Today Israel is described as a “Jewish and democratic state” as if the two terms are inseparable. In the minds of many, they are. Democracy is spoken of in some circles as more sacred than Judaism or Jewish identity, in fact.
But cracks are beginning to show, and the fact that today we are voting for the fifth time in under four years suggests that representative democracy might not be the most stable form of government for the modern Jewish state.
In an interview with the N12 news portal, Prof. Motti Golani, chair of the Jewish History Department at Tel Aviv University, explained that the founders of the modern Israeli state were not necessarily committed to democracy from the start.
“Herzl, Weizmann and Jabotinsky were not convinced of democracy, and some even opposed it. They did not yet grasp the rising significance of popular rule,” said the professor.
Remember, many of these early fathers of Zionism had grown up under monarchies or authoritarian regimes.
Prof. Golani went on to say that democracy became a kind of compromise when the state was finally established due to the various different factions of Jews coming from different nations and backgrounds.
There is also the question of whether or not democracy is the ultimate form of government, at least for Israel, from a biblical viewpoint. For more on that, see: Jewish Democracy – Is It a Viable, and Biblical, Concept?
Let’s look at God’s model for society. God was looking to establish a kingdom of priests but the people wouldn’t accept it, Exodus 19:6.
We can go back to the first two men who were born, Cain and Abel. Abel recognised that his priesthood had to acknowledge God as the sovereign who gave him life and redeemed him. His priesthood was acceptable to God. Cain refused to have any other king but himself, his priestly service was according to what he decided was best.
The priesthood of God redeemed Israel from worldly bondage in Egypt and enabled them to settle the land. Torah judges ruled for a time until democracy demanded a king. The king was charged with writing his own copy of Torah so that he could know how to judge rightly. The first king, Saul, showed he was more like Cain than Abel. And so Israel became a world entity just like the other nations. Cain’s legacy was furthered by all the goyim. Nimrod established a false god system that became global. All the world empires from Egypt through Babylon and Rome to Norse sacrificed to a sun god and had a plethora of gods to follow. Democracy would ensure man’s will always prevailed over God’s will.
However, Torah wasn’t so easily thwarted and God was able to maintain a witness to the world through His people Israel. Judaism upheld Torah and faithfully recorded the scriptures not just for Israel’s kings but for any other people and their kings who would keep them. The first coming of Messiah led to Torah being fulfilled and being spread throughout the earth. The goyim began to convert, Armenia became the first Christian nation and many others followed.
The world had its answer, through Rome Torah would be compromised and Christianity would be made to follow Nimrod. Passover became Easter and Tabernacles became Christmas. Nimrod’s city names (Gen 10:10) reveal his plan to offer instructive control of the public through the confusing and mixing of the Lord’s ways, into a new god system he designed that would create many new gods and offer many wide paths for people to follow. Jesus countered this by proclaiming the kingdom of God had to entered by the narrow gate of Messiah only, Matt 7:13.
So where does that leave us? Fulfilled Torah is needed to make us a kingdom of priests, to govern us and to give us salvation. Kings should read the Torah portion to their people (using the 3 year cycle) on radio and TV each week. Able teachers should make a short comment on it with further studies catered for. The New Testament should be included as Jesus and the apostles teaching confirm fulfilled Torah. The New World Order is a Nimrod system that continues to compromise Torah. Israel and the nations need to resist it, James 4:7.
The US is not a democracy, it is a Constitutional Republic. But, those of the democratic party want a democracy because they can change the rules of the game to suit themselves, even though most of those elected officials think communism would be better for the country. Why? because their lust for power and wealth pushes them in that direction.