God Imposes Bad Laws
For Hardness Of Hearts
“He
said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce
your wives, but from the beginning it was not so’” (Matthew 19:7-8 ESV).
God permitted many things (and
commanded many things) in His law that were less than His ideal. The reason? Hardness
of hearts. Under the Law of Moses God permitted slavery and concubines. For the
same reason He also required many ceremonial laws as types and shadows of
better things. But in the beginning it was not so. The prophet Micah gives the
ideal when he says a day was/is coming when the ideal will be restored. Hearts
will be softened by a mighty move of God and the law shall go forth from Zion
and be established. In that day there will be no slavery, no war, and no
socialism. Every man will sit under
his own fig tree and his own vine (Micah 4). That is free
enterprise and private property.
Because of the hardness of hearts God gave Israel a king.
Samuel warned of what it would be like under a monarchy. And the LORD
said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” (1 Samuel 8:22 ESV)
“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” (1 Sam 8:18). “But
the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, ‘No! But there
shall be a king over us…’”(1 Samuel 8:19 ESV). So it is today. We get what we
ask for.
“And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you
have asked; behold, the LORD has set a king over you. If you will fear the LORD
and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the
LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD
your God, it will be well… And you shall
know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of
the LORD, in asking for yourselves a king.” …And all the people said to Samuel,
“Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have
added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” And Samuel said
to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn
aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do
not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are
empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake,
because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself’” (1 Samuel
12:13-22 ESV).
The confederacy during the time of
the judges would have been the ideal government if the people had made God the
king. But because of their hard hearts five cities in the Gaza strip dominated
all the scores of cities in Israel. It could not work because of man’s fallen
nature. Under Saul and David’s central government Israel dominated not only the
Philistines but also all its neighbors. No prophet came later demanding that
Israel return to the confederacy of former days, God promised that He would not
answer (1 Sam 8:18). God gives us the leaders we deserve. “Because of your
hardness of heart” God gave you a king and here are the laws you will live
under. You asked for it.
But God turned around and used this
“lesser ideal.” And the prophets even used it as a type of the greater ideal. “But they shall serve the LORD
their God, And David their king,
Whom I will raise up for them” (Jer 30:9).
Nevertheless, “do not turn aside
from following the LORD.” The idealist would interpret “following the LORD” as
a return to the confederacy. We actually have one or two modern teachers that
do the same by claiming that America should return to the Articles of
Confederation. The Articles might have been the ideal (arguably), but it did
not and could not work for the same reason the confederacy under the judges did
not work. Hardness of hearts forbids it. Every state did what was right in its
own eyes. The nation chose the U.S. Constitution as king just as Israel chose a
king.
So Samuel
told all the words of the LORD to the
people who were asking for a king from him. He said, “he will take your
sons… and your daughters… your fields… a tenth of your grain… a tenth of your
flocks… and 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” (1 Samuel 8:10-18
ESV). The American people have chosen what we have and the Lord will not answer
until the people repent. God’s law cannot be imposed, it must be requested by
the people. “No law structure can be enforced… unless almost everyone accepts
it as the necessary law order”
(Rushdoony, Inst. II, p. 466).
But we say, “Conscription is against
God’s law! Taking our fields and taxing us is against God’s law!” The prophet’s
response: “Too bad. You asked for it. God promised He would not answer you in
that day. A deal is a deal. Serve God with what He gave you.”
Some people thought David and
Solomon were unjust. If they had had Facebook and cable news in those days, all
we would hear would be complaints about the government oppression. In those
days, “Absalom would say, ‘Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man
with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice’” (2
Samuel 15:4 ESV). Absalom was no doubt justified in his complaint that David
did nothing about his son raping his daughter. But God’s prophets said nothing
about this and even held up David’s kingdom as a model example of God’s
kingdom. “Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his
father’ (1 Chron 29:23). His throne is called “the throne of the LORD.”
God’s Bad Laws Under Babylon
A similar situation took place under
the king of Babylon. The last king of Judah, Zedekiah “rebelled against King
Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and
hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel. All the
officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful...”
(2 Chronicles 36:13-14 ESV).
“As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely in the place where
the king dwells [in Babylon] who made him king, whose oath he despised, and
whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die” (Ezekiel 17:16 ESV).
God then says in the next verses
that the covenant Zedekiah made with the king of Babylon was God’s covenant.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “As I live, surely it is my
oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his
head. I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I
will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there for the
treachery he has committed against me” (Ezekiel 17:19-20 ESV).
This captivity then resulted in
Judah living under bad rules that God Himself ordained.
Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would
scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, because
they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my
Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. Moreover, I gave
them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life,
and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their
firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am
the LORD (Ezekiel 20:23-26 ESV).
Now, because of the hardness of their
hearts, God forced them to live under Babylon’s civil laws instead of those of
Moses. God did it. Daniel was forced to attend the university of sorcerers and
was even made the supervisor over all the tax collectors of the Persian Empire.
God Himself defiled them with civil laws that were not good. They asked for it
by breaking God’s covenant. “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” (1 Samuel 8:10-18 ESV).
Cyrus and later Persian kings gave
the Jews permission to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem. God’s people did not
rebel against Persia; they asked permission. They believed “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever
He wishes” (Prov 21:1). They understood that they must “be
subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from
God, and God has instituted those that exist. Therefore whoever resists the
authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur
judgment” (Romans 13:1-2 ESV). All of this less than ideal bondage was their
punishment because of the hardness of hearts.
At the same time, God’s faithful ones understood that the
meek should one day inherit the earth. But they understood it would become a
reality by means of meekness and not by force.
However, there is a time for armed resistance. But armed
resistance for the purpose of freedom of religion and conscience must come
under the authority of lesser magistrates.
The Maccabees’ rebellion is a good example of righteous
rebellion under the authority of a lesser magistrate. Their leader, Mattathias
was a judge in Judea and a priest that raised an army that rebelled against the
Syrian king who would not allow Jews to circumcise their children and was
forcing Jews to offer incense to Apollo.
We ought to obey God rather than man. For the sake of their conscience,
the Maccabees defeated the Syrian army, re-captured Jerusalem, and cleansed the
temple against impossible odds.
On the other hand, the zealots that rebelled against Rome
(Barabbas types) were not rebelling out of obedience to their conscience but
rather for what they thought were their rights. They thought they had a right
to rebel against Roman civil laws. They no doubt believed they were in
righteous rebellion. They desired to restore Jerusalem to the Law of Moses.
They opposed the tyranny of Rome. But they did not understand or believe that God
would or could overthrow Rome in a meek manner and in His due time. Nor did
they understand the difference between rebellion for conscience’ sake and
rebellion for rights’ sake. Disobedience for the sake of the conscience is
obedience to God and disobedience for the sake of rights can be sin.
Non-violent demonstrations, however, are not sin and are legal in America.
Rome’s unjust laws that required things like forcing a
citizen to carry a soldier’s one hundred pound load for a mile was a very
unjust law that violated human rights. It did not however violate one’s
conscience. Therefore Jesus’ law says, “Carry it an extra mile.” The same is
true of taxes and a soldiers “right” to slap you or beat you without a trial. The
law of Christ to His church is, “Turn the cheek and put up your sword, Peter.”
The function of government is to protect its citizens from
plunder. Governments therefore are duty-bound to bear the sword. Individuals
under their own authority do not have the right to resist unjust laws. They
must address the proper authorities in a lawful manner like the apostle Paul
did. He first submitted to be beaten unjustly. When the jailer started to
release him, he sent a message through the jailer to the magistrates and cited
Roman law (Acts 16:35-39).
When individuals in Scotland rebelled against the tyrant
kings of England, they did it in a popular uprising for the sake of their
conscience, not simply because their rights had been violated. We ought to obey
God rather than man. Carnal babes cannot understand the difference. Nor do they
trust God to fight for them while they hold their peace. (When the sovereignty
of God is taken out of the equation, all kinds of carnal efforts based on fear will
be made. Unbelief deems it absurd to submit to injustice because it does not believe
that nothing can happen unless God permits it, and that if He does it will be
for good, even unto death.)
In America non-violent demonstrations and freedom of speech
are legal. When civil laws say we cannot preach all of Scripture including the
sinfulness of gay sex, we ought to disobey the law and obey God’s command to
preach the word rather than man. When lesser magistrates are commanded to
confiscate arms, they have a duty to obey the Constitution and to disobey such
laws.
Humanist governments (states) are evil in many ways, but
because of the hardness of hearts and the choice of the people, God has placed
these governments as His servants. “For he [the government] is the servant of
God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one
must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of
conscience” (Romans 13:4-5 ESV).
The logic of the neophyte babe in Christ is, “Statism is
evil; therefore we must get rid of the state.” He forgets that God is the One
who ordains evil states for a good reason: the hardness of hearts. The one and
only solution is a mighty revival that would result in fulfilling 2 Chronicles
7:14. Then and only then will the law go forth from Zion and the land be
healed.
How do we get from “A,” the present reality, to “Z,” the
ideal? How can we jump from “A” to “Z” when we have not even gotten to “B?” “ “If you have run with the
footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses?” (Jer
12:5) One of the reasons the average Christian rejects the idea of God’s law as
the ideal for the culture is that they think Theonomists want to impose it
soon. This causes a “knee-jerk” reaction that even rejects the ideal. They
think God’s law is evil. They even hold the current state as the ideal.
