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Joseph served in pharaoh's administration. Was he spiritually defiled? Daniel was in
belly of beast - Babylon - yet he served king and God. Whenever there arose any conflict of interest, Daniel put God first, as we must also always do. Nehemiah worked in Persian government, yet he was also blameless before God. God even referred to Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar as His servants.
God is our Heavenly King over all, that's why we can't allow others to try and usurp His authority over our lives. He's our Husband and to listen to anyone else who would dare go against His Word is spiritual adultery and fornication. This is one of modern Israel's biggest sins: giving in to international peer pressure rather than obey God!
Yet God isn't our only ruler. He's ordained that men aren't to be left in a state of anarchy, but ought to obey Noachide laws binding on all mankind: to establish a system of justice, abstain from idolatry and immorality, and refrain from eating blood (Acts 15:29).
Even Christ will be King of kings and Lord of lords; He won't be ruling alone. God's our Minister, and Jesus Christ's our High Priest, yet we don't object to having human ministers also. Do we have a double standard when it comes to politics? We speak of "dirty politics." And there is too much graft and corruption. But what about religious scandals? Perverted preachers and adulterous ministers? Does that mean we should reject whole idea of God having human servants? "Dirty religion?" Both Church and State need to let Christ clean up their act (Malachi 3:3).
God didn't forbid Israel from having a king or a high priest. He simply put restrictions on them and offered guidelines. The king was to be Israelite; he wasn't to put his trust in financial securities or gold, or depend on a huge army or arsenal of weapons for Israel's defense; and he was to study Scriptures daily (Deut. 18:15-20). He was permitted a token military force made up of volunteers ( Judg. 7:2, Deut. 20:5-9). The priest was to bless Israel's troops before they went to battle, encourage them that God would fight through them, and sound alarm with sacred silver trumpet (Deut. 20:1-4, Nu. 10:9, 31:6).
God was upset with Israel when they demanded a king, but not because they wanted a king - He had made an allowance for that through Moses - but because they were rejecting God as their Supreme Ruler (1 Sam. 8:20).They wanted to walk by sight, not by faith, overconfident in human leaders (Ps. 118:9).
The kings were to lead way (Ps. 1:10-11). They were to follow in footsteps of King David who enacted law of Moses (1 Kgs. 2:3). Israel was only to follow men as they followed God. The prophet Samuel warned them of greedy rulers, excessive taxes, and corrupt administrations, but they still decided to go ahead with their political elections. Not that religious world was free from fault (1 Sam. 8:3). And God reveals that best man shouldn't always win (Dan. 4:17). But if we pray for God to lead us in deciding who to vote for or against, it's His responsibility to let us know what to do. Of course we should study party platforms and see which one is more closely aligned to Biblical principles. It's vain to think that our vote could thwart God's Will! He'll promote and demote whom He will (Ps. 75:7).
Ancient Israel was both Church and State: a theocracy. God recognizes these two branches of government and encourages us to do same (Malachi 4:4-5). The two anointed positions in Israel were that of priest and king (Zech. 4:14). The oil was representative of God's Holy Spirit that Israel prayed would guide and direct their leaders.
We've seen how God has authorized human leaders to take life (Lev. 20). They're free to deputize a police force (to protect and defend communities), as well as use armed forces to defend their country and kin.
God holds His leaders responsible not to get greedy or become bloodthirsty. We're not to relish war, but use it as a last resort (Deut. 20:10-12).We're only to fight wars of self-defense and not throw our weight around (Lk. 3:14). We're to hate sins of our enemies and learn to love them, knowing they're also made in God's image and hopefully will come to their senses someday; we're not to be trigger-happy or gloat over our enemies' downfall (Prov. 24:17).
God's going to utilize Israel to punish various nations during their trek back to Middle East (Isa. 11:14). And God will be fighting through Jews at Jerusalem (Zech. 14:14). Christ's coming back to earth to wage war before He ushers in peace!
God hasn't only intervened for Israel. He's determined outcome of various wars and battles to let one group of Gentiles beat another (Deut. 2:19-23). Moses also said it would've been a sin if different tribes of Israel didn't rally to each others defense (Nu. 32:20-23). And it's a disastrous sin to go to war if God's servants instruct otherwise (Deut. 1:42-45).
It's all a matter of faith and obedience. We're to realize GOD is our true Commander in Chief and Captain of our Salvation, and follow lead of His Holy Spirit (Jos. 5:13-15, Heb. 2:10). But let's not forget that God can and does work through inspired men (Neh. 9:27).
David Ben-Ariel, an American author who has travelled widely and who has lived throughout Israel, shares a special focus on the Middle East and great interest in Jerusalem, reflected in hard-hitting articles that help others improve their understanding of that troubled region that is destined to affect us all. Check out http://www.benariel.com and http://www.pushhamburger.com/david.htm/
