Bulletin Articles
“Anointed”
Categories: Iron sharpens ironThe political season is heating up in our country—although it’s worth asking, does it ever really cool down anymore? With the latest “most important election of our lifetime” looming near, Christians ought to recognize, and by repulsed by one particular aspect of the great political debate, because it stands directly opposed to God’s wishes and plans.
An easy way to see the problem is to look at Israel’s experience with king Saul. God had appointed Samuel to judge the people, but as he got older and shifted more of that responsibility to his sons, the people noticed flaws in their leadership and so told Samuel, “appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1Sa 8.5). Setting aside the problem of the Israelites taking their cues from the nations that surrounded them, God had Samuel tell the Israelites that they would regret pursuing this idea, saying, “you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day” (1Sa 8.17-18).
It’s not as if the people’s desire to have a judge and military leader were unreasonable—God had been appointing just those sorts of leaders for…well, for longer than our own country has even has existed, as a matter of fact. Yet, these leaders weren’t invested with the same authority or power as a king, because they were supposed to be agents of the true king, God himself. When Samuel took the people’s demand before him, God responded in part by saying, “they have rejected me from being king over them” (1Sa 8.7). This arrangement hadn’t been very successful for a long time. Since the start, the people had routinely rebelled against God and his law, leading to the sort of barbaric conduct recorded in the last five chapters of the book of Judges. There, the author is careful to note on four separate occasions that these horrible events occurred at least partly because “there was no king in Israel” (Jdg 17.6, 18.1, 19.1, 21.25). He further notes in both the first and last of these explanations that in the absence of a king, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
That wasn’t supposed to be the way it worked—if they had obeyed the law even somewhat consistently, loving God with all their hearts and their neighbors as themselves, God would have seen that they had little need for great warriors to lead them into battle, or for judges with ever-expanding powers. But, they rejected the best king they could ever have served, and demanded a flawed, fleshly one to save them from the very same problems brought on by their own disobedient, immoral behavior. God chose Saul, and although he didn’t want this position of great authority, Samuel anointed him and told him, “you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies” (1Sa 10.1).
Well, he did do that. He turned out to be (with God’s help) a very successful military leader. But power opened the door to temptation, and before long Saul was ignoring God’s instructions and doing “what was right in his own eyes,” like the nation had done in the days before they had a king. When it was expedient to keep the army from scattering before a battle, he assumed the role of priest, contrary to God’s express commandments in the law (1Sa 13.8-12). When God told him to put an end to a nation that had persistently troubled Israel, without profiting from it, Saul plundered them and then blamed it on the people, while also saying he intended to sacrifice it all to God (1Sa 15.1-21). When God selected David as an eventual replacement for Saul, he spent most of his remaining years trying to murder David, even though he treated Saul like a beloved father. Saul was the ruler appointed by God, but although he fulfilled his role, we’d be right to pity his subjects.
Today, modern, educated people who would scorn those simpletons of the past, are following in their footsteps. They clamor for a ruler who will fix all of the problems they themselves have created by rejecting the instructions of the king of creation. For some reason, although it happens over and over, they still don’t learn, and expect this new ruler to be the perfect one—the chosen one—the Anointed One.
They don’t use the term, but many people continue to search for a Messiah. He already came, and when he did, we nailed him on a cross. Humanity doesn’t really want a perfect ruler, who judges justly and behaves righteously in all things. If you need further proof, just consider what type of people have generally floated to the top of the political pool over the past several decades. They tend to be less like the cream that floats to the top of the milk pail, and more like the film of putrid algae that floats to the top of the pond.
No, most people think they’re looking for someone to protect the good, destroy evil, and be a perfect judge between the two; but in practice, they reject that very ruler, every day. Instead, they’re looking for a club to swing at their enemies—someone who will do what is right in their own estimation, just like the ancient Israelites. Keep this in mind, when you participate in the political process, and remember the rulers are appointed by God are nothing compared to the ruler Anointed by God. Make sure you don’t reject him from being king over you.
Jeremy Nettles
