I Samuel, Kings, and Libertarianism
This is going to seem like a strange post, but I submit it for consideration.
I am teaching I Samuel 8-15, the story of Saul's early kingship, before he goes fully mentally ill and tries to kill David for years. Saul is fascinating, Shakespearean and Greek tragedy-like, and a perplexing mixture of his own bad choices and sovereign blessing and judgment. I don't want to over-allegorize it for my lesson, but it's hard not to.
However, I couldn't help thinking that the Israelites were like the Americans today who are calling for socialism and even bigger government to "cure all our ills," which are over-stated. Case in point: canceling student loan debt. Why should taxpayers cancel the student loans of young people who made bad financial choices about where they went to college? Go to a cheaper school. There is no right in the constitution to attend a $50,000 a year college. There are plenty of inexpensive colleges. I teach at one of the least expensive in the country and we do fine.
Second case in point: Let's have Medicare for all for the group who doesn't have health insurance. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to fix that. It didn't. Why? Some people don't want health insurance. Some people don't want to pay for it. We don't need to change everyone's health care for those whose problems could be fixed another way.
The Israelites wanted a king for the main reason of "We want to be like other nations." We hear calls for socialism so that we can be like Denmark (please!) and Canada. Try emigrating to Denmark. Saul warned them about what a king would do: infringement on their liberties and pocketbooks. Exactly what big government socialism would do.
What did they get? A lack of innovation, an inability to defend themselves, and constant wars. The Philistine civilization had developed metallurgy, but the Isrealites, who were not stupid people, had not. Why didn't the king they wanted work out a way for them to get metallurgy so the Israelites were not dependent on the Philistines? Then, all the weapons were in Saul's hands, rather than in the hands of the people, who needed them for defense (second amendment, anyone?)
To say nothing of Saul's rash oaths, lack of honesty, and attempt to save spoils from Agag and keep Agag for a political prisoner when he was commanded not to. Now, I have some pretty existential questions about chapter 15, and actually all of Saul's story. But that's not the issue here. Just like this text raises some messy questions, our desire to have the government take care of all our problems in order to be released from messiness only causes more of it.
Life is messy. I want order as much as the next person. Big government promises order and that we will give up our rights. One of those rights is the right to messiness. The text of I Samuel is messy, too, and I think God gives us difficult texts so we have to wrestle with them and become stronger mentally and spiritually. These are not fairy tales with clear good guys and bad guys. Saul had potential but made bad choices; he was not a victim of his own personality and God's sovereignty. To be a free people, we have to deal with messiness and struggle with hard things and take chances and make choices.
I am teaching I Samuel 8-15, the story of Saul's early kingship, before he goes fully mentally ill and tries to kill David for years. Saul is fascinating, Shakespearean and Greek tragedy-like, and a perplexing mixture of his own bad choices and sovereign blessing and judgment. I don't want to over-allegorize it for my lesson, but it's hard not to.
However, I couldn't help thinking that the Israelites were like the Americans today who are calling for socialism and even bigger government to "cure all our ills," which are over-stated. Case in point: canceling student loan debt. Why should taxpayers cancel the student loans of young people who made bad financial choices about where they went to college? Go to a cheaper school. There is no right in the constitution to attend a $50,000 a year college. There are plenty of inexpensive colleges. I teach at one of the least expensive in the country and we do fine.
Second case in point: Let's have Medicare for all for the group who doesn't have health insurance. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to fix that. It didn't. Why? Some people don't want health insurance. Some people don't want to pay for it. We don't need to change everyone's health care for those whose problems could be fixed another way.
The Israelites wanted a king for the main reason of "We want to be like other nations." We hear calls for socialism so that we can be like Denmark (please!) and Canada. Try emigrating to Denmark. Saul warned them about what a king would do: infringement on their liberties and pocketbooks. Exactly what big government socialism would do.
What did they get? A lack of innovation, an inability to defend themselves, and constant wars. The Philistine civilization had developed metallurgy, but the Isrealites, who were not stupid people, had not. Why didn't the king they wanted work out a way for them to get metallurgy so the Israelites were not dependent on the Philistines? Then, all the weapons were in Saul's hands, rather than in the hands of the people, who needed them for defense (second amendment, anyone?)
To say nothing of Saul's rash oaths, lack of honesty, and attempt to save spoils from Agag and keep Agag for a political prisoner when he was commanded not to. Now, I have some pretty existential questions about chapter 15, and actually all of Saul's story. But that's not the issue here. Just like this text raises some messy questions, our desire to have the government take care of all our problems in order to be released from messiness only causes more of it.
Life is messy. I want order as much as the next person. Big government promises order and that we will give up our rights. One of those rights is the right to messiness. The text of I Samuel is messy, too, and I think God gives us difficult texts so we have to wrestle with them and become stronger mentally and spiritually. These are not fairy tales with clear good guys and bad guys. Saul had potential but made bad choices; he was not a victim of his own personality and God's sovereignty. To be a free people, we have to deal with messiness and struggle with hard things and take chances and make choices.
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