilance of studying, thinking and assessing the moral and political decline of the country. A very good leader makes a very lazy populace.

Israel could not have had a better leader than they did in God. But that wasn’t enough, and soon they were saddled with leaders who bled them dry economically, politically and morally. Young farmers raised to worked the land bequeathed to them by their fathers were driven from the land. Young widows, who should have at least had the comfort of knowing that the land was theirs, had even this resource ripped from their possession. "You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes," Micah railed against the leaders. "You take away my blessing (the land) from their children forever" (Micah 2:9).

Government is ordained of God, for sure (Romans 13:1). But no government was ever meant to supplant our primary devotion to God. Nor was any government ever meant to override our own responsibility to work and provide, by the grace of God, for our needs. No matter how appealing government may seem, remember the warning of Samuel that one day "you will cry out for relief" from the very government you begged to have rule over you.

Warren Baldwin

Honest Government

TIBERIUS GRACCHI

Honest scales and balances are from the Lord; all the weights in the bag are of his making. Kings detest wrongdoing, for a throne is established through righteousness." Proverbs 16:11-12

The great enemy of the people is a corrupt legal system and ruling elite. Years ago God stipulated that business practices and legal systems practice godly ethics and righteousness. This is not only honorable before God, but it provides the most wholesome opportunity for people to live lives of dignity.

One hundred and fifty years before Christ a wealthy and well-placed member of Roman society, Tiberius Gracchus, was returning home from war. Tiberius didn’t have to go to war. As a member of the upper class he could have sat out of military service. But, he was patriotic and wanted to do his part to ensure the health and vitality of the Roman Empire. So he enlisted.

Tiberius was excited to return home, but upon reaching the limits of his home territory he became very discouraged. Where once there had been numerous farm settlements there now was large tracts of abandoned land. Members of the wealthier classes had been acquiring the land for themselves and developing large estates.

Roman law stipulated that land taken from enemy countries should be made available for public use. The people fought for the land, so they should have access to it. Farmers, laborers, and even the poor would be allowed to rent land, up to three hundred and thirty acres, at a moderate fee to build houses and raise crops. The money they paid the government would go into the public treasury.

But the well-placed and powerful saw an opportunity for their own benefit. By using their position and power they were able to displace the laboring class from the land and take it over for themselves. They didn’t limit their take to only three hundred and thirty acres, either. They took as much land as they wanted to build their mansions or to rent it back to the farmers at much higher rates than the government originally had.

Tiberius was appalled by the complete disregard for the law and for the needs of the poor and working class. These people fought for Rome, yet when they returned from battle, many of them did not have a garden plot to raise their food or a house to sleep in. Within a few hundred yards of the wealthy estates poor people were starving. He decided to do rectify these wrongs.

Tiberius announced that the wealthy robbers should give up the lands they had taken. He did not make war on the wealthy, but he attacked the advantages they gained by doing wrong.

The people were happy and the land grabbers were angry. The wealthy accused Tiberius of disturbing the peace and said he should be killed. But, the great land reformer and advocate of honest government and fair policies did not back down. In a speech to the people he said: "The wild beasts of Italy have their dens and caves, but the brave men who spill their blood in her cause have nothing left but the light and the air. Without houses, without any settled homes, they wander from place to place with their wives and children. They fight and die in order to advance the wealth and luxury of the great. They are called the masters of the world, while they have not a foot of ground in their possession."

The poor elected Tiberius to public office and under his leadership much public land was returned to the people. In their great hatred for him the aristocrats schemed his death They believed that when he died and things went back to how they were, the poor would believe it was the will of the gods, and they would be content. At a public meeting the aristocrats rushed Tiberius and beat him to death with clubs. His body was thrown into the river. (Thomas E. Watson, Sketches from Roman History, Noontide Press).

No class in society is inherently evil or good. But, when one class uses its power inappropriately it can cause others to suffer intolerably. God envisions each class in society functioning in its role for the benefit of the whole community. Kings and other leaders are to detest wrongdoing and are to govern with ethics and concern for the people. The working class contributes labor producing food and other products for the good of all. When each functions as God intends, peace and prosperity is possible. But, when either class decides that labor and government can be manipulated for selfish ends, suffering ensues (cf. Proverbs 28:15).

The wisdom and ethics of Proverbs seeks to establish order in all spheres of life, including our personal lives, the family, neighborhood, work environment and even society at large. It is to the benefit of all that honest scales (ethical business) and righteous government prevails, because not every generation is fortunate enough to have a Tiberius rise up.

Warren Baldwin