Jesus wants to save Christians Pt 1.2 Jerusalem

Well, we have traveled through Egypt and through Sinai with Bell, and we see very clearly through his poetic use of the language that he believes man’s story is rooted in the fact that Adam and Eve (and Mankind)

“chose to go their own way, to explore outside of the boundaries given by their maker, and, as a result, the relationship suffers”.(pg 25)

And, because mankind chose to go their own way, or ‘sin’ some of the strong of mankind chose to exploit the weak, and therefore oppress them, because their relationship with God is suffering., or has been completely broken because we are spiritually dead. You see, the problem is, according to Bell, is that we have become less human. But God is a redemptive God, one who hears the cries of the oppressed people, and He desires to restore relationships by making people more human. So He gives us the Ten Commandments, not as a mirror, rule, and guide, (as the scripture clearly teaches)

1 Timothy 1:8-9
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,

but as a set of guidelines by which we can restore our humanness. (as the scripture does not teach). And thus, as He has liberated us from Egypt, and (from Bell’s point of view) has given us instruction to restore our humanness at Sinai, we now arrive at Jerusalem.

This is the narrative in summary I have read thus far, and it is with this that we continue the saga of the first chapter. At the risk of being accused of not taking a charitable reading of Bell, I get the following impression of the remainder of this chapter: Bell does not like government, specifically, Bell does not like government that does not function within his view of the purpose of government, which is a very liberal one, from my reading.

He begins this narrative of Jerusalem with the story of Sheba’s visit. Now, he identifies the Queen of Sheba correctly as a pagan princess. He identifies the fact that Solomon did not rule rightly, as God’s representative on earth. But this is where Bell’s worldview becomes painfully clear.

He states, quoting and then paraphrasing, and then eisogeting 1 Kings 10:9:

“Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel,, He has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness”(37)

Now if Bell stopped there, I would have no complaint. But then he adds to the scripture His own interpretation:

And what does she mean by justice and righteousness? Freedom, liberation from violence, protection from anything dehumanizing. (37-38)

Again, it is pretty clear from scripture that the primary function of Government is to maintain justice and righteousness., But here is where Bell makes clear his difference with scripture:

“ She understands that God has given all of this wealth and power and influence so that Solomon would use it on behalf of those who are poor, weak, and suffering from injustice” (38)

Bell has Oprafied The Queen of Sheba, elevating her opinion (actually creating it, it is not written in this passage) above that of scripture. that his wealth was not to administer justice and righteousness for all, but specifically to those who are poor, weak, and suffering from injustice. He has rewritten God’s plan to address a specific group of people that he sees as having the most need, and in this he misses a very important spiritual lesson; That we are all oppressed, we all need liberation from sin and from death. I will come back to this in a moment. The kings and the government were there to administer justice and righteousness. To be fair, Solomon did not administer the kingdom in this way, rather he was a fulfillment of the prophesy given to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:

10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some a to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

God had given Solomon all the gifts he needed to be a great king, but, as a fulfillment of prophesy, this king took the best, taxed the people, and put them to work. And, he enslaved some of the people! Folks, the complaint of Bell in this portion of the chapter is not found being stated by the Queen of Sheba. It is his own invention! Yes, we are to treat with justice and righteousness all people- rich, poor, suffering, and in good health. We are not to make distinctions, particularly when we are in positions of power.

Yes, Solomon in many ways misused his wealth and his power. But it was because of his sin as well as the sin of the people that this system became broken. And the Queen of Sheba did not mention the poor, or the oppressed. In fact, when she left, she made Solomon even richer by the gifts she gave. You would think if she were truly all about the poor and the oppressed, she would have distributed her gifts to them. Perhaps she is not as enlightened as Bell makes her out to be. At least Oprah, with her own pagan view of God, or watered down sense of Christian duty gives of her wealth to support causes (in addition to the huge bankroll she gave to the Obama campaign)

The point is, I am sure, that Solomon broke God’s law and failed in God’s mandate in governing with righteousness and justice for all people. And in this we can agree. However, at this point in the narrative, we see another clear issue where Bell has an agenda. Clearly, Bell has a low view of the need of the military and the use of force to protect the gifts and the country, and those who are poor and oppressed, which God has entrusted to the rulers. In his assessment of Solomon, he states:

“Solomon is using his massive resources and wealth to build military bases to protect his massive resources and wealth His empire building leads him to place a high priority on preservation. Protecting and maintaining all that has been accumulated is taking more and more resources as attention is given to homeland security” (40)

I will be criticized by some, but I believe the term homeland security is a direct shot on our current administration and the government system in the USA. I will come back to that thought also. Part of the responsibility that Bell, and I think rightly so, assigns to government is to maintain justice and righteousness. When God ruled Israel directly, there was a military. God personally got involved in battles, allowing Israel to win against all odds, and sometimes lose to discipline them. The purpose of the military? To protect the people from the surrounding peoples. In Israel’s case, the military and its successes against heavy odds brought glory to God, and brought fear to the enemies of Israel. In fact, part of the very Exodus/liberation story is a military story. It is a story of liberation brought about by the power of God to His glory.

Bell, in his own way, builds a straw man to state that military power is always used to oppress, when the scripture shows us that military power, used within the scope of Government, is to be used to liberate, to separate, and to protect those who cannot protect themselves. In the story of the Kings of Israel, we see the correct use of the military, and we see many battles that are fought that bring glory to God, because the military force that the Israelis could muster was inadequate to defeat the seeming forces that were mounted against them.

In Solomon’s case, he may have built this military to protect his wealth, but the scripture does not teach this. The scripture just says that he did develop a military. This is simply a judgement on Bell’s part, which, I am willing to bet, he will come back to later when and if he addresses America in this book. But one thing is clear, and I agree with Bell to a point on this; that Solomon’s rule may have started well, it ended badly because of sin, and certainly started Israel downhill towards judgment.