Heb. 11:23 says that Moses’ parents hid their beautiful child, and that “they were not afraid of the king’s command.” In the same story, in Ex. 1:17, the midwives “did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them.” Here is a matter for thought: when is it proper for a Christian to not fear the king’s command?
It’s a legitimate
question, because here is our normal responsibility.
·
1 Peter 2:13-17: we are to submit to every
ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, including to kings, governors and those
who represent them in dealing with evil.
It is good to note the context of this.
Verse 13 begins “therefore.” It
refers to 2:11-12 where we are to abstain from fleshly lusts that we might have
honorable conduct among the Gentiles. We
are to set an example of good works. Peter
then gives various illustrations including our role as citizens of a country
(v13-17) and our role in the family (3:1-7).
Specifically, v17, we should “honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.”
·
Rom. 13:7 speaks with a similar thought: “render
to all their due,” including taxes, custom, fear and honor as is
appropriate.
Another observation, from the story in Ex.
1:15-2:10, and also from Moses’ dealings with Pharoah in the matter of the
plagues, is that no one, according to the record, treated the authorities with
disrespect. Yes, they disobeyed the king’s
commands. But they seemed to speak with
respect. There was not the belligerence
we often hear and see in our current political discussions. When you read the latter chapters of Acts,
and Paul’s appearances before various Jewish and Roman governmental leaders,
there is a definite respect in the words, even as he demonstrates his greater
fear of God than of the leadership.
One other consideration is the relationship
between government and religion. In Israel
the two were very much intertwined. The
kings of Israel enacted laws requiring the people to live by the religion of
Israel (the Mosaic laws). Both David and
Solomon took responsibility to organize the religious leaders and activities. They did not take the role of priests, of
course. But they facilitated true
worship as much as they could. In the
reforms of Asa, Hezekiah and Josiah, the government took strong measures to rid
Israel of false worship and to make true worship the only form of
religion.
But in the times of the Gentiles, things were
somewhat different. Daniel and his
friends, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, all took stands personally. Daniel gives the best illustration, not
participating in the king’s diet requirements; the three friends would not bow
to the image; and Daniel would not refrain from praying to his God. In each case there were conversations with
the authorities that showed respect. But
also, and this is important, there was a willing to suffer the consequences for
not obeying the king’s laws. Their
situation, as is ours today, was one where true religion was not the law of the
land.
With that background, it seems the answer to
our question is not that difficult. We
can always fear the king, in the sense of being respectful. Primarily, we should not fear the king’s
command when his command requires disobedience to God. When we say this, we must be careful
here. The illustrations we have noted
above (Moses, Daniel, Paul, etc.) involve significant matters of
disobedience. The midwives were asked to
kill babies. Daniel was told he could
not pray to his God. Paul was told he
could not preach the gospel. Not only
are we permitted to disobey the king; we are required to disobey the
king. These are not mere political
differences.
My reason for considering this subject is, not
only because it comes up in Hebrews, but because of the great potential for
confusion these days in our country. We
are Christians. We are called to be the
light of Christ. The way it works is
that men see our good works and glorify God (Matt. 5:16; 1 Pt. 2:11-12). When they see our faith in action, in dark
times, they may even ask us the reason for our hope (1 Pt. 3:15).
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