There’s an old saying that says “If you don’t learn history, you’re destined to repeat it.” That saying perfectly states my final thoughts on the 2008 Presidential election.
First, I want to clearly state that while I am an Evangelical Christian, I am not like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell where I believe you can discern God’s will or see God’s hand in every event that occurs.
Ok, going Old Testament.
After the Israelites escaped from Egypt, the were lead by Moses and then Joshua. After Joshua, a series of “Judges” ruled/lead the nation, or parts of Israel.
During the time of the Judges we find that Israel’s relationship with God had become distant. As generations passed, the new generations didn’t have the benefit of first hand knowledge of God’s works in their lives as the generation of the Exodus had had. As a result, many of the Israelite tribes took to worshiping Baal during this period.
It’s clear throughout the book of Judges that God no longer paved the way for the Israelites as a result of their distance. “If it feels good, do it,” was the guiding principle for the Israelites during this time. In fact, the last line in Judges is:
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
As things continued to deteriorate for Israel and a civil war took place, the people of Israel desired change from what they were experiencing. Rather than looking back to see what had worked previously, they looked around themselves to other nations and said “we should be more like them!” The result was a request to God via Samuel, to request a king to lead them.
God understood that the reason the Israelites were having challenges had nothing to do with the type of leadership they had. He knew that the issue was one of self importance, arrogance and disobeying of God’s word.
In 1 Samuel 8, God attempted to warn the Israelites that there would be consequences of their desire:
17He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves,(M) but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”The LORD Grants Israel’s Request
Unfortunately, the Israelites didn’t heed God’s advice and demanded a king:
19But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20(N) that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. 22And the LORD said to Samuel,(O) “Obey their voice and make them a king.”
So, God gave them a king in 1 Samuel 9, Saul, and he turned out to be as bad as God had warned and worse.
It didn’t take long for the Israelites to realize they had made a mistake. Only a couple of chapters in the Bible, 1 Samuel 19, and according to some scholars, probably a couple of years in real life, the Israelites were asking for forgiveness for their demand of God for change:
19And all the people said to Samuel,(AM) “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”
So why the history lesson?
Even without tying in issues of faith, the parallels between the Israelites and the US are stark. Like the Israelites, the US has moved from a period of steady prosperity into a time of trouble and uncertainty. Also like the Israelites, rather than looking back and taking responsibility for the actions that have gotten us here, we’ve assumed that the right answer for our troubles is “change” and “to look more like other nations.” Finally, like the Israelites, we have concluded, even though every sign tells us otherwise, that wholesale change of our method of governance is the answer.
The Israelites went through some tough times after they got Saul as their king. While Saul had an early successes, he quickly turned from God and lost His favor. God then instructed Samuel to anoint David as king but it would be years before David finally took the throne.
While I expect us to go through some difficult times as a result of our recent political decisions, I remain hopeful. Like the Israelites, I expect the citizens of the US to eventually see the errors of their selections. Also, unlike Israel, we won’t have to wait an unknown time frame until the death of a king to make a change. We’ll be able to make a change in two or four years.
Saul’s pride and jealousy created a schism within Israel at the end of his reign. Rather than a peaceful transition to David, the king who God anointed, there was fighting between the families and followers of David and Saul. Eventually, David won but not until there was great bloodshed within Israel.
Like Saul, it’s apparent that Barack Obama has enormous pride. I’m not going to suggest that should Obama or the Dems lose an election, that we would not have a peaceful transition. I am going to suggest that the pride and ego I see in Obama, Reid and Pelosi leaves me concerned that they will attempt to impact how future elections occur. Oh, I don’t mean not having elections. Re instituting the “Fairness Act” and implementing the union card check program are two ways to tilt future elections in the Dem’s favor.
I certainly don’t have a crystal ball to see the future. I do however, believe we are seeing a similar human behavior pattern (and just maybe a pattern of God) that is similar to the Israelites of old. I guess the way to handle this for the near term is the same way that Samuel dealt with the situation with Saul. When the Israelites recognized that Saul was a mistake, they confessed their sin to Samuel and asked him to pray for them. In 1 Samuel 12, Samuel replied:
23Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing(AT) to pray for you.
I’ll pray for this country’s citizens and its leadership.
Amen, Brother..
The Hebrew bible was written by the zealots of the ancient world. Every time there was a war or a drought, they–but not a host of others–saw it as God smiting them for deviating from something or other. I find it hard to believe that they would bother writing such things if most of their contemporaries saw things the same way.
In any case, their preserved writing tends to give us a very skewed view of what life and society were really like back then.
Scott,
You can say that if it makes you feel better. however, the historical accuracy of the Bible, Old and New Testements are proven more each year.
As to whether God had His hand on the Israelites and responded to them, and now to those who believe in His Son, well, you can choose to ignore that if you’d like. I’ve made my choice.