A Biblical Warning about Treaties

by Jim Babka
January 29, 2004

During a 2000 presidential primary debate, the Republican candidates were asked who their favorite philosophers were. George W. Bush gave the most memorable answer – a response that cemented the Christian Right behind him – "Jesus Christ," he replied.

And George W. Bush isn't alone. Many leading Republicans would have you believe they too respect Jesus Christ and have followed His lead.

Democrats have gotten in on the act as well. Both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton claimed born-again experiences.

It's possible they were merely pandering to an important constituency; they were and are, after all, politicians.

But let's assume the best.

If George W. Bush really found Jesus' philosophy valuable, than it would be reasonable to presume he would regularly ask himself the question, "What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)?"

To answer that question, it would be fair to turn to the Bible Jesus read – the Torah – to seek the counsel of the one He called, "Father."

Exodus 34:11-12 reads,

¹¹Your responsibility is to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then I will surely drive out all those who stand in your way--the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
¹²"Be very careful never to make treaties with the people in the land where you are going. If you do, you soon will be following their evil ways.

I'm particularly interested in what verse twelve says. Why would God tell His chosen nation not to make a treaty with these folks?

According to the scripture, these were not nations full of good guys. They were corrupt, and the danger was real that they would corrupt the nation of Israel had Israel gotten friendly.

Now I want to be careful not to be guilty of creating a "proof-text" here. Virtually any position, including some clearly ungodly points of view, can be justified by pulling a set of verses out of context.

It's obvious to me that Exodus 34:11-12 was a specific command to the people of ancient Israel. The United States of America is not the modern "Children of Israel." I've seen that error committed too many times by well-meaning Christians. I wish to avoid that trap.

It's also likely that the most important spiritual application of this passage is either for individual followers of God, recognizing that we as individuals are engaged in a spiritual war, or for churches, which must be careful not to become corrupted by their associations.

But the Bible is rich in meaning. There is an application for nations – or at least those nations who wish to claim they are Christian and are led by a politician who regularly announces his faith in Christ.

During the Carter and Reagan administrations the United States had friendly relations with what were then called "Freedom Fighters" – the Mujahadeen of Afghanistan. Amongst the Mujahadeen were many of the future leaders of the Taliban and a warrior named Osama Bin Laden.

And during the Reagan administration, with the help of men like Donald Rumsfeld, the United States had friendly relations with Saddam Hussein. Hussein valued our relationship so much he even asked our permission before invading Kuwait. The U.S. State Department told him they didn't care what he did, it wasn't our concern. The rest is history.

The United States' relationships with Afghanistan's Mujahadeen and with Saddam Hussein were justified because one was fighting the Soviet Union and the other Iran – our sworn enemies.

Yet nowhere in scripture does it say anything like, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Today, we're still making alliances. We've made them with Pakistan, where Christians are regularly persecuted, because they're helping us "clean up Afghanistan." We've made alliances with Saudi Arabia, the home of the Bin Laden family and most of the 19 terrorists who brought us the horror of September 11.

Both governments are despotic. And it's likely that both relationships will blow up in our face within the next twenty years.

After all, it's still within my lifetime that Iran was our ally.

We would do well to end our policy of establishing what our founding fathers called, "entangling alliances."

With the pre-emptive attacks on Iraq, President Bush violated the Constitution by going to war with out a constitutionally-mandated Declaration of War. In other words, by going it alone, he broke the law and Congress encouraged him to do it.

And this Christian President tossed out the window the traditional-Christian philosophy of "Just War."

The results? This whole exercise has torn at the fabric of our nation. Half of our population believes our president is a liar, or worse. The other half have become hungry for blood.

Of course, if we really believe Exodus 34:11-12, we shouldn't be surprised. Entangling alliances have snared us into corruption.

And a man who publicly claims Jesus Christ as his favorite "philosopher" (not to mention the followers that this comment endeared him to) should be aware of the moral danger he places his nation in.

But then again, can you trust any politician to have a guiding moral philosophy? Personally, I believe most of them have a favorite philosopher, and his name is Machiavelli, not Jesus.

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