Congregation Shema Yisrael

R’Chanan bar Rava in the name of Rav teaches that all positions of authority are appointed by Heaven. -From the Teachings of R’Chanan bar Rava

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. -Romans 13:1-3

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. -1 Peter 2:13-14

I don’t like to politicize this blog or my congregation, but this is something that must be said.

There’s something wrong here. No, I don’t mean with the Bible; the Word of God, I mean with us. Yes, that’s right…you and me, Joe and Jane Believer. OK, I might be overstating the point, but at least some believers in Yeshua (Jesus) don’t seem to be paying attention to the parts of the Bible I’ve just quoted. Lately though, the body of politically conservative believers in America have been saying this: Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8.

To refresh your memory, here’s a portion of Psalm 109 that includes the specific passage:

May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.

May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.

May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.

May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.

May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.

-Psalm 109:8-13

And so on, and so forth. Basically, “Let bad things happen to this guy”, who in this case is Barack Obama, the President of the United States (and we have to dismiss the context in which David originally wrote the Psalm to apply it thus). Verse 9 is particularly disturbing to many people: “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow”. For many people, that sounds like a death threat. More specifically, it sounds like Christians making a death threat against President Obama…and threatening the life of the President is a crime.

The secular world around us often has a rather poor opinion of the Christians/Messianics living among them. They already have a perception of us as being somewhat “backwards” in our thinking and beliefs. Since, by definition, we believe in the supernatural, we are seen as superstitious. Because we believe in the Bible, including portions that are definitely non-politically correct, we are seen as narrow-minded bigots. Do those believers who espouse applying Psalm 109:8 to President Obama now make the lot of us also seem like murderers?

I know what you’re thinking. What about leaders like Hitler, who sent 6 million Jews and other “undesirables” to the camps and ultimately to their deaths during the Holocaust? What about other evil leaders like Stalin and Idi Amin? Isn’t it right to “resist evil” and do good? Can’t we pray for God to destroy them? Of course, there’s a problem here, as well:

But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. -Matthew 5:39

Does that mean we can’t disagree with the policies of President Obama or any leader we see as behaving contrary to our Biblical convictions? No, of course not. It probably does mean though, that we don’t get to whine about it, publicly grumble, or misuse Scripture to feed our own emotional angst.

Many “righteous Gentiles” resisted Hitler, lied to the governing authorities and kept Jewish families safe by hiding them from the Nazis. We often struggle with the previously quoted sections of the Bible and the acts of those who have protected innocent people from evil people. Turns out, resisting the Nazis and protecting Jews isn’t against God’s Word:

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. -Joshua 2:4-7

We see the prostitute Rahab deliberately hiding the two Jewish spies in Jericho, in defiance of the “ruling authorities”, so there is a precedence in the Bible for disobeying a King in favor of obeying the highest King. Rehab and her family were spared in the subsequent destruction of Jericho as the result of her actions, and according Rabbinic commentary, Rahab’s ultimate reward was to become Joshua’s wife and the ancestress of great priests and prophets, including Jeremiah. We see that saving the innocent from the corrupt is not only sanctioned but rewarded by Heaven.

There is however, a difference between supporting good in favor of evil, and having a “death wish” for a leader. It’s not our place to take the enacting of justice or vengeance into our hands:

It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” -Deuteronomy 32:35

Yes, sometimes God does use human beings to enact Heavenly justice on Earth, but there are more than a few people who have let their own imaginations or delusions convince them that they were acting in God’s Name and under God’s Authority, when they were really acting out their own personal desires. In the face of a leader that some of us disagree with on the basis of God’s Word, when we pray for President Obama, are we justified in praying Psalm 109:8?

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, 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 men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. -1 Timothy 2:1-4

It seems clear from Paul’s first letter to Timothy, that praying Psalm 109:8 for President Obama is not within the intent of God, and not approved of by Yeshua (Jesus). In verse 8, Paul goes on to say, “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing”. We can and should keep our values and live our lives in accordance to the wishes and commands of God, but one of those commands as expressed in the Bible, is to pray “for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness”. We are to pray that God gets through to ungodly leaders, that they may come to salvation and lead the nation as Messiah will lead the world.

Although it may “feel good” to wish harm on those who we feel threatened by, and to invoke the power of God against leaders who scare us, this is not God’s desire. Justice is from God, not from people, and it’s not for us to say (no matter how much we want to) how or when God’s justice is to be done. Hitler died in his due time, as ordained by God, and not men…as have all leaders, for ill or for good. As human beings, we are all evil and face God’s wrath. Only the salvation of Yeshua keeps us from the suffering we deserve. We don’t pray for the people of the non-believing world around us to burn, but rather, according to the wishes of our Master, we pray for everyone to be saved. That includes Barack Obama.

Next time you see a t-shirt, bumper sticker, or “Christian” blog that supports praying Psalm 109:8 for President Obama; that’s what you should resist. As Paul says in Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”.