I just came across this, and I found it fascinating. No, it's not actually a biblical model ... as in a mandate ... but ... well, you decide. Turn in your bibles to Deuteronomy. Yes, Deuteronomy. (Most of us avoid that one.) In the first chapter, Moses lays out the reason they were in the desert for 40 years. They refused to trust God and to obey His command to go in and take the Promised Land. So ... every single adult in that group who refused died in the desert before the children of Israel could go in (Deut 1:19-46).
But before he lays that out, Moses tells them of the trouble he had with their sheer numbers. "I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. YHWH your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number" (Deut 1:9-10). So he had them choose wise and discerning and experienced men as heads of the tribes (Deut 1:13-15) and then appointed judges to hear cases (Deut 1:16). Does that sound familiar? First ... God was their leader. Israel was a theocracy. But, in human terms, Moses was their appointed leader (followed by Joshua). Under that, there was a group of men -- "leaders of thousands and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers for your tribes" (Deut 1:15) -- who were their representative leadership. Beyond that, there was a ... judicial branch, if you will. Hey, that sounds really familiar.
In God's theocracy over Israel, they established a rule of law and a separation of powers. There was an executive branch -- Moses -- and a legislative branch -- the representative rulers -- and a judicial branch -- the judges. It wasn't exactly the parallel of ours, but there were lots of similarities. It was not a democracy, although the people did "Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes." Judges were not answerable to the people, but to a higher authority. Very ... similar. Very ... interesting. We don't have a perfect system of government. There are, indeed, serious problems. But ... we're human. And even Israel's divinely appointed theocratic system broke down ... when they rebelled. But it looks like our form of government seems to have followed to some extent this biblical example. That's a good thing.
3 comments:
So much of US law and government has it's roots in scripture.
It's almost like the Founders were Christians trying to create a biblically bounded government based on principles found in Scripture.
This look at “a biblical model of government” is an interesting consideration, especially regarding the similarities with our current government. A quick search online told me that, “In Deuteronomy chapter 1, the form of government depicted is a theocratic system with elements of a representative republic. In this structure, the ultimate authority rests with God, but human leaders are selected by the people to govern and judge justly on his behalf.” This design sounds ideal! However, it is a sad reality that our nation cannot follow that exact model, since the percentage of U.S. citizens who are truly God’s people is quite low, so the general populace will not submit to such a God-centered structure. Still, we all benefit from the remaining aspects of its design, and we American believers can still hold God as our highest authority. May He continue to see fit to permit that.
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