Out at the prison, my co-teacher is leading a study on the book of Judges. Judges is an a odd book. The are heroic deeds and adventures, but as the book progresses things get grimmer and grimmer, ultimately culminating in one of the darkest stories in the whole of the Bible. The book of Judges ends with this plaintive assessment:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
And yet, when the kings do eventually show up, life doesn't get any better. Just like with Judges, as we go further into 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles things get grimmer and grimmer. The legacy of Israel's kings ends in idolatry, disaster, and exile.
In short, much of the Old Testament is dedicated to the task of chronicling the train wreck of human political projects. Even the very best of rulers, from Samson to David, are a mess. The Bible has a very critical and pessimistic vision of human politics. Perhaps especially of a human politics devoted to serving God.
Obviously, this strikes me as having relevance for our debates about Christian nationalism. To be sure, this is a messy debate, and it's often unclear what we mean by "Christian nationalism." I found my colleague and friend Brad East's essay in Christianity Today How (Not) to Talk About Christian Nationalism to be helpful and clarifying.
Those cautions duly noted, I remain confused about why any student of the Bible has any positive expectations or hope for human politics, or any optimism about a Christian political project. I can't see where on the pages of Scripture that hope is coming from. Politically invested Christians are constantly taking inspiration from the story of Israel, yet seem perversely unable to internalize its moral and meaning. Zion ends in ruins. Why do Christian nationalists, however defined, fail to miss this pretty obvious plot point? The Biblical illiteracy of the Biblical literalists always astonishes me.
Psalm 48 praises God as the king of Zion. Curiously, no human king is spotted in the poem. Instead, God is the one who directly rules the city, defeats its enemies, and dispenses righteous judgments. Because of all this "Mount Zion is glad."
Psalm 48 is a beautiful vision. And yet, Israel never achieves this vision, not ultimately, because human kings, rulers, and politicians are, in stark contrast with Psalm 48, quite visible in the halls of power. Samson and King David are not Yahweh. Mount Zion is glad in Psalm 48 precisely because no human ruler makes an appearance.
For those who have ears, let them hear.
