“Give Us a King to Govern Us”: Biblical Warnings and the Threat of A Second Trump Presidency
In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, we see a glimpse of the Israelite people dissatisfied with YHWH’s providence and Samuel’s leadership. “We want a king!” they say. In response, YHWH tells Samuel, “If the people want a king, then I’ll give it to them. But you better warn them about what a king’s reign could actually mean.” And so, the Israelites were given a new leader: Saul — an impatient, selfish ruler interested only in personal gain.
This article is being written on November 6, 2024 after the 2024 presidential race has been called in Donald Trump’s favor. And I’ve spent a lot of time today meditating on the above story. I just kept coming back to the thought that, “The people want a king, and God is going to give it to them.” Now, to be sure, I have no interest in passing judgement on those who went to the polls yesterday and cast a ballot for Trump. These aren’t inherently bad or evil people; they’re just people with whom I have fundamental disagreements over the responsibility of the Christian faith and our competing visions for the future of America, among other things.
What we must be willing to critically consider, though, is the content of Trump’s vision for America. Reports of Trump privately praising Hitler’s authoritarian style of leadership and a desire for generals like those Hitler had; the signs at Trump rallies reading “DICTATOR ON DAY ONE”; his desire to strip any and all environmental regulation, to mass deport immigrants, to prosecute his political enemies yet pardon the January 6 insurrectionists. It’s a stark juxtaposition when compared to other leadership figures in the bible: the stuttering Moses, the doubting Peter and the donkey-riding Jesus.
Trump’s vision of America as a Christian nationalist white ethnostate isn’t something new he introduced into the contemporary psyche. It’s merely a set of long suppressed and rejected ideas that he re-legitimized by airing them out in the Oval Office. These ideas have long sat dormant, waiting for something—or someone—to come along and endorse them. This happened in 2016 and it’s happening again now. His platform hasn’t changed; his rhetoric hasn’t undergone any significant refining. Trump isn’t any different than he was eight years ago. And yet, this is still the king that the people want.
I know some may feel hopeless at the moment. How can we return to this reality once again like a dog to its vomit? Like the Israelites to the fleshpots of Egypt? All that being said, though, I can’t help but to cling to hope. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” If we take a wide look at the thrust of human history, liberating love has always prevailed; the Holy Spirit has always led us into a place of more justice, more equity, and more inclusion. We may struggle to find a silver-lining in the immediate short term, and maybe there isn’t one. But there are some assurances I find myself retreating to for encouragement:
#1. King Saul gave way to King David
The Israelites wanted a king, and they got one. And while Saul ultimately turned out to be the disappointment that YHWH warned them he would be, if it wasn’t for Saul they wouldn’t have gotten David. While David wasn’t perfect either and certainly had issues of his own, he was described as a man “after God’s own heart” whose linage gave us the person of Jesus. While the season ahead of us may be painful and tumultuous, we must maintain hope that there is a brighter future ahead than the one we will be leaving behind.
#2. Samuel continued to be a prophet
Just because the people got their king didn’t mean that the prophet Samuel faded away into oblivion. He continued to be a prophet who spoke truth to power. It’s imperative that we don’t resign ourselves to hopelessness and stagnation. It’s now more important than ever that we continue to be prophetic, call attention to systems of power, and fill the public square with demands for a justice that rolls down like a mighty river.
#3. Jesus is still Lord
The hope of this world doesn’t rest on a political party or any given election cycle. It goes, and MUST go, deeper than that. Our hope rests not in the king we clamored for, but in this Jesus we crucified. That Jesus is Lord means that all political systems are subject to scrutiny, that no one and no thing is above reproach or criticism. In our moments of despair, when we believe hope has gone and left us, we must return to this earliest of confessions. The king doesn’t have any power that the Lord can’t supplant.
Let us carry on, friends, and continue fighting the good fight.
Together, we can love a better world into existence.
