Biblical Politics

Do not trust in noblemen, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.  His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.  Psalm 146:3-4  NASB

Nobleman – The world is continuously more and more interconnected.  Two years of pandemic disruption could hardly be better evidence.  Our lives are intertwined with many, many others, most of whom we have never met and will never really know.  In order to keep some semblance of order, we rely on our forms of government.  We’re unlikely to be self-sufficient these days.  We get our power from electrical systems that extend across national borders.  We don’t get our meat and vegetables from our own backyards.  Our water comes from somewhere else, not a well on our property (and, even if it does come from a well, we probably didn’t dig it or pump it).  Our health and medical needs are provided by many anonymous persons.  And so it goes—more and more dependence.  So, who should we trust in all this?  Who can we really rely on for our well being?  The biblical answer is in some ways a bit shocking.  The answer is “No one.”

The verb here is bāṭaḥ, a verb that has the unique position of being used positively in only two situations: trusting God and trusting your wife (Proverbs 31:11).  In virtually every other case, the verb is used in the negative, that is, do not trust!  This is one of those cases.  The psalmist tells us not to trust in nedîbim (plural).  Who are these people?  Well, they aren’t always “noblemen,” as the translation suggests.

The noun nādîb can refer both to common people (Ex 35:5) and overlords (I Sam 2:8) as those who do or should voluntarily serve God. The latter are contrasted to the poverty stricken (dal and ʾebyôn, I Sam 2:8). Their responsibility is emphasized when they are described as righteous (Prov 17:26) and contrasted with the fool (Prov 17:7). Their exalted material and social position is dependent on God (Ps 107:40), and, hence, people are adjured not to trust in them but in God (Ps 146:3). Even Gentile overlords can be so described (Ps 47:9 [H 10]).^[1]

In this verse we assume that the psalmist uses nedîbim for officials, perhaps princes or royalty.  If that’s the case, then this verse is remarkably counterintuitive because the one who is writing is, in fact, one of these people.  It’s like me writing to you, “Don’t trust the words of any letter writer.”  It’s like the “all men are liars” self-contradiction.  But we get the point.  The nādîb (“noble”) who writes these words has enough sense to know that he can’t be really trusted either.  Human beings are just too susceptible to corruption, power, and ego.  No matter how carefully we try to orchestrate our world, other people can always disrupt it—significantly.  Wuhan Labs proved the point.  From the biblical perspective, God is the only one you can really trust (and the wife whose antenna is fixed on God’s purposes).  We all know this; we just chose to forget it.  We put our trust in things we think we can handle.  Insurance, security systems, investments, gated communities, bonds.  We love those bigger barns.  Until they all come crashing down.  Maybe the nādîb who wrote this knew just how untrustworthy he was.  Actually, that’s the kind of human leader we really need—someone who clearly knows his or her own faults and says so.

Topical Index: nādîb, nobleman, trust, bāṭaḥ, wife, dependence, Psalm 146:3-4

^[1] Coppes, L. J. (1999). 1299 נָדַב. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 555). Chicago: Moody Press.