- Oct 10, 2018
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In 1 Samuel 8, the Israelites are unhappy with the leadership of Samuel's sons and demand that he appoint a king. They look enviously at surrounding nations and yearn for their own strongman at the top.
“You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” (1 Samuel 8:5)
They think that their home grown tough guy will provide better leadership than what God has in mind for them and perhaps even than God Himself. Note that they didn't consult with God first or with Samuel, they just looked at other nations and hankered after the strong, decisive leadership others seemed to have.
Unsurprisingly God sees this rejection and warns of the consequences: "show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them" (1 Samuel 8:9) "...He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves." (1 Samuel 8:17)
People have always looked to the strongman leader to save them and often they slide or are forced into worshiping the ruler like a god. Sometimes this demigod does not displace God in their worship, only in their hearts: even while proclaiming God as Lord, people can end up idolising their human ruler who they convince themselves is executing God's judgement. Inevitably, the population become slaves but not all by force. Such a ruler who welcomes this kind of adoration will find himself with willing slaves all around.
How then should we choose leaders (assuming we are fortunate enough to have any say in that at all)? We, as Christians, have two models to look at: on one extreme we have Satan and on the other we have Jesus.
Satan is characterised as "a murderer,...a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44), "like a roaring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), cunning (Ephesians 6:11), "deceiver" (Revelation 12:9), "accuser" (Revelation 12:9), disguised "as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14) and "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4). The strongman leader is like a roaring lion and thinks himself a god of this world. Often he will lie and deceive to maintain his power and/or popularity, convincing his followers that he is an angel of light while making accusations against his opponents or scapegoats often to demonise them. This is the kind of leader we should avoid.
Jesus is described as being the most loving (John 15:13), being truthful (John 14:6), having "compassion" (Matthew 9:36), coming "not to be served but to serve" (Mark 10:45), taking "the form of a slave" (Philippians 2:7), being humble and "obedient" (Philippians 2:8), going "about doing good and healing" (Acts 10:38), being "merciful and faithful" (Hebrews 2:17) and having "utmost patience" (1 Timothy 1:16). Of course no human being can match up to Jesus, but we should look to Him as our model for the perfect king. This might seem obvious, but we should not underestimate the lure of the strongman image which has appealed from the days of warring tribes to the present day.
Even though no person will measure up, it should be possible to discern who demonstrates more of Jesus's characteristics and to resist our impulse to be drawn to the strongman. The "roaring lion" may seem to have some attractive policies, but often they exploit our fears and we know that "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear"; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love." (1 John 4:18)?
We should pick leaders who are as much as possible loving, compassionate, patient, humble, truthful, merciful, faithful and willing "not to be served but to serve".
“You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” (1 Samuel 8:5)
They think that their home grown tough guy will provide better leadership than what God has in mind for them and perhaps even than God Himself. Note that they didn't consult with God first or with Samuel, they just looked at other nations and hankered after the strong, decisive leadership others seemed to have.
Unsurprisingly God sees this rejection and warns of the consequences: "show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them" (1 Samuel 8:9) "...He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves." (1 Samuel 8:17)
People have always looked to the strongman leader to save them and often they slide or are forced into worshiping the ruler like a god. Sometimes this demigod does not displace God in their worship, only in their hearts: even while proclaiming God as Lord, people can end up idolising their human ruler who they convince themselves is executing God's judgement. Inevitably, the population become slaves but not all by force. Such a ruler who welcomes this kind of adoration will find himself with willing slaves all around.
How then should we choose leaders (assuming we are fortunate enough to have any say in that at all)? We, as Christians, have two models to look at: on one extreme we have Satan and on the other we have Jesus.
Satan is characterised as "a murderer,...a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44), "like a roaring lion" (1 Peter 5:8), cunning (Ephesians 6:11), "deceiver" (Revelation 12:9), "accuser" (Revelation 12:9), disguised "as an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14) and "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4). The strongman leader is like a roaring lion and thinks himself a god of this world. Often he will lie and deceive to maintain his power and/or popularity, convincing his followers that he is an angel of light while making accusations against his opponents or scapegoats often to demonise them. This is the kind of leader we should avoid.
Jesus is described as being the most loving (John 15:13), being truthful (John 14:6), having "compassion" (Matthew 9:36), coming "not to be served but to serve" (Mark 10:45), taking "the form of a slave" (Philippians 2:7), being humble and "obedient" (Philippians 2:8), going "about doing good and healing" (Acts 10:38), being "merciful and faithful" (Hebrews 2:17) and having "utmost patience" (1 Timothy 1:16). Of course no human being can match up to Jesus, but we should look to Him as our model for the perfect king. This might seem obvious, but we should not underestimate the lure of the strongman image which has appealed from the days of warring tribes to the present day.
Even though no person will measure up, it should be possible to discern who demonstrates more of Jesus's characteristics and to resist our impulse to be drawn to the strongman. The "roaring lion" may seem to have some attractive policies, but often they exploit our fears and we know that "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear"; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love." (1 John 4:18)?
We should pick leaders who are as much as possible loving, compassionate, patient, humble, truthful, merciful, faithful and willing "not to be served but to serve".
