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| Emperor Haile Selassie. |
Why
do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel
together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in
his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
(Psalm 2:1-6)
And
he shall deliver their kings into
thine hand, and thou shall destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no
man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.
(Deut.7: 24)
One certain thing
that cannot escape your attention as you go through the consistent thread of
biblical scriptures is that the Maker of the Universe makes no attempt to hide
his deep antipathy, contempt and violent dislike for earthly kings. Why is this
so? Because they set themselves up in opposition to God’s purpose of leadership
as they belittle and undervalue the people’s capacity to be inwardly motivated,
innovative and enterprising. The culture implanted by earthly kings makes the
people hold contemptuous, adulterated opinions about themselves. Bound by fear
and insecurity, the modicum of initiative the people have does not stretch them
beyond their capacity to feed and clothe themselves.
The unconscionable
insensitivity of earthly kings to treat people as piece of bread was exposed
when the king of Sodom tried to exchange goods for persons on the table of
negotiation with Abraham. Truly they treat their people as commodities to be
traded when it is convenient. Their tyranny is despicable and deeply
disturbing. When King Ahab’s request to purchase a coveted piece of land was
turned down by Naboth, he went into a prolonged depression. It took the king’s
wife, Jezebel’s mischievous intervention concerning Ahab’s unrestricted power
for the tables to be turned against Naboth. The hapless man was stoned to death
on false charges.
When King David’s
eyes wandered to catch the glorious naked beauty of Bathsheba, he wanted her
without hesitation. The king could not be denied or refused. He got her
pregnant. To cover the shame, her husband, Urriah, was sent into the heat of
battle, defence withdrawn, and he was summarily killed.
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| Emperor Haile Selassie and queen with royal guests. |
Nebuchadnezzer
languished in the wilderness as a wild beast for seven years for being
oppressive and arbitrary. Diabolical
plots, coups and counter-coups, intrigues, deceptions, subterfuges, propaganda,
misinformation and miseducation, witchcraft practices and enchantments, murders
and rapes, summary executions, there is no depth of depravity ambitious
contenders would not plumb in their vicious contests for thrones. Half of it
has not been told in Games of Thrones! Stealing the hearts of the people, Absalom
plotted and overthrew his father. To reclaim the throne, the son was hacked
down. Adonijah, feeling entitled, moved fast and proclaimed himself king, even
while weakened but alert David was still on the throne. Adonijah, first son
–natural heir – did not escape the wrath of King Solomon, and it was only a
matter of time before he was wasted. To
secure the throne in Solomon’s hand, antagonists, men with suspected loyalty,
and pockets of opposition, overt and covert, were methodically hacked down and
eliminated. It was a bloody mess all the way.
Yes, books would be
written to justify or condemn the various actors on the stage of power-plays,
the losers especially getting the short end of the stick. It’s not for nothing
they say history has never been fair to losers in the power-games. Having to
lose means, of course, they would have scanty resources to tell their stories
effectively. Winners, on the other hand, has immense patronage to dispense, enabling
writers and recorders of history to spin and magnify the rationale and
result of the brutal contests –
favourably, inevitably for the winners. Indeed, philosophies and doctrines –
slanted or false – would be articulated and forcefully propagated to
rehabilitate and maintain the new ruling order. Governmental forces and weapons
would be deployed to uphold the official propaganda. People who want to be
respectable and elevated learn to quickly adjust and benefit from the status
quo. Ultimately, though, it’s all a farce.
In all this, to
ancient observers and discerners of world history, the distaste and hatred of
the Maker of the Universe towards earthly kings was never in doubt. We cannot
bring this post to a close without a special mention of King Solomon. Before we
go further, let me quickly say when he was told to depart and move into a new
land, meant to be inherited by Abraham’s
seed , God had no mind or interest in retaining the presence of earthly
kings in the promised land. Jehovah’s objective in having everyone to be kings
and priests – drawing creativity, strength, intelligence and authority from
heaven – in this new land is inexorable and paramount.
That’s why he
commanded Israel to destroy all the kings of the land that He delivered into
their hand. And the children of Israel were never encouraged to have an earthly
king until the clamour that brought Saul about. Though he was rejected, God
made sure his counsel for heavenly
kingship was articulated and flaunted before the people; so everyone was
inexcusable. Not Jonathan but David who
replaced Saul. David wanted to build a house for God, but his request was
turned down because the king’s hand was full of blood.
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| King Solomon |
Solomon sacrificed a
thousand burnt offerings, and he personally was thoroughly empowered. Having
rehearsed an unprecedented speech about how he lacked the knowledge to judge
the immeasurable, priceless people of
God, Jehovah was moved, impressed. It was inspirational. Asked to make a
request, the king said he wanted an “understanding heart.” This is not a human,
but divine prayer; and also a very dangerous prayer! That would require Solomon to stake his
existence for the empowerment of his own people, and terminate the reign of earthly kingship over Israel. Was the
king willing to make himself a living sacrifice so that his people could become
enriched? If he had pursued, interrogated
and pushed further, Solomon would have discovered he was being prodded to lay
down his life. Jehovah said: “I have given thee a wise and an understanding
heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” Time for Solomon to step aside; Jehovah
wanted to take back His throne!
Clueless, and consumed with pleasures and majesty of office, Solomon
went ahead to build a magnificent physical temple, where even the priests could
not stand to minister!
Now we know Jehovah
was not interested in a physical temple, no matter how splendid or beautiful it
stood. Jehovah wanted to make Solomon’s
body His temple to dwell in; a place
of rest! That would have required certainly the earthly king to sacrifice himself!
He clearly never knew he was dealing with a Creator who had the power to
resurrect the dead!
But
Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made
with hands; as saith the prophet. Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool: What
house will ye build me? Saith the
Lord: or what is the place of my
rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised
in heart and ear, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so
do ye. (Act 7:47-51)
What a stinging
rebuke!
It is instructive
that after Solomon, Israel’s monarchy fragmented and disintegrated, falling
inexorably into a bottomless pit of anarchy, chaos and catastrophe, never to be
rehabilitated.
Yes, today, you can
talk about how great and wealthy you are: but to those of you who aspire to
leadership greatness, how many people can you say you have made great as a
result of your direct interventions in their lives? How many have you rescued
from the torment of poverty? Yes, how many have you restored and empowered by presenting your body a living sacrifice
? How many can point you out as you go by: “There
goes my messiah and my king!”
Our church universal,
biblically illiterate, deliberately ignorant, blinded, lacking historical and factual context, has continued
to lead the people on a never-land of fantasies where reasoned and robust
arguments calling out for the true empowerment of the people are fiercely
resisted. Why? Because by dispositions
and attitudes, our so-called pastors and bishops (you will be offended if you
know within yourself you fall into this category!) are no different from
earthly kings that should be despised and annihilated.
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