The LORD says: Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir? (Amos 9:7)
The history of Israel is given as a Pattern of how God works with all people groups through all time. From the oppression and enslavement that led to the liberation of God’s people in the the Exodus, to the idolatry and injustice that led to the discipline of God’s people in the Exile: It reveals the Pattern God follows in dealing with peoples and nations. What God has done in the history of Israel, God has also done in the history of the Ethiopians and the Egyptians and the Philistines and the Arameans. And what God has done in those nations, God also does in all other nations and peoples and cultures.
For the oppressed and the enslaved, God is always a God of Liberation, working in the processes that set people free and help them find healing and hope. For the oppressors and enslavers, God is always a God of Discipline, working in the processes of decay and destruction to overthrow idolatrous and unjust systems that harm God’s children. The unfortunate flip side of Divine Liberation is Divine Judgment upon those who will not cooperate with God’s Liberation of the oppressed. And throughout Scripture the tools of Divine Judgment include famines and pandemics and disasters and uprisings and invasions and the inability of corrupt leaders and dysfunctional systems to effectively respond to these challenges (what we would now label a “failed state”). As the prophet Jeremiah sums up:
“Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil ways, and amend your ways and your doings.” (Jeremiah 18:5–11)
The Pattern seems clear. God is a God of Liberation on the side of the vulnerable and oppressed and enslaved, against the idolatry and injustice that oppresses them. And if this is the lens that God looks through, we must also look at our culture— and every culture— through this lens, as well. Using this lens, we may ask:
What people groups are vulnerable or oppressed or enslaved by the way things are?
How are the institutions and policies and norms of society unjust in causing harm to God’s children?
Are there aspects of culture that are idolatrous and serve other values besides the values that God holds dear?
What trends do we find in society toward liberating the oppressed, and how can we cooperate with and advocate for these movements?
What trends do we find in society toward disciplining, reforming, and eliminating injustice, and how can we cooperate with and advocate for these movements?
And finally, are there any warning signs of social collapse or destruction which may indicate God’s judgment on idolatry and injustice? How can the steps above provide a roadmap of repentance to avoid social collapse?
Now these questions are personal questions, but not merely personal. They are mainly social, and we are inextricably linked by the answers to these questions. However, in our particular culture we trend strongly toward individualism and “everyone doing what is right in their own eyes”. But if the Biblical Book of Judges has anything to say to us today, surely it tells us of the dire results of everyone in a society doing what is right in their own eyes. If you search the phrase you find out it is, in fact, a recipe for social collapse. Hopefully, instead of choosing to do what is right in our own eyes, we could choose to do what is right in the eyes of the God who endows all people with the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Perhaps we can learn from the Pattern set forward in Scripture, and side with the God of Liberation in the continuing work of bringing about “liberty and justice for all”.
Of course, all of the dynamics here could be described in historical and socio-economic and political ways: Societies which extract wealth and resources from vulnerable people to benefit smaller and smaller groups of powerful individuals, tend to use violence and oppression to enforce this social order. The use of violence and oppression creates resentment and resistance toward those in power, which erodes social solidarity and trust, leaving that society vulnerable to collapse from the inside, and attack from the outside. As Lord Acton says about power consolidated in the hands of the few: Power tends to corrupt and absolute corrupts absolutely. If the cycle is not reversed, the society will collapse, and eventually be absorbed into another cultural order. Whether we attribute this collapse to Divine Judgment, or inevitable social laws, or both, the result is the same. And if we wish to avoid collapse, the solution is also the same. We must renew our commitment to the Ultimate Values of Liberty and Justice for all, and then enact these values in our laws and policies and institutions.
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