“Now in those days Israel had no King.  …

[What follows after this declaration of anarchy is a narrative of:

A Levite living in isolation;

The Levite “taking” a concubine and treating her as a possession;

Her rebellion, prostitution, and abandonment of the Levite;

A community’s shameful refusal to offer shelter;

A culture of immorality and licentiousness;

Men sacrificing young women to save themselves;

Gang rape;

Torture;

Murder;

Corpse mutilation and gore;

Vengeance;

Civil war;

Genocide;

Slavery;

Oppression; and

Tribal feudalism. 

The narrative concludes:]  In those days Israel had no king.  All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.”  Judges 19-21.

These passages describe brutal inhumanity bookended with blunt summations of anarchy, individual autonomy and relativism.

God’s plan for peace and justice lies in the root of the word “authority:”  “author.”

• There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.  Whoever resists authority has opposed the arrangement of God.   All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus.  All thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities have been created through Jesus and for Jesus.  Jesus is the head over all rule and authority.  One who exercises of authority does so under another, and ultimately of God.  
• We are to submit to human, civil authority.   Romans 13:1-5; Titus 3:1;  Hebrews 13:17;  1 Peter 2:13-14; Jesus is our example in this.
• We are to pray for those in authority.
• Only when an authority directly contravenes God’s Word are we to employ civil disobedience.  Even then, punishment by the authority can be expected and we are to submit to it.  Daniel 3; Acts 5:12-42. 

Governments may be categorized as a monarchy with rule centralized in one person, a democracy with rule flowing from the people, party rule as attempted by communism, or something else.  Regardless of the style or form, the exercise of governmental authority is ultimately from and subject to the rule of the ultimate Author.

In democracies, office holders are chosen by the people and derive their authority from the “consent of the governed.”  The people are “Ceaser.”  Governmental reform in a democracy must start with the heart of the people.  The first question is not whether the office holders are submitted to God, but whether the people are.

 

 

God’s plan is good.

“⁶For to set the mind on the flesh [self] is death, but to set the mind on [God’s] Spirit is life and peace.”

“² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

For governments, for those in leadership and authority, and for all of us as individuals, the question is whether we will submit to God’s authority, to His good, loving and perfect plan, or whether we will do what seems right in our own eyes.

The results of how this question is answered are predictable.  Submit to the Author, and we will know His blessings, justice, peace and life, for ourselves and for others.  Refuse His authority and we risk devolving progressively from isolation and self-centeredness into destruction, decay, conflict and death.  Judges 19-21 is a graphic demonstration.