Our Creator Prefers a Decentralized Civil Government

Dear Friends:

A little over 1,000 years before Christ was born, a rebellion was brewing in Israel. The people had become dissatisfied with the form of civil government that had existed for almost 400 years – a decentralized form of civil government which was set up by Moses while the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt. Moses’ government was a system of judges with Moses as the first High Judge.

But select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves [Exodus 18:21-22; see also Deuteronomy 1:15-17; 16:18-20].

Moses’ system of civil government was very much like our judicial branch today with the United States Supreme Court as the High Court. However, unlike our nation today, the Israelites also recognized both the church’s role and the family’s role in government. Aaron (Moses’ half brother) was the first High Priest and the church had just as much authority and responsibility over its members as the civil government over its members, but in different areas of life. Similarly, the husband/father was the head of the family and also had just as much authority and responsibility over its members as the civil government over its members, but, again, in different areas of life.

As you can see from the above verses, the four requirements for a judge in Moses’ government were (i) that the individual be a citizen (implied); (ii) that the individual fear God; (iii) that the individual be trustworthy; and (iv) that the individual hate dishonest gain. That was all that was required to be a judge. As long as Israel remained obedient to God, the judges stayed true to these requirements and provided justice in the fairest sense of the word which resulted in an abundance of freedom and liberty for the Israelites and the aliens who lived among them. But, just as soon as Israel turned their back on God in rebellion, He set corrupt judges over them. As a consequence, the people lost much of their freedom and liberty because of the perverted justice which prevaled because of corrupt judges.

Nevertheless, the nation of Israel operated rather successfully with this sytem of judges for a little over 400 years until, during a rather rebellious period in Israel’s history, the people became tired of corrupt judges and requested that the High Judge – who was Samuel at the time – set a king over them like all the other nations. [See I Samuel 8:4-5]. Essentially, the people of Israel in their rebellion desired to move from a decentralized form of government to a highly centralized form of government with almost all authority and power vested in one person – the king.

Samuel was nonethless displeased with the people’s request. When Samuel addressed this issue with our Creator, He explained that the people of Israel were not rejecting Samuel as their High Judge, “but they have rejected Me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, …” [I Samuel 8:6-8].

Our Creator then warned the people of Israel what this king would do.

He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attnedants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day. [I Samuel 8:11-18].

Basically, our Creator warned the people that the king would forcibly confiscate much of their own property for his own use. Property for which the people had worked long and hard would be taken by the highly centralized government until the people became slaves to the government.

But the Israelites did not care. They had forgotten the misery of slavery which their forefathers had experienced in Egypt some 400 years previous. They wanted a king over them so that they would be like all the other nations, with a king to lead them and to go out before them and fight their battles. [See I Samuel 8:19-20]. Instead of a nation set apart, the Israelites wanted to be like the other pagan nations. So, our Creator gave them what they wanted – a king. [See I Samuel 8:22].

The first king was Saul, followed by David. The last king over the whole nation of Israel was Solomon who was supposed to possess great wisdom. Yet, Solomon was not so wise as to recognize the dangers of oppressive taxation. He taxed the people of Israel at oppressive rates they had never before experienced. In fact, it was this oppresive taxation that caused a civil war resulting in the division of Isarael into the two nations of Judah and Isarael.

After all, how else was Solomon to build the elaborate gold laden temple if he did not forcibly confiscate the materials from the people? But, did you know that Solomon’s palace, which was built at about the same time that the temple was being built, was even more elaborate, bigger, and even more gold laden than the temple? [See I Kings 7:1-12]. And just where do you think those materials came from?

During Solomon’s reign over the whole nation of Israel, Jereboam, an Ephraimite, was one of Solomon’s officials. [See I Kings 11:26]. “Jereboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph” [I Kings 11:28]. Jereboam’s supervision of the conscripted laborers from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (the house of Joseph) made him aware of the smoldering discontent among the people over Solomon’s policies, particularly his tax policies. In a secret meeting with Ahijah, the prophet of Shiloh, Jereboam was told that he would become king over all of the nation of Israel except one tribe. [See I Kings 11: 29-39].

After Solomon died, his son, Rehoboam, became king. Jereboam and “the whole asssembly of Israel” went to Rehoboam and pleaded, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you” [I Kings 12:3-4; cf. II Chronicles 10:4].

After considering their request and consulting with others for three days, Rehoboam did not listen to the people and replied, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions” [I Kings 12:14; cf. II Chronicles 10:11]. Thereafter began the civil war among the people of Israel in which the nation of Israel was divided into the nation of Judah (over which Rehoboam reigned) and the nation of Israel (over which Jereboam reigned), thus fullfilling the prophecy given by our Creator to the prophet Ahijah.

The three kings over the whole nation of Israel – Saul, David, and Solomon – each reigned for 40 years. So, appoximately 120 years after Isreal rejected our Creator as their king, the nation of Isarael ceased to exist. In other words, it took only 120 years for a highly centralized civil government to destroy what it took a decentralized civil government 400 years to build.

The United States of America has existed as a political entity since 1776. Actually, though, the American ideal of freedom and liberty has existed much longer, even before the United States came into existence, even back before the birth of Christ. However, this way of life has been seriously eroded, primarily since the War Between the States. This event transformed the American regime from a federalist system based on freedom to a centralized state that circumscribed liberty in the name of public order. A generation of young men was massacred, the Southern states were burned and looted, a precedent was set for executive dictatorship, and the American military was transformed from a citizen-based defense corps into a global military power that can’t resist intervention. The direct effects of the war were the first Federal income tax, the creation of a fiat currency allowing uncontrolled spending, and the destruction of a decentralized republic symbolized in the grammatical shift from “these United States” to “the United States,” now a singular noun.

The next major transforming event in American history was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal which fastened the U.S. economy in the chains of government control. Free markets were phased out. The New Deal was and is a work in progress consummating the revolution in centralism launched by Abraham Lincoln in 1861-65 and extended by Woodrow Wilson, 1913-21. New ideas and political changes such as progressivism consciously forged the chains of government power for the half-century preceding the New Deal, as did the enlarged government role in World War I. In the decades following the New Deal, the federal government enlarged and secured the manacles institutionally. No realm of American life was left untouched – legally, economically, politically, educationally, socially, and religiously. Liberty and free markets became empty ideals next to the reality of the unique American fascism. The throttling of the American ideal of liberty was a bi-partisan work of mainstream Democrats and Republicans alike, with token resistance put up by their less powerful and influential splinter groups, wings, and movements. The two parties monopolistically collaborated to build the structure of centralized government control that we live under today – from the cradle to the grave.

It never fails that when one individual (or a small group of indviduals) is given a great amount of authority over other individuals, that authority is abused. Such abuse results in lost freedom and liberty, as well as perverted justice. These bad things happen because of man’s inherent selfish nature. Our Creator understands this and has recommended ways to minimize this problem. Our Creator knows us better than we know ourselves. After all, He created us. He is the creator and we are the creature. Doesn’t the creator know the creature better than the creature knows itself? So, isn’t it to our advantage to heed our Creator’s advice? And doesn’t that mean we should work towards a decentralized civil government, just as our founding fathers envisioned – a federal government with limited jurisdiction and limited powers? And should we stop there? Shouldn’t we examine our state and local civil governments and implement policies which will prohibit the formation of a highly centralized regime at these lower levels?

Unless we do, we could very well end up like the nation of Israel – divided and conquered.

Respectfully,
Mark