Preface
This is the third article in this series. The following is a link to the previous article.
The Earliest Form of Human Government
The oldest form of human government was the “city-state”. Each city had a king. The king owned everything and was answerable to no one. This form of government continued for hundreds of years.
Understanding Early Life
The most common book where you can learn about our early life as humans is the Bible. Understanding the structure of life as presented in the Bible is greatly aided by understanding the above paragraph. This is why the ancient character Abraham lied to Pharaoh and influenced his wife to lie also because he knew that Pharaoh had the power of life and death over him. Abraham lied again to Abimelech, the king of the Philistine city of Gerar. You can read about these two events here (Genesis 12:13) and here (Genesis 20:2).
The Deliverance of Israel
This structure of government was in place when God delivered ancient Israel out of Egypt. God led ancient Israel through the Red Sea and around in the wilderness for 40 years. He was preparing them for life in the new “promised land”. He was teaching them a completely new form of government. In this article you will learn how that form of government is largely in place in the United States of America today.
As Israel began to inhabit the new land every head of household was given ownership of his own property. You can read about this here.
The Republic of Israel
For the first time in history the common man owned land and could sustain himself, by his own effort and skill, without relying upon the “favor” of a king, pharaoh, shah or whoever.
Under Moses a system of leaders was set in place. There were leaders of a thousand, leaders of a hundred, leaders of fifty and leaders of ten. You can read about the selection of these leaders here. The leader of ten was a head of a household. Each leader was to rule his “kingdom” according to the words of the covenant that God had made with Israel, the Ten Commandments. For confirmation of this point check here. When you analyze each commandment separately, and in context with the whole, you can see that there are principles contained therein that apply to all of the important things in life.
Each head of household was responsible for governing his own “house”. Because God knew that men are quite fallible, He set up an appellate system. A member of the “ten” could appeal what he or she thought to be a bad “ruling” by going up the “chain”. If he could not get satisfaction from the leader of fifty he could go on to the leader of a hundred and so on.
He could even go on up to the “Supreme Court” of the day, to Moses himself.
This was a perfect system with one major flaw; the folly, or laziness, of the head of household.
The Dissolution of Israel
This system lasted for hundreds of years until the accumulated sins of the people of Israel led to the partitioning of Israel into the “House of Judah”, the Jews, (comprised of the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Benjamin plus the tribe of Levi). This was referred to as the “Southern Kingdom” with its capital at Jerusalem. The “Northern Kingdom”, with its capital at Samaria, was comprised of the remaining “ten tribes”. This partitioning took place at the end of Solomon’s reign and the beginning of the reign of his son, Rehoboam.
The continuance of the two separate kingdoms lasted for several hundred years.
The accumulation of the sins of the Northern Kingdom of Israel convinced God that He had to remove Israel from the land. That happened between 721-718 BC. The “lost ten tribes” disappeared from history.
The Early American Colonies
Fast forward now to the 1700’s in early America. As a result of the tyrannical policies of King George III of England, great frustration and anger began to develop in the minds of the British subjects of the Crown who lived in and populated the thirteen colonies. Various aspects of frustration, such as taxation without representation, unreasonable searches and seizures and other policies too numerous to mention here, drove the colonists to start thinking about breaking away from England and forming their own country, complete with their own constitution.
That set of circumstances led the Framers to study the various government structures that had existed down through time. They compiled a list of the weaknesses and strengths of the different forms of governments they had studied.
Since every colonist was a British subject by birth he knew his own history. The Anglo-Saxons had ruled England from 400-800 AD. Thomas Jefferson decided to dig deeply into that form of government. The Anglo-Saxons had written in the, by then obsolete, language called Old English. Jefferson taught himself to read Old English so he could read the Anglo-Saxon history in their own language.
The Development of the U. S. Constitution
Their writings outlining their structure of government were rich in principles very well-defined. Jefferson identified 28 principles worthy of embedding in the structure of the constitution they were attempting to construct. Jefferson, being also a theologian, as many of the Framers were, recognized that these principles were based in the teachings from the Bible. Every one of these 28 principles is incorporated into the detailed outline of the constitution we have to this very day. More on this subject in a future article. For now we are developing the “Citizen King” theme.
Jefferson and the other Framers shared with each other the information they were discovering. Jefferson read that the form of government the Anglo-Saxons had constructed was patterned after the Republic of Israel that God had instructed Moses to develop. In fact the Anglo-Saxons attributed the source of their governmental wisdom to Moses.
In the deliverance of ancient Israel from Egypt, leading them through forty years of wilderness wandering and providing them a system of government, unique in all of history, God upended the global system of rule from the top down, monarchical rule, and replaced it with a system of rule from the bottom up. This was a system where “we the people” ruled, accountable to a covenant. This was a “republic”, a system of government based upon the rule of law.
Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues understood the divine origin of this system of government and they relied heavily upon Divine Providence for wisdom, guidance and deliverance.
It is Now Up to Us
The only weakness of this system is that it relies heavily upon the civic virtue of the citizens. Even Benjamin Franklin, when asked by a lady as to what type of government the Framers had given them, replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”
The “if” is the worrisome word. To “keep it” requires that every adult, or at least the majority of them, keep an unrelenting vigilance on the elected leaders and be able to vet them. Every major issue must be analyzed according to its constitutional merit. This requires that the citizens comprehend the principles of the Constitution. This ability enables the citizen to be able to “vet” each issue on its constitutional merit.
So, here we are today, with a republic that is tattered and torn. Many Americans do not want to be “bothered” with government oversight, especially with an unreliable media that seems to be arrayed against us. The situation can seem hopeless except for one thing; the superintending of an all-wise, merciful and patient God, who truly cares for us all.
Trust God
He understands that the U. S. is the leader of the free world. He understands that, ultimately, He is responsible for His creation, us. Why He has chosen to bless America is a topic for another article. Suffice it to say for now, we can have great hope that He will intervene and deliver us for the betterment of all humanity.
Trust Him. Thank Him. Get to know Him. Ask Him to reveal himself to you. He is waiting to hear from you.
For now do your part to take your own responsibility to “keep this republic” seriously. For not every person on earth gets to be a Citizen King.
Greetings John,
Interesting article. I'm also a long time student of the bible, and any other source of truth I can find. You have a very comfortable writing style and it works well for me. With that said I have a few questions I'm hoping you can answer.
You have as a heading: The Development of the U. S. Constitution.
But then you write in a way that points to another constitution. That leaves me confused. As I understand it, based on the best info I can find, the constitutions exist as follows. Can you clarify which one you are referring to?
(1) The Constitution for the united States of America (1787)
(2) The Constitution of the United States of America (1789)
(3) The Constitution of the United States (1790)
(4) The Constitution of the United States of America [Incorporated] (1868)
(5) The Declaration of Interdependence of the Governments in The United States (1937)
Also, in the last section you write "He understands that the U. S. is the leader of the free world."
Again this leaves me rather confused in several ways.
What exactly do you mean by U.S. ?
Do you mean the war mongering U.S. Corporation that provides governmental services to the American People, and that filed for bankruptcy on May 4, 2020?
Or do you mean the peaceful American People themselves? There's a huge difference between the two.
Also, what do you imply when you say "leader of the free world"?
What form of leadership?
By who's authority?
What kind of authority, sovereign or delegated?
Define "free world" please?
Our planet is in a constant state of war so I find it challenging to accept that somehow, somewhere on this war torn planet there could exist a "free world". To me that is an irreconcilable contradiction, especially when I attempt to view the situation from a more divine perspective.
I appreciate any answers and clarifications you can offer.