Chapter 4: God’s Plan for Self-Government, Then and Now
“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel…” (Benjamin Franklin)
“He (God) leads princes away plundered, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders… He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”
Job 12:19-20, 24-25
The point here is that man–us, we–no matter how smart we get, no matter how advanced we become–can never be smarter, or more powerful than God, and thankfully, He is good, and kind, and wants the best for us.
A case in point may be observed in the Book of Jonah.
The people of Nineveh (in the Neo-Assyrian Empire) had become cruel and ruthless, and were threatening the nation of Israel. So, God was not happy with them. So what did He do? Did He send downfire from heaven to consume them? No, instead, He sent a prophet–Jonah–to warn them. And this is what God said to Jonah about the city of Nineveh–which (coincidentally) had been part of Nimrod’s ancient empire:
“…Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
Jonah 4:11
Benjamin Franklin once said:
“I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that Godgoverns in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel…”
Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention, 1787
But some people today are no longer impressed with the ideas of Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson, or Plato and Aristotle:
“In a certain sense, then, today’s preschoolers are smarter than the greatest thinkers of the ancient world.”
Steve Stewart-Williams Ph.D., evolutionary psychologist and cultural evolutionist
This is the kind of thinking that leads people to say things like this:
“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
Back in ancient times, God chose Noah to build the ark and save the human race, but only a couple of generations later, it is Noah’s grandson Nimrod–not Noah–who built the first empire and set himself up to lead it. Benjamin Franklin would have called that laboring in vain–in vanity–in the idea that Nimrod was smarter-better– than the people around him.
Elitism is defined as “the attitude or behavior of a person or group who regard themselves as belonging to an elite.” (Bing)
Why is elitism so prevalent? One source says:
“Abraham Lincoln’s dream of governance ‘by, of, and for the people’ has mutated into a deathless trope, emanating from megaphones in the hands of charlatans, philistines and fools.”
DAVID MASCIOTRA, SALON, OCTOBER 25, 2015
So how do these “elite” come to power?
We put them there.
My favorite president was James A. Garfield. And he once said:
“Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . . . If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”
If the people who are running any particular area of our culture–whether it’s government, or media, or higher education, or whatever— have values that are different than ours, we have a responsibility–a duty–to do something to rectify the situation. If we don’t, we are accepting it. We are, in fact, saying “This is the type of culture I deserve.”
Is it?
We are very fortunate to live in the greatest republic–the freest democracy–that has ever existed throughout the history of the world. And we do not have to see it fall into ruin.
Let me leave you with this quote from Richard Maybury (the writer of the wonderful “Uncle Eric” series of books):
“Perhaps more than anything else, (we) should assume humans have the ability to overcome their problems and move forward… One of the most noteworthy characteristics of America’s founders is that they were aware of their own world, and indeed (that) their own characters and personalities, were not the best that humans could do. They worried about slavery, poverty, and war, and wanted something better. More importantly, they knew enough law and economics to believe something better was possible and they were working toward this goal.
“They were not utopians. They realized a perfect society is not possible. But they knew we could do much better and they were trying to create the legal environment that would enable this to happen…
“The belief that a better tomorrow is possible is absolutely essential not only for the rescue of our country but for the mental well-being of the individual. Young people need it desperately. However, we need to visualize this better future…”
By now, most of us have seen the musical, “Hamilton.” (If not, I recommend you do!) The musical centers around the relationship between founding fathers Alexander Hamilton and “Aaron Burr, Sir.“
The men, Hamilton and Burr, remind one of several famous several pairs of counterparts in the Bible, such as Abraham and Lot, Jacob and Esau, and even Moses and the Pharaoh of Egypt.
First, let’s look at Abraham and Lot–the differences between them. Abraham is often referred to as a man of faith, though he screwed up a number times.
Genesis 12:1, God says to Abraham (then known as Abram), “Go…to the land that I will show you…”
Genesis 12:4 tells us, “So Abram went…”
Verse 7 “He built an altar to the Lord…”
Verse 8, he built another altar.
Genesis 13:8-9, there’s quarreling between Abram’s men, and his nephew, Lot’s.
The two men choose to separate.
Abram lets Lot choose west or east.
Verse 10, Lot chooses the east–the “better” land (the Jordan Valley).
Verse 12-13, that includes the city of Sodom.
Genesis 13:14-17, God’s promise to Abraham (not including Lot):
“Lift up thy eyes, and look from the place wherein thou now art, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. All the land which thou seest, I will give to thee, and to thy seed for ever.”
Genesis 13:14-17
Verse 18, Abram built another altar to the Lord.
Genesis 15:6 “(Abram, now called Abraham) believed the Lord, andHe credited it to him as righteousness. In other words, despite Abraham’s failures, God considered him to be a righteous man.
righteousness = "the quality or state of being just or rightful." (Dictionary.com)
The Greek word originally used in the Bible to describe that is dipsos, which is G1373 in Stong’s Concordance: “wavering, uncertain, divided in interest, vacillating.”
Verse 8, he offers his own daughters to the men of Sodom.
Verse 9, the men of Sodom treat him like a hypocrite, saying, “he’s acting like a judge!”
In the Hebrew, the word that’s used is shaphat, H8199 (to act as law-giver).
Verse 14, When Lot advises them to flee the city for safety, “his sons-in-law thought he was joking”
Verse 18 When the angels tell Lot to flee to the mountains, Lot replies, “No, my lords—please…I can’t run to the mountains…I will die. Look, this town is close…Please let me go there…”
Verses 30-36, It didn’t turn out well.
But 2 Peter 2:8 calls Lot:
“The just soul…”
Douay-Rheims Bible
Other translations call him:
“That righteous man”
King James Version
How can that be?
Is it possible that right-standing with God is based on our beliefs (despite our less-than-virtuous behavior)?
In Genesis 25:34, we find the statement, “Esau despised his birthright.”
despise = "feel contempt or a deep repugnance for." (Bing)
The Hebrew word the Bible uses is bazah, which is H959 in Stong’s Concordance: “to despise, hold in contempt, disdain.”
Even a cursory look at the book of Genesis shows that Jacob did not have sterling character, but there was a difference between he and Esau, just as we will see that there was between Hamilton and Burr.
To begin with, as we said before, Esau revealed his character, see Gen 25:31).
This seems reminiscent to Shakespeare’s:
“This above all- to thine own self be true…”
Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3
Peoples’ choices–often made when under pressure, quite often end up determining their destinies.
From this perspective, let’s look at Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr’s early lives.
Their love stories and the births of their children could have been an opportunityfor both men to turn their hearts in God’s direction.
In the song, “Dear Theodosia,” Burr says, “When you cried, you broke my heart.” Hamilton says, “When you smile I am undone… I fall apart, and I thought I was so smart.“
The Bible says:
“The Lord is near to the broken-hearted…”
Psalm 34:18
And:
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart…”
Psalm 51:17
This reminds one of David, the man who committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed.
In the song, “It’s Quiet Uptown,” Alexander Hamilton says, ““I take the children to church on Sunday / A sign of the cross at the door / And I pray / That never used to happen before.” In Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, which was the inspiration for the musical, he writes: “It is striking how religion preoccupied Hamilton during his final years.”
♫“Forgiveness, can you imagine?”♫
The grace of God was available to both Hamilton and Burr’s lives, just as it had been to both Jacob and Esau. Yet, their legacies are the result of their choices.
The New Testament, looking back on Esau’s life in hindsight, calls him:
“(An) ‘immoral (and) godless person…who sold his own birthright for a single meal…though he sought for (the blessing) with tears.”
Hebrews 12:16-17
Under pressure–when “push came to shove“–Esau revealed his true nature by his choices. And this was the case with Hamilton and Burr.
In 1800, Aaron Burr had been elected Vice-President under Jefferson, but Jefferson said of him:
“[H]is conduct very soon inspired me with distrust…I habitually cautioned Mr. Madison against trusting him too much.”
Burr’s is a notorious case. But was he outside the reach of God’s grace? That is a not only a profound question, but also a very practical one, that has ramifications for all of us. One might say that it (God’s grace) “doesn’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints.“
In fact, the Bible distinctly says that:
“The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9
Does that mean that God’s promises are for everybody–that God’s “salvation” is universal?
No, but it is available to all who accept it, in spite of anything they may have done, in the same way that Hamilton seems to have done.
But is it possible to resist God’s grace?
Yes, we know that Esau must have rejected it (Hebrews 12:16-17).
Lot, though he seems to be a lot like Esau, did not.How do we know? (2 Peter 2:7).
Hamilton seems to have not.
“It is striking how religion preoccupied Hamilton during his final years.”
Ron Chernow
This apparent mystery is made clear in the story of Moses and Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Why? The Bible tells us that Pharaoh, like Esau, despised God.
despise = "feel contempt or a deep repugnance for." (Bing)
“Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice…?'”
Exodus 5:2
God was aware that Pharaoh held him in low esteem. But God did not react to Pharaoh in indignation.
indignation = "anger or annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair treatment."
Instead God gave Pharaoh ten opportunities to turn to humble himself before Him. But Pharaoh did not.
Have you ever seen the movie and TV show, Stargate SG-1? They really did an excellent job with their visualizations of the Goa’uld as the rulers of ancient Egypt.
These were wicked, evil, and arrogant people. And, like a lot of people in powerful positions, they were paranoid and petty.
“Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.“
Exodus 5:7
Think of Henry VIII of England.
God brought ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. Why?
The Bible tells us:
“The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt…”
Exodus 7:5
People will argue that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. That’s true. But do you not know that God allows all of our hearts to be hardened, if we allow it? It’s true. Each “plague” that life throws in our path is an opportunity for us to harden our hearts, to raise a fist toward the heavens and curse God (Sovereign of the Universe). It may be a mystery, but it’s not a secret.
It’s simple. God wants us to wantHim. Why? Is God insecure? No, God only wants authentic believers in His kingdom.
authentic = "not false or imitation" (Mirriam-Webster)
“Now for a little while…you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith…may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 1:6-7
“The Father seeketh such to worship Him.”
John 4:23
“I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me find Me.”
Proverbs 8:17
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”
Acts 17:24-27
That is why the Bible tells us at least three different times:
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart…”
Psalm 95:6-11; Hebrews 3:7-19; Hebrews 4:1-8 (and see Deuteronomy 1:26-38)
Like Aaron Burr (who lost his wife, grandson, and precious daughter), Pharaoh lost his own son–his heir.
“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD…”
Exodus 12:30-31
And like Burr, Pharaoh–even at that point, even after all that suffering–turned away from all those opportunities to humble himself, to soften his heart, and to accept God’s grace.
“And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, ‘Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?’ …And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them… And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen… And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them…. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.”
Exodus 14:5-29
Grace is always available to those who turn to God. And He, in His mercy redeems our life–our story.
redeem = "to buy back, repurchase;" "to free from captivity by payment of ransom;" "to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental;" "to release from blame or debt, clear;" "to free from the consequences of sin." (Mirriam-Webster)
So what about you? What are youwaiting for?
Will you accept God’s offer of reconciliationand redemption? Will you accept His grace?
“I will require the blood of your lives… at the hand of every man, and of his brother, will I require the life of man.
Genesis 9:5
This is a verse of the Bible that can probablybeeasily overlooked, but it really is quite foundational to the world you probably want to live in.
In other words, God was letting mankind know that He was going to hold individuals accountable for how they treated their fellow man. This was the beginning of a foundation for civil law.
Later, when Moses wrote what is known as the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), he included what is known as the Mosaic Law. However, in the New Testament, Paul (the apostle) gave us a new understanding of each individual’s moral responsibility for his own actions:
“The law is not made for the just man, but for the unjust and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for the wicked and defiled, for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, for manslayers…”
In the French Revolution that began in 1789, and the “Reign of Terror” that followed it, people died. The king, Louis XVI, died. His queen, Marie-Antoinette, died. In fact, 40, 000 people died before it was said and done, including the Rebellion’s architect, Maximilien Robespierre.
In that same year, 1789, the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
And (wisely) founding father John Adams wrote this about it:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
And many years after that, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke these words:
“It wouldn’t take us long to discover the substance of (the American) dream. It is found in those majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, words lifted to cosmic proportions: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.’ This is a dream. It’s a great dream….”
Dr. King went on to say, “..That dream goes on to say another thing that ultimately distinguishes our nation and our form of government from any totalitarian system in the world. It says that each of us has certain basic rights that are neither derived from or conferred by the state. In order to discover where they came from, it is necessary to move back behind the dim mist of eternity. They are God-given, gifts from His hands. Never before in the history of the world has a sociopolitical document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language the dignity and the worth of human personality. The American dream reminds us, and we should think about it anew on this Independence Day, that every man is an heir of the legacy of dignity and worth…”
Then he said:
“Now ever since the founding fathers of our nation dreamed this dream in all of its magnificence…America has been something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against herself. On the one hand we have proudly professed the great principles of democracy, but on the other hand we have sadly practiced the very opposite of those principles.
Dr. Martin Luther King, on “The American Dream”
And on July 4, 1965, when he spoke those words in Atlanta, Dr. King was 100 percent right.
Why? Why was the “dream” of America out of reach for so many black-skinned people?
“You see, the founding fathers were really influenced by the Bible. The whole concept of the imago dei, as it is expressed in Latin, the ‘image of God,’ is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected. Not that they have substantial unity with God, but that every man has a capacity to have fellowship with God.And this gives him a uniqueness, it gives him worth, it gives him dignity. And we must never forget this as a nation: there are no gradations in the image of God. Every man from a treble white to a bass black is significant on God’s keyboard, precisely because every man is made in the image of God. One day we will learn that. We will know one day that God made us to live together as brothers and to respect the dignity and worth of every man.”
It sounds like Dr. King’s “dream,” was filled with hope for the future.
The story of human relations through time is an interesting one.
And it starts in an unusual place.
“Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.”
Genesis 9:1
Seemingly–for a while–they did just that.
In Genesis, chapters 9-10, we see a description of a culture wherein people had small family property holdings, and when children were born, grew to adulthood, married, and had children of their own, they would spread out (scatter), build their own homes, and raise their own families. Each household would have enough land to support themselves. There were no “rich” people or “poor” people. There were no “lords” or “serfs.” There were no “masters” or slaves.”
Yet in Genesis 11, we read:
“And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it. And each one said to his neighbour… ‘Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.'”
What’s your understanding of “the American Dream?” Is it all about making a name for yourself?
Or is it about something else?
What’s this imago dei thing that Dr. King was talking about?
One article interestingly claims:
“(Following the Civil War) many black leaders argued against special privileges and requested for blacks only ‘the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ specified in the Declaration of Independence.”
“Everybody has asked the question, … ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us!”
Frederick Douglass, “What the Black Man Wants,” 1863
Listen carefully to an excerpt from a book about Frederick Douglass:
“It was (‘an elderly, partially literate, and intensively devout black man, whom Douglass would later refer to as Uncle Lawson‘) who imparted to the impressionable young Frederick a strong sense of self-esteem, convincing the youth that he had an important mission to fulfill.”
Are you convinced that you have an important mission to fulfill?
Back in Genesis 9-10, everyone had a purpose. Each family had to own a cow or a goat (milk for the children, and perhaps cheese), and chickens (for eggs and meat). Children often fed, cleaned up after them, milked them, and collected eggs from them. Each family had a small farm, and a small orchard. Each family had a garden. Often, children tended it. Mothers made clothes for their children. Fathers tanned hides. Children picked fruit. Mothers made jam, baked pies, fermented vegetables, milled wheat, baked bread, made elderberry syrup for dealing with illnesses. Fathers hunted, fished, made repairs, built homes and constructed needed tools and equipment. Parents taught children to read, write, and do arithmetic. Children submitted to parents. Families helped each other when necessary.
But a fellow named Nimrod came along:
“Now (Cush) begot N(i)mrod: he began to be mighty on the earth. And he was a stout hunter before the Lord. Hence came a proverb: Even as N(i)mrod the stout hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Arach, and Achad, and Chalanne in the land of Sennaar.’A stout hunter’: Not of beasts but of men: whom by violence and tyranny he brought under his dominion. And such he was, not only in the opinion of men, but before the Lord, that is, in his sight who cannot be deceived.”
This new re-structured, re-imagined world is one of specialization, mechanization, and centralization. This is an urban world, filled with soot, smoke and sweat-shops.
This was not God’s plan. It was built by Nimrod–for his own benefit. This dude was strictly in in for himself.
“The mainstays of his empire were Babel (Babylon), Erech and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. From this country came Asshur (Assyria), and he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (this being the capital).”
