CHURCH AND STATE IN ISRAEL.
By W. N. G.
THE only legitimate church and state national government ever established on the earth was that set up by the Lord himself when Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage. In this the laws were dictated, not by any human monarch or Legislature, but by the Lord as absolute ruler. But even such a prestige as this does not show a people free from corruption, or prone to serve God. Even under the wise rulership of their all-wise King, the people went into idolatry, and finally became so corrupt that they repudiated the government which he had set over them. “And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites; and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.” Judges 3:5-7. When they at last rejected Samuel, whom God had appointed as judge over them, and clamored for a human king, it was that they might be like the other nations around them. Even hundreds of years under laws given direct from heaven had not inured them to a voluntary service of the Almighty God. “And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” 1 Sam. 8:7. The working of this theocracy was as near perfect as it is possible for such a government to be among sinful men; for God was the dictator. But then, as now, “the law was weak through the flesh.” Yet even in this theocracy there was the principle of non-interference between the church and the state. The Lord chose and set apart the tribe of Levi for the service of the sanctuary. Nor did the government support the church; for the Levites and the sanctuary service were supported by the tithes and voluntary offerings of the people. Of the seventeen political rulers from Moses to Samuel, the last of the judges, only three—Moses, Eli, and Samuel—were of the tribe of Levi. After the rejection of the administration of the Lord through the judges, the separation of the church and state was still more complete, and this through the Lord’s direction. Saul, the first king, was of the tribe of Benjamin. At one time he essayed to officiate in the role of priest, and with disastrous result. The Philistines had come up against Israel, and Samuel had appointed to meet Saul and the army at Gilgal and sacrifice unto God before going to battle. Saul had at that time but a small army, and the men composing it were much afraid of the larger number of the enemy. While Saul tarried seven days for Samuel, his men were deserting him on all sides. Much disheartened, Saul became very impatient; Samuel was late in coming, and the soldiers continued to desert. “And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him.” 1 Sam. 13:9, 10. “And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee; for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue; the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.” Verses 13, 14. Thus Saul lost the kingdom, and the succession was lost to his family, because he presumed in his political capacity to exercise religious functions for which the Lord had otherwise provided. Even tho Saul had been endowed with the gift of prophecy, and had been given a new heart, at the time of his anointing (chapter 10:1-13), he might not interfere with the Lord’s order concerning the conduct of his worship. Thus did the Lord most emphatically, in the affairs of men, put difference between civil and religious matters. After Saul came David, and the scepter was transferred to Judah. From thenceforth, while no one outside of Levi might officiate at the altar, none could sit upon the throne who was not of the tribe of Judah. Even the Lord Jesus himself could not be a priest on earth, because he was not of the tribe of Levi (Heb. 8:4; 7:13, 14); and the prophecy of Jacob was, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come” (Gen. 49:10). But we have another striking instance of God’s displeasure with an attempt on the part of a chief magistrate to dictate in religious matters. Uzziah came to the throne of Judah when he was sixteen years old. He had a long reign, fifty-two years. He began in the right way, “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.” He did great things for Judah and Jerusalem (see 2 Chronicles 26), “and his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.” “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction; for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men; and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense; go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord; and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.” 2 Chron. 26:16-21. The relations of civil government and religion are not only plainly enunciated in the word of God, but they have been emphatically illustrated in his dealings with his own peculiar people as a nation. He gave a set of laws for the civil government of the people (Exodus 21 to 23), and another set for the regulation of their worship (chapter 29 to 31 and 40). Various rules and regulations, both civil and religious, are also given in the book of Leviticus, but the nature of these laws, and the positions of those who are to execute them, are very plainly designated. Civil government is but a temporary arrangement made necessary by the entrance of sin into the world. It is a government of force for the control of the race, which refused to be governed by the love of God, during the probationary time when the Gospel of love and the eventual kingdom of love are being proclaimed to sinners. God has demonstrated by ancient Israel that civil government, even when administered by himself, is impotent for turning the hearts of men to him. For even under that system they sunk to the lowest depths of idolatry, and rejected his rule. Religion, true Gospel religion, is designed to bring men back to God. Civil government is ordained to control men, to regulate their relations toward each other in this life only; and the Most High “giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” Dan. 4:17. He also directs in the gathering of a people for his name, sending out for this purpose his own ambassadors, imbued with his Holy Spirit, to persuade men to be reconciled to God. The two systems must needs go side by side in the world, but their purposes are essentially different, and their lines of operation must of necessity be entirely separate. Any commingling must produce a discordant clashing detrimental to both. W. N. G.