As anyone reading this blog can probably tell, I've started regularly reading the Bible again. It's something we were compelled to do in my old abusive church, and something I did for a bit even after I left. But work got busy and other projects took up my time, and my regular reading became highly irregular. I don't know that I feel very guilty about this. Maybe I should, since the psychological damage I experienced in my old church environment did not go so far as to render me incapable of bringing myself to read.
Anyway, that's all water under the bridge now. But a couple of weeks ago I read something in Deuteronomy that hooked my interest, and I went back again tonight to study it in more detail, because I wanted to write about it for this post. The oddest thing happened while I was studying the passage, and it had nothing to do with what the passage was saying. I had to remind myself that I am not in the Assembly (the name for our old church) anymore, and that I am not preparing a “word of ministry” for Sunday morning. I'm just re-formatting my soul's “hard drive” and re-installing software that had gotten corrupted, if you get my drift. It's amazing how much it takes to fix good and noble things after bad men have gotten their hands on those things to screw them up.
But on to the passage. It is Deuteronomy 17:14-20, and it reads thus:
When you have come to the land which the LORD your God gives you, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shall say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me”; you shall surely set him king over yourselves, whom the LORD your God shall choose: one from among your brothers you shall set king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; because the LORD has said to you, “You shall not go back that way again.” Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them; that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he not turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel. (Quoted from the World English Bible, a public domain translation.)
Among the things that struck me from this passage was the command that the king of Israel must not be a materialist – “Only he shall not multiply horses to himself...neither shall he multiply wives to himself...neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.” The Bible elsewhere equates greed with idolatry. Getting “stuff” was not to be the king's priority, and his choices and lifestyle were to be a reflection of this.
What was the king's priority to be, then? The law of God, the word of God – the king was to study it in order to obey it, that his reign might be an expression of the justice of God on earth, and that the king might remember always that he was simply one of the sons of Israel – "one of us," not superior to his brothers and sisters – and that all people are under God.
Note the contrast between the distraction of lusting for material possessions versus remembering the justice of God.
I am not quoting this passage in order to argue about what a “Christian” nation should look like; nor am I trying to force America to submit to the law of Moses. But if one looks at our most recent leaders, one sees a remarkable contrast between what this passage in Deuteronomy says and the character of the lives of our leaders. In order to get into elected office, they must both have and raise lots of money. While they are in office, they are servants of a corporatocracy, and after they leave office their corporate masters reward them richly with extremely lucrative appointments to leadership roles in the private sector. I think of former President Clinton, who according to some reports is one of the richest ex-presidents ever, and who was still busily shoveling dollars into his bank account as of the beginning of this year (See http://www.newsweek.com/id/105650, and http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?pagewanted=print, for instance.) But I also think of the greed of President Bush and the Republicans, as seen in such things as their tax cuts for the rich and their multi-hundred-billion dollar taxpayer-funded “bailouts” of their friends in high places.
In short, I see our former, present and (possibly) future leaders stuffing themselves with earthly wealth, gorged to bursting with possessions, and unable to stop themselves from their continued bingeing. While I am not reading or discussing the Deuteronomy passage in order to push some political action plan, I guess I am thinking about this passage as an aid to help me understand why our government seems so warped right now. Understanding is a key to coping.
I've gotten enough campaign mail in the last month to choke a camel. Most of it has very little effect on me, since I know who and what will get my vote in this election, and I hold no illusions about any of the candidates I am voting for. Yes, I am voting. But I am also doing other things as I see fit, in order to adapt to the future I think we will all face. Am I cynical? Maybe not; maybe I'm simply being realistic. But I'll be glad when, after this Tuesday, my mailbox contains only bills again.
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