We have always wanted a political leader to save us, and that has always ended badly.
Even when the leaders have seemed good. In the first century BC, a man by the name of Julius Caesar led the Roman Empire to a series of victories that brought a peace and unity to an empire that was constantly at odds with itself. But it wasn’t just that Julius Caesar brought a kind of peace, it was how: instead of slaughtering the survivors of the armies that he defeated (slaughtered), he offered them the opportunity to escape. He would “forgive” his enemies, offering them a kind of mercy. It was called the “clementia of Julius Caesar”.
He was deified for it.
And it didn’t last. In the wake of his death, Rome found itself in the throes of civil war. Again.
We have always wanted a political leader to save us, and that has always ended badly.
This is the witness of the Hebrew Scriptures, which trace the rise of Israel’s greatest king, David, and the son that succeeded him, Solomon.
It was Solomon that built the Temple to the One True God, Solomon, that oversaw the few years of political freedom the Israelites enjoyed, Solomon, that ruled in the years of Israel’s united kingdom.
Not only was Solomon given a free, peaceable kingdom, but he was given more besides: unmatched wealth, famous wisdom, and an alleged divine anointing, “King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.” If ever there was a leader to put your hopes in, it was Solomon.
But notice, now, how the ancient Hebrew Scriptures speak of this anointed leader. In Hebrew, numbers carried a more qualitative meaning than quantitative. And this is how much wealth we are told Solomon had, “The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents.”
666. Yeah, that was a thing back then.
This wasn’t about how much gold Solomon received, but the nature of how he received it.
This is what the Scriptures said he did with that wealth and wisdom, “Solomon accumulated chariots and horses (tanks and bombers); he had 1400 chariots and 12000 horses (lots of tanks and bombers)…Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt (imported tanks and bombers).”
And it isn’t just an army he is building, “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women…He had 700 wives…and 300 concubines…”. He’s building a rather large harem as well.
Oh, so the great Solomon had slave women to keep him “company”? Par for the Solomonic course, it seems, “Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD’s temple…” The king of a previously enslaved people is…enslaving people.
In the name of God.
All of which led the people to the end that Julius Caesar led Rome to hundreds of years later: derision, division, civil war.
Are you getting the picture here? If not, notice an earlier warning from within the Scriptures themselves (are you sitting down?), “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them…He must not take many wives…He must not accumulate large amounts of gold and silver.”
Can you hear the megaphone of the people of God? Can you see why these Scriptures have been preserved and passed down for thousands of years?
It is almost like the people who wrote this were afraid later people would put all their eggs in a political basket, believing if they could find a king/leader/country/party that was wealthy enough, or wise enough, or God anointed enough, that all would be well.
It is as if these ancient people were saying, “Be careful to whom you pledge your allegiance”.
Because we have always wanted a political leader to save us, and that has always ended badly.