Lesson & Quiz 04 – Ideal Form of Civil Government

Patterns are very important in Bible teaching from a Jewish perspective. Hosea 12:10 says that God uses “similitudes” to reveal truths and the Book of Hebrews repeatedly refers to types and patterns. As such, we can learn a lot about God’s intent by referencing His original design.
For example, we know God’s intent for marriage by referencing His original design in Adam and Eve. Even Jesus noted the importance of origins with His comments on marriage in Matthew.
Matt 19:4-5
Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

1) Israel was not originally a ______________.

Israel was a commonwealth of ____________ sovereign, self-governing tribes (states) with legal boundaries and with a common worldview operating under the ____________ (Constitution/Rule of Law.)

The ______________ was God’s Rule of Law for Israel. We often think of it from the Spiritual aspect. However, the Law consisted of three sections.

a. ______________ – God’s morality – which transcends time. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery.

b. ______________– God’s Ceremonial System of Sacrifice. This system pointed to the “Lamb of God” which was sufficient to take away sin. The sacrificial system of the Law of Moses ended with the sufficiency of the Sacrifice of Jesus – as the veil of the Temple was rent.

c. ______________ – Civil law for the wellbeing and safety of the people. There were laws for building codes, sanitation, cleanliness, quarantining of sick, lending practices, courts and even limitations on work, as everyone enjoyed a day of rest each week.

Israel had no king. They were to __________  God by following His Law and His instructions for self-government.

Israel was to be governed by God’s Rule of Law (The Torah) and they were to choose out from among themselves righteous men (Elders) to make righteous judgements according to the Rule of Law. There were four criteria given in Exodus 18:21 by which they were to choose their judges or political leaders.

According to the Judges 17:6 and 21:25, before there was a king, Israel decayed morally as everyone did ________________________.

As Israel decayed morally, the people cried out for a strong central government to rule over them and to protect them. God through Samuel warned them that this was not a good idea. Nevertheless, 1 Samuel 8:7, says that Israel rejected __________ reign over them and asked for a king.

Pastor Paul summarized the strategy of Woodrow Wilson by saying, “What one generation resists, but eventually accepts; the next generation will accept it because their parents did; and then every following generation would operate under the _______________ that it’s always been that way.”

Under the Constitution, America is not to be ruled by an all-powerful _______________ or ________________. Public servants swear to uphold the Constitution.

In order to form a ___________ union, the states constituted a limited general government for their _________ welfare and their ___________ defense.

The Constitution needed to be ratified by two-thirds of the states before it took effect. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay wrote a series of published essays trying to persuade the citizens of New York to ratify the Constitution. Federalist Paper #45 defines Federalism and the balance of power between the Federal & state governments.

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are _____ and _______. Those which are to remain in the State governments are _____________ and ____________. The former (federal government) will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State. The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of ________and __________; those of the State governments, in times of peace and security.

The Declaration of Independence declared America’s reason for being and dependence upon God while listing the reasons the colonies were compelled to secede from the tyranny of Great Britain. The thirteen states created the Federal Government with the Constitution, designed its three branches and defined the responsibilities of each.

1. Congress had the most power as neither the President nor the Supreme Court could make Law. Even Congress was limited in what it could do according to Article 1, Section 8.
   • The _________ was proportional and represented the people. Since there is no such thing as “public funds” (the only money Congress has is what it borrows and the people are obligated to repay or what it takes from the people in taxes), all spending bills originate in the House as it is the “people’s” money.
   • The ____________ represented the states and were appointed by each state’s legislature.
2. The President was limited to carrying out the will of the people as decided by Congress. Among the 36 years in office of those referred to as the “Founding Era Presidents”, those five Presidents issued a total of _____ Executive Orders and _______ vetoes. They knew they weren’t to rule the people, but to uphold the Constitution and enforce the law.
3. The supreme court was the least powerful of the three branches. In fact, the word supreme is not even capitalized in the US Constitution. The extremely narrow authority of the supreme Court is listed in Article ________, Section _________ and covers maritime laws, disagreements between states, disputes between citizens of different states and cases in which the United States is a party. Since each state is sovereign, the supreme Court has little or no jurisdiction over matters that arise within a particular state. Certainly, in no place does this court have the authority to redefine marriage or force all 50 states to legalize the wholesale slaughter of 60 million pre-born babies.

There are only two ways 320 million people can coexist. Either a tyrant can rule over them in an absolute totalitarian system or you can implement Federalism where power is divided between the Federal Government and the State Governments. Under Federalism, conservative states can be ________________ and Liberal states can be ________________. They voluntarily work together in a union for their general welfare (negotiating trade with other nations, having a common currency for all the states, etc.) and their common defense (military). Even with defense, Federalism was implemented. Each state originally had its own military which could be brought under the leadership of the Commander in Chief when necessary for the common defense of the union. When it comes to deciding right and wrong within each state, remember something morally wrong (like slavery or abortion), should never be declared legally right.