Religion and Politics: Necessary Collaboration

  36th in a series on how men and women in the Bible 

deal with waiting, disappointment and unemployment

Religion and Politics: Necessary Collaboration

1 Samuel 12:1-25  

Does religion affect what goes on in the market place?  Does what I believe affect the way I behave toward my coworkers?  Is it really a wise or intelligent thing to say that what I believe about the nature of the universe and whether I think I am the product of primordial ooze or made in God’s image have no effect on my ethics or morality?  I would contend that these convictions either make us the best employee/boss or one that should be avoided at all costs.

Samuel, as God’s prophet was a religious man but he was also the political leader of Israel.  God worked through him to communicate laws that were for the ordering of society as well as Temple worship.  This kind of arrangement was called a Theocracy and was unique in the world at the time.  The people, though, rejected God and demanded that Samuel appoint a purely political, human king like the nations around them.  

The Israelites did not appreciate this privilege as a chosen people nor did they anticipate the consequences of separating their religion from their politics.  Is the world any different today?  What are the two things we are not supposed to talk about at parties?  Religion and politics!  They are volatile subjects and yet intimately intertwined.  A friend of mine posted a blog the other day stating,  “Theological claims are not articulations of personal preference or taste. They are claims about what is objectively true based on a particular understanding of the good. They deserve precisely the same place in public discourse as similar kinds of secular claims.”

Following God’s instruction, Samuel gives the people what they want…a king, but he, in a sense, washes his hands of this decision.  “The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”  Samuel then reminded them of their checkered history.  They have never been obedient.  They cry out when afflicted and yet forget God when things are going well.  And to once again demonstrate God’s power, Samuel declares that it will rain on their wheat harvest.  One commentator states, “Some people will not be brought to a sight of their sins by any gentler methods than storms and thunders.”

There is a warning in that statement.  History is replete with examples of God’s gentle discipline only to be followed by more harsh correction, because in pride and arrogance, people have chosen to pursue their own path.  How do we know the right way?  To whom do we listen?  In the wake of several mass shootings, political leaders have rightly said that they are praying for the victim’s families.  This used to be accepted as an appropriate gesture, but like the people seeking a king, today they would rather see political action than invoking spiritual help.

Samuel reminded them of God’s purpose for them and his final duty: "For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.”  Religion grounds a people.  It is not an external apparatus thrown on and off based on personal preference.  The writer of the blog states, “Someone for whom religion is very important doesn’t think of it as something like their favorite flavor of ice cream.  Their theological claims express things they believe to be objectively true. A particular kind of god exists. That god created the universe. That god made every human being in God’s image and likeness. That god commanded men and women to be fruitful and multiply. To give a preference to the poor and marginalized. To welcome the child and the stranger. And so on.”

What kind of boss or coworker do you want?  Those that boast a purely secular mind, therefore making judgments according to personal biases or those that are accountable to a holy God?  This God who has been proven to love us and provide beneficial rules of discipline that are helpful for all people, at all times, in all places?

Joshua, Moses successor, makes a similar speech to the people prior to his death.  He said to them: “I am very old.  You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

We will all serve someone.  Whose principles will you uphold?  Whose values do you support?   Upon what basis are they formed?  

Thoughts to Consider:

1. Do you make decisions with values and principles that are always forming and changing or do you have a solid basis grounded in timeless Truth?
2. Do you recognize the inevitable intersection of religion and politics?
3. Do you remember a time when you received gentle warnings that you did not heed and you only changed because of “storms and thunder”?
4. What does it mean to say to someone, “I’ll pray for you” when they are going through a difficult trial?