Are you happy with your leaders, in particular with your political leaders? According to the current statistics, at this point in time, 48% of you are happy and 52% of you are not. That may change. Typically during an election year there are millions of dollars spent so that Americans hear why we should be happy or why we should not be happy. In times of great national danger or shock we tend to rally around our leaders. For example in September of 2001, George W. Bush had a 90% approval rating. That is the highest rating any sitting president has gotten since people began developing the rating system back in 1938 under President Roosevelt. However, George W. not only had the highest approval rating any other sitting president had, he also got the lowest. High to low. That’s the way it goes for pretty much anyone in the public arena today. They rise in popularity and they sink as our expectations are not met. Why do I even bring this whole topic up? Well, political leadership is the topic of the Old Testament lesson today. And this being an election year, it is probably an appropriate thing for us to consider.
At this time in Jewish history Israel really could not be called a nation. The 12 tribes of Israel were a more or less loose confederation. One problem was that they had not fought together as a united group since the time of Joshua almost 300 years earlier. So there was not a cohesion built on a national identity. As a result, security was a big issue. If one tribe in one area of the country got attacked that tribe could not depend on getting any help from the other eleven tribes. Another problem was that their court system was not just. The circuit judges, who were the sons of Samuel, were known to take bribes so whoever brought the most money to court won the case. The rich always won; the poor always lost.
Notice in the Bible reading from I Samuel the elders of the people told the Samuel that they wanted a king for three reasons. Reason one: all the other nations had one. Reason two: we want someone to govern us. Reason three: we want someone to lead us into battle.
All the other nations had a king. Now when we hear this from our children it sounds like this, “But Mom, or Dad, everyone else gets to do this.” The typical parent’s response is, “If everyone else jumped off a cliff would you want to do the same thing?” But the people bringing this to Samuel weren’t children; they were the elders of Israel. What were they saying? They were saying that this king thing was working for the other nations. It was an idea that had merit. Other nations had tried it and it was working.
The next reason was that they wanted someone to govern them. People wanted some laws that applied all over. Another reason was they wanted justice. Samuel was good and he could be depended upon to do and say just and right things, but he was getting old and he had been sending his sons out in his place. And when people went to them for help, Samuel’s sons accepted bribes and so people did not have an impartial judge and real justice. The people of Israel wanted justice. They wanted impartial justice, not a judge that could be bought. They were hoping a king would fill this need.
The final reason was they wanted someone to lead them into battle. They wanted someone that everyone, all the tribes of Israel, would unite behind. They figured if all the tribes fought together they would be really tough to beat. Other nations would be a lot less likely to try to attack them. The Israelites would have a lot more security. Security is a big deal.
So why was Samuel upset? Well, if we think about it a little it is not too hard to understand why Samuel’s feelings were hurt. He had been the one in charge. He was the judge that God had appointed over Israel. Although he did not have the title of king, still, everyone would obey him if he gave a command. He was kind of like the king and now they didn’t want him – although it was more they did not want to be stuck with his sons. So it does make sense that Samuel was upset.
OK, so we can see why Samuel was upset but why did God say they were really rejecting him? The idea of having a king made good sense, didn’t it? It was a tried and true concept that was working for all the other nations around them. It would give them a person who could be an impartial judge over all the tribes. And not only all this, this king would bring them more security. No more border raids, no more Canaanite incursions with impunity into their lands. And on top of this, they could hold their heads up around other people. They could have some national pride. Go Sons of Israel!
In what way were the Israelites rejecting God by wanting a king? Up to this point, the people of Israel had been forced to turn to God whenever they got into trouble, any kind of trouble, if they had a legal problem or a security problem. They had to turn to God because there was no one else to turn to. This had not been working out so well for them because typically God wanted them to clean up their lives first before he helped them. He wanted them to stop worshipping idols, and stop cheating their neighbors, and to look out for the widows and orphans. He wanted them to honor their parents and be good and faithful husbands and wives. In short, they were willing to pay taxes, send their children to be servants of a king, and lose some of their freedom in order to not have to clean up their lives on a regular basis in order to get God’s help. They wanted justice and peace and the freedom to live anyway they wanted to live.
How does any of this apply to us? As we approach this election season we are not trying to elect a king, right? But we do want someone who will do the job of president impartially one that will not give into special interest groups. We want someone who will keep our nation secure and not let enemies hurt and attack us. We want to be able to continue to keep our natural pride. Actually, we have expectations that are in many ways very much like the Israelites. We as a nation do want to put our trust into a person. Not only that, we want to our part, our responsibility, to be limited to simply voting. We do not want to have change or get our hands dirty. That is a huge temptation for us as a nation and even to us as Christians. We want Barak Obama or Mitt Romney, or whoever to save us economically and to protect our nation from danger. Look at the political ads. They want us to think that way as well. Political writers know how vulnerable we are to this sort of thing. But one thing as Christians we know is that people will fail us; we cannot put our trust in them. Only the Lord is dependable.
The big temptation is to think we can simply vote and then everything up to our government. That is wrong thinking. As Christians we have several layers of responsibility, several layers of citizenship. We are responsible to be good citizens of our country, state and community. That includes learning what the issues are and voting responsibly. In this country we have the privilege of having freedom of religion and free speech. And we should do what we can to protect our freedoms; we should give our time to rallies and other important political events. But our more important citizenship is that of our heavenly country. And because of that citizenship we are responsible to live for God here in our society. Jesus told us to be lights in our world and leaven in our society. Ultimately our society is changed by changed lives. But for people to change they need to know the Lord Jesus. We as his disciples, as his Church, need to be lights in our community and show God’s love and speak God’s word. May our Lord Jesus help us to live in such a way that His name is honored and that people around us know us as God’s people.
