Diplomacy is lacking in today’s world. I believe this is due in great part to a mis-placed faith in and understanding of God and His character. TODAY, I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU IN A THIS SHORT EPISODE, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN BIBLICAL DIPLOMACY IS IGNORED.
The definition of “DIPLOMACY” according to Britannica.com is the established method of influencing the decisions and behavior of foreign governments and people through dialogue, negotiation, and other measures short of war or violence. Modern diplomatic practices are a product of the post-Renaissance European state system. By the 20th century, the diplomatic practices pioneered in Europe had been adapted throughout the world. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines diplomacy as the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations.
Upon its inception, the United Nations Charter’s ideal was written understandably to foster global citizenship on the basis of Christian values. When these Christian values are ignored or tossed out, another set of values are implemented; namely Islamic or athletic values. As a result, over past decades, the UN has strayed from their own Charter and find themselves lacking true diplomacy.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TRUE DIPLOMACY BREAKS DOWN? When diplomacy breaks down so does personal freedom. And when freedom breaks down, tyranny takes over. And as a result, eventually, the most talented, successful and productive people leave their town, state, company and even their home country for a place where they are treated best. WHY? Because they can. The better WHY to ask is, “WHY WOULD THEY STAY” if it doesn’t serve and reward their efforts and their children’s future.
People are often motivated or fueled by both just and injustice. Loosing their job unjustly. Infidelity of a friend or in an intimate personal relationship. This can be a boyfriend whose girlfriend left him for another guy or girlfriend whose boyfriend left her for another girl. How about a company that fired you simply to save money? Then there are those who feel that their country or civil organization has betrayed them. When this happens, for right or wrong, people become bitter and cornered. As a result, they may leave for a place that they never would have run to otherwise; good or bad. To borrow a phrase from Andrew Henderson, the “Nomad Capitalist”, they “Go where they are treated best”.
As of 2016, the U.S. government reported that over 500,000 U.S. Citizens lived outside the United States while collecting Social Security compensation. According to an article entitled “How Many American’s Live Abroad” by Doris L., Speer, AARO President, published November, 2023, Aaron.org, Speer writes that the U.S. State Department estimates that between 5.1 to 9 million Americans now live abroad; many to escape the political and economic pressures of a country in flux, inflation, war, and social unrest. https://www.aaro.org/about-aaro/how-many-americans-live-abroad#:~:text=Three%20Other%20Estimates%3A%20Ranging%20from,See%20ACA%20Article.
I would assert that since the U.S. Census Bureau report of 500,000 Americans living abroad in 2016 that in 2023-2024, there are far more than 9 million U.S. Citizens living outside of the United States. Biblically speaking, nomadic movement due to societal unrest and suppressive governmental policy is common practice over history. Many people in the world will go where they are treated best, sadly, some will stay until they are diminished mentally, spiritually and financially. The key is opportunity, timing and circumstances. And there is no better place for us to gain wisdom and insight from a biblical perspective on the subject than the story of David in 1 Samuel.
As stated above, people leaving their home is nothing new as we see in the Book of 1 Samuel, chapter 27. Chapter 27 outlines David’s persecution as he is continuously hunted down (unjustly) by King Saul. The story peaks in Chapter 27 with Saul trying to murder David out of the false perception that David threatened his authority and the throne. David is proven to be innocent by the fact that he passed up two occasions to kill Saul.
After rejecting each of the two opportunities to kill Saul in self-defense, David told Saul outright that he was not seeking to harm him and pleaded with Saul to stop trying to kill him. In the end, David had no other option but to leave his home country, Israel or be murdered by Saul. And David rightfully and wisely left. David lived a patriotic, godly, and righteous life but faced two options, which were to stay and be killed, or flee and join the enemy-the Philistines, who he had been successfully at war with for many years. Let’s read the short intro to the passage, starting in chapter 27.
David Flees to the Philistines “27 Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.” 2 So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. 4 And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him” (1 Samuel 27:1-4 ESV).
What’s happening here?:
- Verse 1: David placed no trust or confidence in Saul’s blessing (26:25) pushing him to finally seek REFUGE from Saul outside of Israelite territory.
- Verse 2: David returned to Achish, KING OF GATH (cf. 21:10-15) who as the Philistine leader, welcomed David, no doubt having heard of the split between David and Saul. Achish was focused on strengthening his own army with David and his 600 very able fighting men.
- Verses 3-4: “And when it was told Saul that David had fled to GATH, he no longer sought him”. The most widely accepted site of “GATH” today is believed is about twelve miles east of Ashdod, or about twenty four miles west of Jerusalem. David went to Achish at GATH, and Achish delivered David from the immediate danger of Saul, providing him an opportunity to further develop his leadership and military skills (verses 8-12). David’s time in Philistine territory also gave David knowledge of the regional geography which would serve him well during his later wars with the Philistine. For today’s lesson, a result, David’s leaving his home country of Israel put an end for Saul’s pursuit of him.
Going back to the opening article, AARO consulted with Mr. Hector David Pinto, an electrical engineer working at the U.S. Government research laboratory near Washington D.C. Mr. Pinto made a deep analysis and recently estimated that 4,835,864 U.S. citizens live oversees in total. This includes military personnel to be clear. Mr. Pinto estimates that the 10 most popular countries for ex-pats”are as follows: MEXICO-1,089,368; CANADA-877,130; UNITED KINGDOM-371,674; ISRAEL-243,772; GERMANY-198,125; AUSTRALIA-190,788; SOUTH KOREA-120,429; ITALY-94,941; FRANCE-94,473; and JAPAN at 87,967.
The article reports that living overseas can be difficult for many Americans at first for numerous reasons, ranging from banks having some reservation in working with them to the fact that saving for retirement can be difficult for some folks. To be clear, this all boils down to those living on a fixed income verses those earning a consistent living by way of being a digital nomad or those living on Social Security. It also comes down to one’s desire and ability to merge with a new culture. If you don’t want to merge with the new culture, you most likely will end up in the same confined boat that you left int he first place. The age of a person also plays a role in the speed that one will adapt to a new culture, country and language.
In 1 Samuel 27, David was understandably fearful of Saul. He was under more pressure than when he first fled from Saul in chapter 20. David now had his wives and children to think about now as well as that of his men and their families. The pressure was on David, to make a decision to keep running or live among his enemies in a foreign land.
This begs the question as to the importance of diplomacy in today’s world. When leaders become dictators, diplomacy fails. The end result of failed diplomacy is that your best people leave you. When your most talented people leave one state for another, one company to another, one town to another, or one country for another, the body of people, the talent pool and their wealth leave with them. The lack of diplomacy willfully ejects their most productive members of society.
When diplomacy breaks down, people end up being treated unfairly. When people are treated unfairly, they leave. When they leave they create a starving state; depraving that state of its most productive, talented citizens. As a result, not only to the best leave, but the worst stay, and the bad come to where they are treated best, which is the worst of places. We see this playing out in California, New York, Chicago and other cities.
IN CONCLUSION
Diplomacy must rest on some form of religious values. I submit that Christian values are the only values that seek the good of ALL people. Hindu people are wonderful, but their religious and cultural values are based on the CAST system. If you are the “Unclean” poor people, you have little if any rights to live comfortable or advance outside of being reincarnated. If you are a Muslim, non-Muslims are seen as the infidel and in many cases are taxed for being a non-Muslim. Atheism is the central religious value system behind communism and authoritarian rule. With Atheism, it’s all about the survival of the fittest to be most powerful and wealthy. For this value system, the rest of the world are subject to be your vassals.
In the end, ignorance, lust, greed, and unchecked power lead to a lack of diplomacy. And this is what happens when diplomacy breaks down or is ignored. Let’s pray that people get back to the ways of God and study what happened to David before there is war or further damage and harm to our country and culture. Diplomacy is lacking in today’s world because our faith in God is lacking or is very misplaced. We can easily change that if we will earnestly seek God and His value system through the Bible-more seriously and deeply each morning before we start our day. The choice is ours.
