Click here to get this post in PDF

Oaths 8 – The Real Constitution?

So, how can we process this history of religious test oaths in America? We must use the bible. Conservatives accuse liberals of regularly departing from, even forgetting, the principles of the U.S. Constitution. And rightly so. However, what if the U.S. Constitution were not the founding document of America? You ask, “What do you mean? Of course, it’s the founding document!” Remember, we decided we must look at this issue biblically.

After Solomon’s reign, his son was unwise and started his reign as king with oppression. Upon being petitioned by the people for relief from the oppression of the high taxes they had been living under, King Rehoboam promised to impose even higher taxes. This threat from the new King resulted in a revolt by the northern tribes and the creation of a new political and religious jurisdiction, separate from the jurisdiction of the descendants of King David, which encompassed the land of Judah and Benjamin in the South.

The tax issue was merely a symptom of a deeper problem.

“And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field; And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) . . . ” I Kings 11:29-32.

Why? “. . . Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father. Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes: But I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.” I Kings 11:33-35.

Therefore, forsaking the true God leads to division and higher taxes in society. See post, “Forsaking God & Higher Taxes,” in the Blog, “Toward a Biblical Politics.” But with respect to faithfulness to the covenant God, Jeroboam ended up being much worse than Solomon.

“And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.” I Kings 12:26-30.

Thus, for political reasons, Jeroboam set up a totally different worship for the Israelites in the northern kingdom. This worship was like that form adopted by the Israelites after the exodus from Egypt and while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments centuries earlier. The judgment of God was grievous at that time. See Exodus chapters 32-33. “And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.” Exodus 32:35.

It didn’t matter that King Jeroboam set up a new, revised politico-religious foundation for the society. God still held the northern kingdom to the original covenant, sending that kingdom prophets regularly to rebuke the kings and people for their failure to live up to the original covenant which Moses had mediated between God and the Israelites. The northern kingdom is where the prophets Elijah and Elishah worked. Eventually, the failing of the northern kingdom to adhere to the original covenant, enacted on Mt. Sinai and mediated by Moses, was utter defeat and annihilation at the hands of the Assyrians, who scattered the survivors across the Assyrian empire. After the disaster of 722 B.C., the northern kingdom was no more.

See Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 for the punishment/sanctions which apply to a people who forsake the true God. It’s not pretty. And God holds the generations that follow the original covenant-making generation to the original covenant. Thus, we see the operation of the fourth and fifth elements of the covenant – sanctions for disobedience and discontinuity, instead of preservation and continuity, for those future generations who forsake that covenant.

How does this scenario apply to the United States of America?