Moses vs Jesus In Politics

From Mount Sinai to the Sermon on the Mount: Political Visions

M O S E S | THE POLITICAL LEFT

Moses represents God who ruled over Adam and Eve when they were naked, for he is the shepherd that will lead his sheep out of the wilderness and into the promised land. The Israelites were lost, they were slaves, they were needy and helpless… They needed a saviour… They needed Moses.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.”

Exodus 7:1-2

The leader who takes on the position of Moses is he who believes that people are naked. He will bunch people together into groups, as though they are a flock of sheep (Exo. 3:1). He will not see the individual, but a copy of a collective. He will see colour, race, and gender and judge people not by the contents of their character but by the identity characteristics they display. Simultaneously, he will believe that he is divine, elite and born to rescue the lost. He will be grandiose, and superfluously extravagant, for he is not a commoner. He is an anointed leader.  

He does not dine where the commoners dine for it is paramount that he is out of reach. Just as man has to look up to see God, they must look up to see him. He meets God high on the mountain away from his people, and talks to God in the biggest tent away from the camp. The laity must rise and bow as he walks past them (Exo. 33:7-8). He does not inherently need to be competent: He just needs to appear to be.

The story of Exodus is the story of the big government guiding the people out of their plight and into a promised land. The government will feel that it is their role to volunteer to sort out all of the problems of the laity of civic and social life.

Big government is a government that will get involved in everyday social affairs and civic life, on top of maintaining law and order. They will become the people’s saviour. Feeding the hungry and taking care of the poor. In return, the hungry and the poor will look up to their government as their God, and worship him by keeping them in power. Hence, they need a huge budget to feed those who are doing all of the saving. They require a Levites tithe (Numbers 18:21-26). Then, they will require the people to pay an Atonement Tax (Exo. 30:11-16) for all of the good deeds they have helped with, for their help is not free. The Atonement Tax will be adjusted so that the commoners do not pay a flat tax, but a progressive tax which redistributes wealth and creates an equal outcome for the disenfranchised and hard-working. Meanwhile, the elite will maintain their degrees of separation from society, since they are the saviours of society.

The government of Moses is the government that seeks full control and power. Their motto will be:

Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God.

Deuteronomy 10:20.

They will rule over the snake of the garden and pick it up so that it becomes a staff. No opposing opinions will be allowed to speak against their narrative, for they will be labelled as snakes and shun from the garden. Freedom of speech will be permitted so long as it is speech they agree with. Those who disobey their rules will be severely punished, even executed (Exo. 32:28).

Whomever Moses deems as the enemy will be annihilated, for he will unleash the deadliest plagues on them to show that he is the mightiest, most powerful ruler! However, the people will have a new fear that those same powers may be used against them if they become “the enemy”.

J E S U S | THE POLITICAL RIGHT

Jesus is the servant-leader. He leads from the back and helps others up. He represents the snake who pushed Adam and Eve to consume the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. He does not seek to be the sole caretaker for the citizens of his garden. Rather, he encourages each individual to seek knowledge and wisdom to be able to look after himself.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark 1:15

Jesus believes that the individual can guide themselves out of their plight. It only takes a turn of hand for the individual to bring down the kingdom of heaven upon himself. It takes personal responsibility and effort. He has the underlying belief that people are capable of opening their eyes and finding the fig leaves to cover themselves. He encourages men to lean on each other, doing for their neighbour as they would like done for themselves (Mark 12:31).

He speaks in parables to teach people how to think, rather than telling them what to think. He wakes up the mind from its deep sleep. He wants to be an educator so that when he has gone, they know how to fish for themselves and can eat every day.

Each and every life in this garden is important. The government of Jesus is small and its powers are limited. All laws are based on individual rights and aimed at their protection (Ayn Rand, The Nature of Government, 1964). Even the smallest mustard seed can grow to be a huge tree (Matt. 13:31-32), hence, even the smallest life has rights. Marginalised people who feel that they have no voice or power have rights. In this garden:

All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Declaration of Independence, U.S Constitution

Jesus is a carpenter. He makes an honest living like everyone else. The distance between man and God is reduced. He is not up above. He is on earth, living in and working among the laity. Jesus washes the feet of his disciples, he dines with sinners and accepts criticism and challenges from his opponents. He does not rule over the mouths of anyone. He instils systems of checks and balances to minimise corruption and keep the garden free. He is a civil servant.

Regarding the enemy, Jesus says, “Take the plank out of your eye before you look at the speck in another person’s eye” (Matt. 7:3-5). All human beings are the same. Man has both good and evil within him. Hence, each man needs to control his shadow and consciously allow the light to shine through.