The Pursuit of Power (2)
Her princes inside her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves. . . Zephaniah 3:3 American KJV 1999
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, leadership, Zephaniah 3:3
[1]Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, Vol. 1, p. 159-160.
[2]Falsely attributed to Alexander Tytler, The Fall of the Athenian Republic. See http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html
Look at King Saul as an example of power gone mad in comparison to King David!
Yes, but don’t look too closely at David. He had is own issues. 🙂
The need/opportunity for power only arises in a place where individual responsibility has already been abdicated. As the scavenging microbes and vultures of nature accumulate at the site of disease and death, so those searching for power are attracted to those who are shirking their responsibility. I would want to say that they generally deserve each other!
The leaders heaven recognizes are those who are willing to get underneath the problem; not on top of it.
Wow…thanks Laurita for this powerful statement, worthy of rereading several times and letting it sink in.
Thank you, Judy, I am still chewing on this one.
What is power? Is it not choice? What is free will? Is it not the freedom to choose? If grace did not protect that freedom, we would not have that will, of course. Therefore, thanks to that grace, the only one who can limit my power of choice is me. Only I can choose away my choices. The most enslaved person ever still has enough heavenly protection to decide their own conscience.
But because we have been gifted with the power to choose, choice becomes our responsibility. If we avoid or misuse that responsibility to choose properly (which is what sin is), we leave a void – a fracture – in reality which I think heaven calls “death”. As nature abhors a vacuum (even spiritual vacuums) – including a blank space where a choice should have been made – that vacuum must be filled: “control” must be instituted, for now there is damage on the ground of reality that must be managed, which is what control is. I contend that all ‘control’ is damage control, and is not choice proper.
Right here is where I can see the siren call of power (which is, of course, choice). When we leave the bone of choice laying around, someone else is going to be inclined to pick it up; and when we misuse our power of choice (which is exactly where we LOSE it) the damage control committees – the ones attracted to that power (of choice) vacuum are going to be shortly arriving.
Well said Laurita,
As I was reading your post I happened to remember a quotation from Edmund Burke. It goes something like this.
Men’s passions form their fetters. The more a man surrenders himself to his passions, the more he needs restraint.
That restraint is almost always heavy-handed and curtails freedoms and rights gifted to men by God. If you value your freedoms that is simply one more reason to cling to the author of every good gift.
Thank you, Glenn, I need to go look that one up!
The demon of power is me, myself and I.
Self trust is the only brand of trust sinful humanity knows.
Danger awaits at every turn.
That is why at the end of the age, Yeshua returns to show
mankind how power ideally works for a thousand year look-see.
Until then, Skip is right: prayer is how we voice our hearts to Him
who has complete sovereignty, no matter who thinks they’re in control.
Prayer puts our trust in the only real seat of power: HIS!
Skip. Prayer makes us human. The lack of prayer turns us into roaring lions and evening wolves.
I have tried to find reason for a prayer in His name and have not. I find many reasons for prayer in my name. So I do not pray as I fear becoming the lion and wolf…
Yes in constant discussion or pressence with God is not prayer supplications etc. It is as someone said on an earlier blog realisimg God is involved in the nitty gritty of our lives. When he tills us to drive slower… nothing more.
It is not about prayer but about listening harder when we are confronted or tempted for He is there not because we asked but because we are humbling ourselves to His calling or direction He provides in our lives.
Not easy to notice with all the living noise we endure everyday. By listen He is there always…
Well, the unfortunate facts are that it likely would have done Jefferson no good to look no further than in his own Bible, even in Zephaniah. Jefferson, in fact, “created his own gospel by taking a sharp instrument, perhaps a penknife, to existing copies of the New Testament and pasting up his own account of Messiah’s philosophy, distinguishing it from what he called ‘the corruption of schismatizing followers.’” The second of two such biblical texts he produced was on display at the Albert H. Small Documents Gallery of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH). You can read more about that in the article, “How Thomas Jefferson Created His Own Bible”, in the January 2012 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine.
Labeled by his some of his political opponents as a “Howling Athiest”, Jefferson was actually a product of the “Age of Enlightenment”, a deist, one that believes in the construct that envisions a supreme being as a sort of watchmaker who created the world but no longer intervens directly in daily life. He was said to be “devoted to the teachings of Jesus Christ. But he didn’t always agree with how they were interpreted by biblical sources, including the writers of the four Gospels, whom he considered to be untrustworthy correspondents.” And we know he was also a “MAN OF CONTRADICTIONS”, i.e an anti-slavery proponent and yet an owner of slaves himself and even having a 37 year adulterous relationship with and producing at least one and maybe several children by one of his slaves.
“This is why God chooses leaders who are unsuited for the task.” That is true, and it may also be true that NO man is suited for the task, but nevertheless, it is God who chooses them all. According to the Scriptures, “Let every person submit himself to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are put in place by God. So whoever opposes the authority has resisted God’s direction, and those who have resisted will bring judgment on themselves. [Rom 13:1-2]
Now you say, “God is the only King”. And knowing that you don’t believe Yeshua is God, then you must not believe that Yeshua is King of Israel, right? Even his disciple, Nathaniel, whom he called to follow him, said to him, “You are the King of Israel”, as did all those who welcomed him when he fulfilled the words of the prophet who said, “See, your King is coming to you, humble and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey”, as did Pilate, and Yeshua never denied anyone saying he was. So what do you mean, “God is the only King”? Is Yeshua God or is God not the only King and Yeshua is also the King of Israel or is Yeshua the only King? Or…..is God the only King of the universe and Yeshua is only the king of Israel?
Jerry and Lisa,
The matter of Jefferson’s religion or the lack thereof, is not settled. Jefferson’s dalliance with Sally Hemmings (who was only four years older than his daughter is only accepted historical fact to those who depict Jefferson as an evil white slave owner. The shared DNA in Sally Hemming’s lineage more likely came from Jefferson’s cousin Randolph. ( I seem to recall) I will agree Jefferson was indeed a man of contradictions, but I have to ask what visionary isn’t?
Glenn
Hey Glenn. That Jefferson was a deist and that he didn’t believe in the resurrection of Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, is not settled?
And do you defend him because he was a visionary, despite being a slave owner?
Also, regarding your claim that it is only those who depict Jefferson as an evil white slave owner that accept it as historical fact that he fathered at least one of Hemmings children, I can share the following information with you.
Clay S. Jenkinson, a respected Jeffersonian scholar by historians of Jefferson, and narrator of the Thomas Jefferson Hour®, a weekly radio program dedicated to the search for truth in the tradition of Thomas Jefferson said this:
“The DNA makes it a near certainty that Jefferson was the father of one or more of Sally Hemings’ children, but the genetic code does not get us very far into this story, because it does not tell us anything about that most mysterious of human mysteries, just what their relationship was behind doors that we have not been invited to open.”
He definitely does not depict Jefferson as an evil white slave owner.
At any rate, I’m not looking to stand in condemning judgement of the man, but I’m also not going to defend him as the epitome of righteousness either. He was a man of great intellect and some good and maybe godly character, I’m sure. He accomplished some good things for many people, but he also was a man of power who at times used it for his own selfish ambition.
As Skip said, he should have taken heed to the prophet Zephaniah!