Mitch Lewis

Ancient Israel often suffered at the hands of the major imperial powers of its day. It's amazing, then, Israel's sacred texts portray the descendents of Jacob serving in positions of some authority and influence within these ancient empires. Among the faithful Israelites are Joseph, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah Nehemiah, Ezra, Mordecai and Esther. Each of the empires in which they served ultimately fell under God's perfect judgment. The Biblical narrative, however, also tells us how these children of Abraham served the cause of good in the service of empire.

Joseph in Genesis and Exodus

Sold into slavery by his brothers and unjustly imprisoned by his Egyptian masters, Joseph eventually became a senior administrator in Pharaoh's government. He enabled his master's household to prosper and later supervised Egypt's entire agricultural industry. His efforts as an officer of Pharaoh saved countless lives in during a severe famine. His work in Pharaoh's court also enabled the entire family of Jacob to endure the famine, insuring the continued existence of God's chosen family. (See Joseph the Dreamer.)

But Genesis and Exodus are two volumes in the same literary stream. In Exodus we find that "a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt." (Exodus 1:8) The same Egyptian empire in which Joseph served - and which saved the Israelites from extinction - now enslaved and mistreated God's people. Egypt earned God's judgment. The plagues which Egypt suffered revealed the LORD's verdict on Egyptian gods. In the destruction of the Egyptian army, God executed his righteous sentence on the empire that had kept Israel in bondage.

The Book of Daniel

The first part of the Book of Daniel tells the stories of four Judean exiles living first in Babylon, and then in Persia. The four Judeans were  from royal families and exceptionally well qualified to serve in the Babylonian court. Their names were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. For three years they studied Chaldean (i.e. Babylonian) writings and language. They even received new Babylonian names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they served as advisors to the king of Babylon and administrators of the province. When Babylon fell to Persia, Daniel then served the king of the Persian Empire in a similar fashion. "O king, live forever," Daniel said to Darius. (Daniel 6:21)

Overall, these four faithful Judeans refused to violate the dietary laws given through Moses, to worship idols or neglect the worship of Israel's God. Otherwise, they sought the well-being and success of the empires they served.

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Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. Leviticus 25:10

I want to illustrate the importance of narrative context to the interpretation of scripture by looking briefly at the institution of Jubilee in Leviticus 25:8-55. Jubilee is often held up as a divine mandate for redistribution of wealth, a denunciation of the concept of private property and an indication that an ever-growing gap between rich and poor is evil. In Jubilee, it is said, God is showing us how those concerned for the poor live.

In reality, the situation is more complex than that. The author's primary focus is not simply "concern for the poor" or, more radically, a universal prescription for economic life in the world.

Let me make this clear from the outset: God's people ought to care for those in need. Isn't "love your neighbor as yourself" sufficient for us to know that? If not, there are countless Biblical texts that make our duty to the poor clear. The Jubilee texts under consideration command the Israelites not to treat those in need harshly and not to take advantage of their weakness by profiting from their misfortune. But in the context of the Biblical narrative, is the Jubilee primarily a universal prescription about personal charity or economic structures?

What is Jubilee? And what did it mean in the narrative context in which we find it in the Bible?

Here's the bottom-line up-front: it's about God's promise that Abraham's descendants would possess the land.

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One more reason for the nation to give thanks on this Thanksgiving Day, 2008: the Iraqi parliament's approval of security agreements between Iraq and the United States.

The United States and other coalition nations have been assisting the Iraqi government under United Nations mandates (and at the request of the Iraqi government) since June 2004. The United States and the United Kingdom stopped being "Occupying Powers" under international law on 28 June 2004 with the transfer of authority to the Iraqi Interim Government. See U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1546, 1637, 1723, and 1790 adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

The security agreements between the United States are another significant step in the young nation's growing strength and independence. The counterinsurgency strategy and surge of forces implemented under General Petraeus are partly responsible for this step forward, but even more so are the efforts of Iraqi government, military and civilian leadership - and the Iraqi people themselves.

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The people of the United States have elected a new president who will take office on January 20, 2009. As I wrote on Election Day 2006,

One of the strengths of our military-political system is the subordination of the armed forces to civilian control. I don't serve in a Republican army or a Democrat army, but in the Army of the United States. The members of the armed forces don't make policy; we implement it - often at great cost.  [That I Will Support and Defend]

While presidential candidates promise many things during a campaign, their first duty is to serve as the "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States." This is the first of the very few duties enumerated in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. This will be the fourth president under whom I have served.

Military officers are taught that those in command are responsible for everything that the unit does - or fails to do - under their command. The new president will assume his responsibilities in a nation at war. He will bear the unimaginable burden of being responsible for the defense of the United States (and its allies). His decisions will affect the lives of both American citizens and people around the world. His decisions will also affect the lives of military members under his command. Every single president under which I have served has ordered military forces to engage in operations that intentionally took the lives of the enemies of peace, inadvertently took the lives of some innocent and cost the lives of American service members. The new president, as commander in chief of forces at war, will bear these burdens on day one of his term.

Paul encouraged Christians to pray for those in authority.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone; for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

Psalm 72 offers this prayer for the sovereign:

Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. May he defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; may he crush the oppressor. May he endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. May he be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In his days may the righteous flourish and prosperity abound till the moon is no more. May he rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. May the desert tribes bow before him and his enemies lick the dust. May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him gifts. May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. (Psalm 72:1-14)

Psalm 72 is offered within the context of Israel's unique covenant with Israel, and the president is not a king. In the United States, sovereignty rests with the people within the framework of the constitution. That the people might live in security - at peace from both foreign and domestic threats - is one of the constitution's primary aims ("insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence"). Congress has a constitutional role to play as well; it authorizes the establishment of military forces, pays for them and authorizes the use of military force.

Pray then, for the president, the congress and the people of the United States as they all perform their roles in exercising constitutional sovereignty within the United States.

Related:
That I Will Support and Defend
Who Made You King?
On the Force of Law

On October 16, 2008 PBS will broadcast "Soldiers of Conscience," a documentary on how soldiers wrestle with the moral issues surrounding the use of lethal force. PBS follows eight soldiers in the current conflict, some of whom chose to engage the enemy and some of whom refused. In its preview for the program, PBS makes what I consider to be a very true statement: all soldiers are "soldiers of conscience."

I have not seen the program. I don't know who these soldiers are, much less what we will learn about the specifics of their moral reasoning processes. Consequently, none of the comments that follow are a reaction to the specifics of the program or to the decisions made by any particular soldier. What I want to discuss is one particular phrase in PBS' program promotion that started me thinking.

Soldiers, PBS says, are "torn between the demands of duty and the call of conscience." Based on the theme of the program, one presumes "the demand of duty" is killing and the "call of conscience" is not killing.

This way of describing the issue is problematic on two fronts. First, it presents the issue as a conflict between external demands ("duty") and an internal call (the voice of "conscience"). Doing one's duty is also a matter of conscience; the word "duty" itself implies a moral "ought." Failing to do one's duty should give one an uneasy conscience. Duty and conscience are intimately related.

More significantly, what if - when you come face-to-face with an armed sociopath rampaging through the halls of a school or an insurgent about to bomb a marketplace - what if that voice in your head telling you not to pull the trigger is not the moral voice of conscience, but simply a programmed response that emerged over the long course of human biological evolution?

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The United States Army was born on June 14, 1775. On many installations, the Army observes its birthday with a formal dinner ceremony and dance. Tonight, I'll put on my dress blues and join my brothers and sisters in arms in remembering those who came before.

Eternal God,

On this anniversary of the founding of our nation?s army, our thoughts turn to the men and women who have worn our nation?s uniform during these past 233 years. Their sacrifices and devotion to duty paved the way for freedom, justice and peace for our nation - and for so many others. As we enjoy the blessings of food and fellowship around these tables tonight, may the example of those who came before us inspire us all to a deeper commitment to the ideals for which they gave so much. Guide and protect our brothers and sisters in arms who even tonight are deployed throughout the world, laying their lives on the line for the sake of others ? and comfort the loved ones of those who are absent from our table this year, having given the last full measure of devotion for us and for our nation.

May your blessing ever rest on the United States of America and our host nation, and may your reign of peace be established throughout your world.

Amen.