The story of the kings of Israel offers to us a powerful reminder of the corruption of politics. After a period of rule by heroic judges and prophets, the people of Israel cried out, “Give us a king!” (1 Samuel 8:6). The desire for a king was nothing less than a subtle form of idolatry. “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘…they have rejected Me from being king over them…’” (1 Samuel 8:7f). Beginning at Mt. Sinai, the people of Israel often flirted with the pseudo-gods of Egypt and Canaan. Their desire for a king was a rejection of the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Following the words of the Lord, Samuel warned the people that a royal dynasty would be oppressive and corrupt and then he anointed Saul as king over Israel.
As we read the chronicles of Israel’s political life we discover that the kings of Israel were a disaster. Saul acted foolishly and rebelled against the Lord (1 Samuel 13). David gravely sinned against the Lord (2 Samuel 12:13), and the result led to a painful civil war within the house of David. Solomon turned his heart away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:9). Rehoboam “forsook the law of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 12:1). The apostasy, idolatry, and injustice of the house of David led to the Babylonian exile. The prophet Jeremiah indicted the kings by exclaiming, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord!” (17:5).
As we enter the political season in earnest, Christians would do well to remember that politicians and political institutions are corrupted by the power of sin. As I have watched the Republican and Democratic conventions I am reminded that the political conventions were actually modeled after the holiness campmeetings of the 19th century. Make no mistake; the political conventions are religious events. The songs and sermons of the conventions are intended to convert and make disciples.
All political parties embrace a civil religion that seeks to unify, or subjugate, the nation under their rule. There are two great pseudo-deities that cast their shadows upon all political discourse – Caesar and Mammon. Caesar represents power; and Mammon represents money. Both are idols that tempt humanity to forsake the living God. The great temptation is to believe that Caesar is god. The ancient Roman Caesars held the title dominus et deus, that is, Lord and God. The royal families of Europe claimed the divine right of kings as the basis of their authority to rule. Caesar may take many forms, but in the end Caesar is only a mortal human. Caesar is deserving of honor, but not veneration or worship (Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:1-7). Sometimes the fine line between the two is breached. Regarding Mammon, the great temptation is to believe that wealth is the answer to all human desire. The problem is that “the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). And that is true for prince and pauper, industrialist and union worker, Democrat and Republican. Sometimes money is not medicine for the human soul, but poison (Matthew 6:24).
Like the kings of Israel, modern politicians are flawed and corrupt. When we pledge our allegiance to a politician with our vote, we must remember that our first allegiance is to Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. Only Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Revelation 1:5).
