Democracies around the world brought unheard of freedoms, prosperity and blessing to untold multitudes of oppressed and enslaved peoples. But is democracy a biblical concept? And given the breakdown in trust in modern democratic institutions can democracy survive? How long will Israel’s Jewish democracy last? And what’s next?
One of the main reasons that democracies around the world have been so successful is the separation of powers. Coequal branches of government were set up to prevent a monarch, president or prime minister from abusing authority and doing whatever he or she wants with the people.
It should come as no surprise that the kingdoms of Israel also had three distinctive branches of government to ensure proper governance. In Israel King, Priest, and Prophet had coequal authorities to safeguard equitable governance and prevent any one man or movement from abusing the people or leading them too far astray.
Where did democracy go wrong?
By comparing Israel’s modern Jewish democracy with her biblical government we can begin to see where democracy goes wrong and what needs to happen to get it back on track.
The three branches of government in Israel today are the Executive, Legislative and Judicial.
Legislative: Israel’s Knesset of 120 members makes the laws of Israel and controls all of the money. The Knesset can be compared to the US Congress.
The role of the Knesset is to represent the different sectors of the population that voted for them.
In ancient Israel the Priests were appointed, like a congress, to represent the people before God and in matters pertaining to the kingdom’s laws. They were charged with making sure that the laws of Torah, Israel’s constitution, were implemented fairly and correctly. Priests cared for and protected the people with grace and truth in the public square and at the Mercy Seat in the Temple.
To ensure that the priests could not be corrupted by political pressures from the rulers, kings and prophets were not allowed to interfere with their work and they were not allowed to enter the inner sanctuaries of the Temple.
Executive: In Israel this is the Prime Minister (today Benjamin Netanyahu) and his majority coalition with at least 61 out of 120 members of Knesset. In general, this branch can be compared to the US president and White House.
The King and his court were the executive branch in ancient Israel’s government. However, unlike other monarchies, Israel’s kings never had full sovereign powers like the Gentile rulers. Israel’s king remained under the scrutiny and restraints of Priests and Prophets.
In Israel, God is King of kings, and no man or woman could claim but limited authority. A king could not make or enforce laws according to his own will, or excessively abuse the people.
No king was above the law (Torah). In fact, by law the king was required to study the Torah (Israel’s constitution) every day and memorize it by copying it down under the scrutiny of the Priests.
“When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by carefully observing all the words of this instruction and these statutes. Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left (politics?).” (Deut. 17: 18-20)
Judicial: This is Israel’s Supreme Court. Modern Israel does not have an official constitution, which is the reason rabbis and Orthodox Jews in the Knesset are able to push for more Torah-oriented tradition in Israel. There is no separation of “state and church” in Israel.
Without a recognized founding document like a constitution (or Torah) Israel’s democracy leans on the Supreme Court to deliberate and judge the fairness of laws made by the Knesset. This issue has become extremely contentious in Israel and is dividing the country over who gets to determine which laws are just, and which are not. Given the current secular and left-leaning majority on the bench of Israel’s Supreme Court, this has thrown Netanyahu’s current government with its large number of religious MKs into a maelstrom of battles with the court.
It appears that unless Israel decides to recognize the applicable portions of Torah as the only potential constitution of the Jewish State to provide guidance to the Supreme Court’s decisions, Israel will become a nation like all the other nations.
Of course, when Messiah comes he will reestablish God’s laws in Israel.
The Prophets of ancient Israel can be compared to today’s judiciary.
The Prophets of Israel completed the three-fold separation of powers, and had complete freedom to reprimand kings and princes for their sins, behavior and judgements. From King Saul and the beginning of Israel’s monarchy, rulers in Israel were kept on their toes with the threat they might find themselves publicly rebuked or rejected by the Prophets, who never failed to remind them and the people who is the real King. Israel’s kings were subject to the Lord’s judgements, a situation that often proved frustrating under the pressures of governing. Being able to do as they pleased, like Gentiles kings, would certainly have made things easier.
Like the Supreme Court, the Prophets were concerned with the rights of the poor and justice for minorities. The Prophets’ spirit was to be kept synced to God’s Spirit, which would guide them to speak truth to the other two branches of government.
What have we learned?
This separation of powers in ancient Israel only worked because the overriding principle that held it all together was faith in God and Torah.
Clearly without God or Torah (Bible) to guide us, today’s Jewish democracy, and ultimately all democracies, are doomed. Public opinion and the will of the people on its own can never lead to blessing.
Still today Israel is unlike other nations, for the government together with the Knesset’s religious parties do work to incorporate Torah into the laws, customs and identity of the Jewish state. Daily on the streets of Israel and in the government we discuss what it means to be a Jew (can you imagine the US determining what it means to be Christian?!). We debate immigration guidelines, which are based on Jewish law, as are marriage regulations, policies governing conversion to Judaism, and kosher laws.
In contrast to the current trend in Western democracies to diminish strong cultural and religious identities within the nation-state, Israel looks to her biblical history to strengthen her identity as a modern Jewish democracy.
Not an easy journey in the modern progressive world, essential as it may be.
In Israel, rabbis play a central role in the government. Something like the relationship between the kings of Israel and the priesthood. And why can’t a Jewish supreme court, with the right people appointed to the bench, bring biblical and prophetic insights into their deliberations and judgements?
In many Western countries the Bible is used ceremonially to encourage witnesses to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It seems to me that Israel has a much better chance of finding truth, because here the Torah is more than just a prop.
Israel, where the Bible is mandatory reading from grammar school to high school; where Torah and Jewish Talmudic law are subjects that students major in at public schools; and where average citizens are far more educated in biblical knowledge than in most Western Christian democracies where state and religion are forcibly separated by law.
Israel, where a fair and just democracy is more likely to survive.
At least, that is, until Messiah comes and establishes his just and everlasting kingdom nation.
Tachles With Aviel – Right-Wing Power Grab, or Left-Wing Coup?
Tachles With Aviel – Are We All Fascists?
Tachles With Aviel – The Horror Scenario
Jealousy Belongs to God, Not to Man
Holiness
God Seeks Contact
Rape in the Hebrew Scriptures, Part 1
Why Are There No More Miracles Today?
Cunning as Serpents
Tachles with Aviel – Does Israel need saving from a “messianic dictatorship”?
Democracy Wasn’t a Given for the Reborn State of Israel
Test Yourself: What 31 Famous English Phrases Originated in Biblical Hebrew?
Is Hell Just Down the Hill From the Jerusalem Cinematheque?
What’s the Most Popular Prophecy?
Words Matter
Israel, the Land and the Future of Humanity
Why Didn’t Abraham Negotiate for Isaac’s Life?
Why democracy is hard for Israel
The Future of Democracy Is Not at Stake in Israel’s—or America’s—Upcoming Elections
The Dangers of a Value-Based Democracy
Violence in the Name of Democracy?
Paradox of Laws & Outlaws, and a Prophesied Solution
How Israel’s Religious Right Displaced the Left
‘Barak detailed plans to bring down government three years ago’
Christians in Israel: An Insider View on How We Fare
Israel in an Uproar Over Proposed Judicial Reform by Netanyahu Gov’t
Moses or God: The Confusion of Identity
The Biblical Origins of Antisemitism
A Name Like Fragrant Oil
Moses: From Water, Through Water, To Water
When points of the compass reveal political direction
Where Would the World Be Without God’s Laws?
The God of the Powerless
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Babylon
Pandemic as a Trigger for the First Temple
Take Ownership of Your Life Before Someone Else Does
Thou Shalt Not Be Judgmental!
A Look at the Biblical Office of Judges
Masters of the Universe?
Daniel דָּנִיֵּאל
Tough Love, or Evil Intent? Why Does the World Obsess Over Israel?
Read the NT Through the Lens of the “Old”
“Turn From Evil and Do Good”
In the Beginning Only One Tree Is Called by Name
What Did God Actually Create?
Democracy? Not Exactly
If God Controls Everything, Do We Really Have a Choice?
Tachles With Aviel – Is Judicial Reform the Way to a Biblical State?
Today’s Uprising of Muslim Women Could Change the World
Every Warrior Is a Sacrifice
Chaos Grips Israel After Netanyahu Fires Defense Minister
Who Would Theodor Herzl Vote for Today?
Prophetically, does it matter if Israel’s a democracy?
The Ten Commandments… Or Else!
Our Father Abraham
Lapid’s Call to Disobey Netanyahu Gov’t Puts Civil Society at Risk, Warn Legal Experts
God Also Lowered His Expectations
Has Israel ruined its democracy?
Do All Things Really Work Together for Good?
Sometimes God Has To Bang His Fist on the Table
Israel Justice Minister Vs. the Legal System
Israel’s Post-Democracy Moment
Why Was a Bronze Snake Better Than the Golden Calf?
Israel Today Membership
Monthly Membership
Yearly Membership
Save 18% Per Month.
Six Months Membership
Save 9% Per Month.
3 responses to “The Bible, Israel and Democracy”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Thank you for this simple, straight forward look at Israel’s past and current government. The contrasting to other democracies, that are disallowing God from the public sector, we need this exposure – frequently- though it does little good I am sure. We see and think such things but haven’t the venue or means to express them. I appreciate the post. Well said.
I, too, thank you. In the West, the definition of certain terms depends on whose dictionary one uses. Is it progressive to live like Sodom and confuse the genders or is it regressive? Is it conservative to bless the rich and despise the poor and wink your eye at adultery?
We need to get beyond left-right, progressive-conservative and open up God’s dictionary: the Torah. It deals with the Holy and the profane. In 2 Timothy 3:16 we are told “All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness…” When this was written the New Testament had not yet been written. It is referring to the Torah. Restoration comes from God and through Israel. Democracy is at odds with God because “everyone does what’s right in his own eyes.”
If Judiciaries had their focus on the Lord they would have credence for their rulings and serve the role of prophet but they don’t. As Susan says, they tend to be conservative or progressive. Thus, Israel’s is more Jacob than Israel.
Same for the legislature, it’s priestly role doesn’t seek to reconcile the people with God rather it has become a worldly tool.
Neither has the executive been a godly king who governs the nation’s household on godly principles.
Judaism cannot provide these intimate expressions of the knowledge of God because it doesn’t know Him yet. The Christians don’t do much better but there is historic evidence of better practices.
Israel is to become God’s witness to the nation’s of how it’s supposed to be done.