National Government – The Law of God and Public Policy

National Government
The Law of God and Public Policy

The Law of God provides for national government.

“When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose.” Deuteronomy 17:14, 15

The oft-repeated lamentation of the book of Judges—“at that time there was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes”—shows what can happen when national government is nonexistent or indifferent to the ends of justice. That time of lawlessness, violence, and vigilantism nearly ruined the nation and people of Israel. No wonder that, toward the end of that period, the people demanded a king to rule over them.

One of the important functions of the national government God provided for the people of Israel was to ensure a political framework within which justice, according to the Law of God, would prevail throughout the land. Israel’s king was to know the Law of God, to live and exemplify the model of justice, and to serve as the highest bar of appeal in bringing the benefits of that Law to the people.

There is certainly a role for national government in the economics of justice outlined in God’s Law. A national government is important for such areas as national defense, suppressing evil, maintaining a sound currency, facilitating transportation and commerce, and serving as a final bar of appeal as required in questions of justice.

But national government too easily becomes a forum, not for the pursuit of justice, but for the practice of partisan politics and the aggrandizement of politicians and special interests.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.