The Pursuit of Power (2)

Her princes inside her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves . . . Zephaniah 3:3

Roaring Lions/Evening Wolves – “The hunger of the powerful knows no satiety; the appetite grows on what it feeds.  Power exalts itself and is incapable of yielding to any transcendent judgment; . . . It is the bitter irony of history that the common people, who are devoid of power and are the prospective victims of its abuse, are the first to become the ally of him who accumulated power.  Power is spectacular, while its end, the moral law, is inconspicuous.”[1]

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, [which is] always followed by a dictatorship.”[2]

When Thomas Jefferson said that public debt was the greatest enemy of democracy, he was undoubtedly reflecting on the indisputable historical record of past civilizations.  From Egypt to Rome, from Greece to the Holy Roman Empire, power corrupted every hierarchy of leadership, eventually resulting in massive spending at the expense of those who produced.  No civilization has ever recovered from the addiction of the powerful.

But Jefferson need not have looked further than his Bible.  In fact, all he had to do was read the prophet Zephaniah.  The Bible makes it abundantly clear that peace and prosperity are the result of righteousness, not power.  Zephaniah warned us all.  Power breeds lions and wolves; lions whose roar is the sound of mayhem and slaughter, wolves whose feasting on the vulnerable leaves nothing for the morning.  Woe to any people who believe that the powerful will save them.  Woe to those who, given power, oppress the helpless.  Of all the world’s addictions, power is to be feared the most for it is the unbridled warrant for destruction.  No man or woman who wishes to be powerful is fit to wield its sword.  This is why God  chooses leaders who are unsuited for the task.  This is why God is the only King, the final authority and the arbiter of the good.   No man can hold the sword of power for long without abusing its force and any man who thinks he is able to do so without the humility that comes from standing before a Holy God is a bigger fool than the Father of Lies.

What is the biblical solution to the addiction of power?  Prayer!  A leader who is not in constant conversation with the Father is a ravenous beast in civil disguise.  Prayer makes us human.  The lack of prayer turns us into roaring lions and evening wolves.  The only antidote to power is standing in His presence – often.

Topical Index:  power, lions, wolves, democracy, addiction, Zephaniah 3:3

[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, Vol. 1, p. 159-160.

[2] P. J. O’Rourke but often incorrectly attributed to Alexander Tytler