Everyone wants justice but selfishness leads many to trust in unjust authorities.
Everyone wants justice, so why do so many people in the public space support, trust in and vote for immoral and unjust rulers.
in an article titled “accountability deficit: why do citizens vote for corrupt politicians? Published November 6, 2023, at www.u4.no the author notes that complex media environment makes it hard for voters to make informed choices. And loyalty to one’s group as well as pessimism about the likelihood of change all play in their part.
Instead of supporting morally grounded candidates, in a winner-takes-all political systems, voters often tolerate corruption among leaders of their own party or ethnic group because they expect to share in the proceeds or be worse off under the leaders from a rival party or ethnic group.
While the article is very informative, I want to turn to the core of the issue, which is God, morality and how we can do better for our generation and that of our children. To do so, I want to turn to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter sixteen in the Jewish or Old Testament scriptures. Let’s look.
What’s going on in 1 Samuel chapter sixteen?
This chapter outlines king David’s son Absalom overthrowing his own father, king David. How he do this? The answer boils down to the fact that he gained the support of the Jewish people who turned on their godly king (David) who was given to them by God himself.
Today, we will see is that Absalom unrightly inserted himself as judge and national leader at the city gate of Jerusalem, providing the people with a “perceived social justice”. Absalom was personable and charismatic-but also untruthful, and a horrible judge. He was also a powerful charismatic persuader. And this helps explains what’s going on today in the 21st century, in that “while everyone demands justice, many choose trust in and vote for unjust and corrupt rulers.
in 1 Samuel chapter sixteen, we find David’s son Absalom betraying his father after coming back to Jerusalem from hiding for killing his stepbrother who raped his (Absalom’s) biological sister. What had happened is that Absalom had killed his half-brother in retaliation for his half-brother raping his (Absalom’s) biological sister.
To make things worse, King David wrongly ignored Absalom upon his return. Absalom, being a handsome, charismatic man became bitter at his father for not speaking with him and made himself a self-proclaimed “judge” at the city gate. “Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without coming into the king’s presence” (2 Samuel 14: 28). He finally had enough of living a life secluded from his father the king.
Absalom simply got tired of being an outcast. As a result, he sat at the city gate and helped the populous settle their issues to the point of gaining their trust and loyalty. After some time, Absalom “…got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him” (2 Samuel 15:1). This would be equivalent to building a militia. Over time, Absalom sat by the city and helped men settle their disputes. Absalom did this to the point that he had enough support to overthrow his father the king.
Absalom gave them what they wanted and appealed to their emotions. “Oh, that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me and I would give him justice. And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel” (2 Samuel 15:4-6).
SO WHAT!
To answer the title question of this episode: “Everyone wants justice-but many trust in the wrong authorities” the answer boils down to the fact that as sinful human beings “our hearts are easily stolen”. Why do we do this? Because we fail to lead with our head, and instead trust the truth and critical-logical thinking to our “heart-emotions”-which come out of the heart minus the head.
The bible says: “So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel”. Today, nothing much has changed because people are the same and sin is still at work in human nature. It’s obvious to see leaders that have stolen the hearts of the people in our present age.
So, what can we do about it? We can learn from the past. Let’s do that now by looking more deeply at this passage and make some observations that can help us think more biblically and rightly an effort to help us out of our current predicament. These observations are not emotionally driven-just logical, truthful observations made through critical thinking.
The key to verse: 2 Samuel 15 is found in verse 4 which says this:
“Oh that i were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me and I would give him justice”.
OBSERVATIONS:
FIRST: in verses 3-4, notice that Absalom ingratiates himself with the people and takes their side without any investigation because he wants to give them what their heart desire as opposed to true justice. This is corrupt politics. This is how you win the unrighteous favor of people-when you give to them what benefits them “personally” and not as an objective people, culture, or country.
SECOND: Absalom offered himself as a desirable judge for their grievances. When people get what they want, it’s desirable at first-but then comes back to haunt them later, because what was given to them unrightly eventually came back against them. That’s the way unrighteous gain works.
THIRD: if you look carefully, you will see that Absalom ultimately offered an “administration of justice”, portraying the proper relationship between people in society according to God’s standard of righteousness. This very thing was of major concern to the rules and prophets (8:15; 1 Kings 3:28; Isaiah 1:17; Amos 5:24). Here, Absalom gave the “perception’ of an “administration of justice”.
FOURTH: This is the big one in that Absalom was playing on the people’s emotions when he presented himself as the answer to their needs for justice but had none to give them. It’s easy to make the Israelites out to be the victims here, but that is not true. They willfully chose Absalom as an unrighteous ruler to get what was best for them “personally” as opposed to God’s objective law which kept peace throughout the kingdom. Simply put, they chose according to their emotions, and they paid dearly for it in the end.
>>> FIFTH: I want to reiterate verses 5-6 which says, that “Absalom stole the hearts” of the people. How did he do this? Through giving them what they wanted as opposed to judging according to the law. You see, when things work for us personally, we tend to turn a blind eye to injustice to get what we want and what benefits us. The problem is that this goes against God’s ways and eventually god lifts his hand of blessing, provision and protection, much like we see in our modern age with paying illegal immigrants to come and stay in this country, through the welfare programs, and in some cases inflated pensions. Absalom with all his personal charm and promises gave people what they wanted as opposed to true biblical justice God demanded. And as a result, Absalom managed to win the affection and loyalty of the Israelites.
In the end, Absalom’s public relations strategy at the city gate worked so well that he “stole away the hearts of the men of Israel”. Besides being a murder, Absalom was now also a thief. His stealing the hearts of the people is a classic example of political manipulation.
IN CONCLUSION
Remember, everyone wants justice, but many trust in the wrong authorities. Today I have answered through the scriptures why so many people support, trust in and even vote for immoral-unjust rulers to their own (or better yet our own) detriment. The bottom line is this: It all boils down to the fact that we selfishly want “our own desires” - our own “selfishness” in getting what benefits us as opposed to what benefits the nation according to God’s exclusive standard found in His Word. And in the end, it’s the leading of our minds by the emotional heart that drive us to the point of self-destruction. So, while everyone wants justice, it is our selfishness that most often leads us to trust in unjust authorities.
