Americans have frequently thought of themselves as a sort of “new Israel,” chosen and blessed by God. So this month, between Memorial Day and July Fourth, I hope to share some biblical reflections on nationhood.
It’s hard to find a “golden age” for the nation of Israel in the Bible. The story from Exodus to Judges reads like a dark tragic-comedy of personal and communal failures. Judges is a cyclical tale of heroic freedom-fighters (with their own failures) and communal forgetfulness. Almost every chapter opens with, “and the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.”
Finally the Israelites ask for a king “like all the other nations.”
God had anticipated this for the last few hundred years (Deuteronomy 17:14) but he recognizes it as rejection. Still, God condescends to Israel’s request and gives them a real winner. Saul was apparently the Fabio of his day (“There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.”), but terribly insecure (maybe Fabio is too, I don’t know). God has Saul anointed king in I Samuel 10, and rejects him in I Samuel 15, ultimately in favor of David. You have to feel bad for the guy ‘cause he doesn’t screw up that bad (in the relative scheme of biblical screw-ups) but he’s also demented, so he kind of loses sympathy along the way.
King David, the shepherd-boy-wonder giant-slayer is installed in all of our heads as “a man after God’s own heart.” He wrote all those great Psalms too! BUT, the adulturer-murderer’s reign is mostly a story of civil and family violence, strife and discord. It reads like the saga of an organized crime family. God won’t let David build the Temple because the man-after-God’s-own-heart has too much blood on his hands.
Then Solomon arrives! The reign of Solomon is the ONLY extended period of national unity. Solomon is also the wisest man who ever lived, ‘cause when God gives him one wish, he doesn’t ask for money or fame or more wishes or anything. He asks for wisdom. Because of his wise wish, God also grants him wealth and he has the honor of building God’s house, the Temple in Jerusalem. He also builds his own crib. Note: God’s house is 60 x 20 x 30 and it takes 7 years to build. Solomon’s house is 100 x 50 x 30 and it takes 13 years to build. Interesting…. Why does Solomon get a better house than GOD? Maybe that’s ‘cause God isn’t a pimp. Read on.
God’s original commands for the monarchy (back when God saw it coming) were simple. Don’t get a lot of horses (and don’t go back to Egypt for horses), don’t have a lot of wives, don’t get a lot of gold and silver (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). These are basically the ancient marks of military, political and economic power and security. Oh, and get to know God’s law REAL well.
What does Solomon do? He gets 40,000 stalls of horses (I Kings 4:26). He brings in 666 talents of gold (about $480 million by somebody’s measure, but that’s dated) per year (“besides that from the traders and merchants and governors” – I Kings 10:14) and he made silver “as common as stones.” I know God said he would have riches but… Then he accumulates 700 wives and 300 concubines (including the daughter of the Pharoah of Egypt) and ends up worshipping idols. God gets mad, but tells Solomon that “for the sake of your father David” he won’t take the kingdom away until after his death.
Solomon’s real legacy is revealed in the candid eulogy/advice that the people offer to Solomon’s son Rehoboam : “Your father made our yoke hard; now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”
Solomon was remembered as an oppressive monarch. (Incidentally, Rehoboam rejects this advice and the Israelite kingship goes mostly downhill from there; which is amazing)
Okay, so what? At least some Americans want to be a nation in favor with God. It seems pretty unrealistic at this point to model ourselves on biblical Israel. I have no interest in advocating a national theocracy of the biblical Israel type (or any other type). Mostly because I don’t think Jesus was into that. Truth be told, I don’t think we ever got the “deal” (covenant) that Israel got, and I’m glad. I expect we’d do just as poorly. What if we just looked at the basic stuff? Not accumulating horses (military power), gold and silver (economic power) and wives (political power). We are further down these roads than Solomon ever dreamed of. Is it any wonder that we have “In God We Trust” inscribed on our MONEY? What should be a reminder is probably a statement of what our God really is.
But when we start thinking about having a prophetic voice to national leadership in biblical terms, it makes sense to me to start at Deuteronomy 17 with these three simple commands; which will resound as total nonsense in the ears of the leaders of ANY nation-state, and clearly sounded like nonsense to Israel’s kings. Maybe a more moderate proposal would be to say that people who respect the Bible won’t celebrate the fact that our nation has all of the stuff that God told the kings of Israel not to get. If we can just do that, maybe we won’t have to think about God’s plan for the “redistribution of wealth” in Leviticus, or whether we should throw away our blended fabrics.
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