RonMcKenzie
BOTTOM-UP SOCIETYBy Ron McKenzie
Hierarchies of power pervade all the institutions of the modern world. Societies are structured from the top down. Authority flows down from the central government at the top. Political leaders decide how much power will be delegated to the regional and local authorities that control the structure of cities and towns.Unfortunately, the perfect system of Government that God gave to Moses will not work in a top-down, hierarchical society.God was able to give a new model of government to the children of Israel because they had left hierarchical controls behind when they escaped from Egypt. Their new society in the Promised Land was structured the other way round, with authority flowing from the bottom to the top. The greatest authority resided at the bottom among families and households, with only limited authority being delegated up.This unique social structure was perfect for the government of God. In the next few sections, I will describe how it was intended to work and how it was later destroyed when the Israelites rejected God’s government to be like other nations.Before the Government of God can come to fullness in our time, modern society will need to be changed, so that authority flows from the bottom to the top. In the last part of this article, I will explain how the Holy Spirit can transform the followers of Jesus into local communities where God’s perfect system of government can be established.The Government of God is based on Free Authority, so it cannot be imposed from the top. The big challenge that I take on is explaining how a human society can function effectively without hierarchy and control.New Social PatternGod’s pattern for society was demonstrated when Moses led the children of Israel into the Promised Land. Up until then, God had worked through the families of people like Noah, Abraham and Jacob. He was now beginning a new stage of history with a nation of families, so he needed a suitable government.While living in Egypt, the Israelites were controlled by slave masters exercising authority delegated down from Pharaoh. They did not need a political system because they had no authority. Their taskmasters controlled everything (Ex 1:11-13) and the leaders of families were powerless.God could start with a clean slate in a new land because Israel had no government hierarchy to be removed. Once they escaped from slavery, all that remained was their family connections. Families naturally linked up with other families from the same clan and tribe because they knew and trusted them.During the Exodus, the Israelites had no central authority, like the Pharaoh in Egypt. Moses was not a ruler, but a temporary military leader with very limited authority. He was an expert on life in the desert, because he had been a shepherd for forty years, but he could not force the people to do his will. If the leaders of families and tribes refused to follow his lead, he was powerless.Joshua took over from Moses as a temporary military leader, but when he died, God did not appoint a replacement. The main battle was over, so a national leader was not needed anymore. This seems strange to modern eyes, but God’s system of government does not need a national leader.Moses did not understand what God was doing because he had been raised in the house of Pharaoh, close to the centre of power. He had been trained by Pharaoh’s courtiers, so he assumed that he would have to control the people from the top in the same way as Pharaoh controlled the Egyptians. Moses only realised that God was creating a new society with a different structure when he visited his father-in-law in the wilderness.Jethro saw the strain that Moses was under because he was trying to be a national leader controlling everything. Jethro was a prophet, so he told Moses to give authority back to the leadership that already existed in the community and focus on representing the people before God (Ex 18:19).The timing of Jethro’s challenge was critical because it came just before the Israelites would receive the law at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). While they were journeying to a new land, they needed a military leader to keep them safe, but God did not want this structure to continue into the Promised Land.The Government of God cannot be established by Imposed Authority. The new system of law he was giving does not work in a top-down society, so God had to take authority away from Moses and give it back to the people.