When he grew old, the Old Testament prophet Samuel appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. Unfortunately, they “turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgement” (1 Samuel 8:3). Weary of corrupt government, the elders of Israel came to Samuel and asked him to appoint a king to rule over them. (1 Samuel 8:4-5)
The Lord told Samuel do as the people requested, though they were, once again, choosing to ignore what God had done for them and rejecting God’s authority and plan for them. (Samuel 8:6-9).
Samuel warned the people that having a human king would bring them many troubles and hardships. (1 Samuel 8:10-18). But the people insisted they wanted a king (1 Samuel 8:19-22), so Samuel anointed Saul to be king (1 Samuel 10:1).
The rule of Saul, then David, and then Solomon each started well but ended badly. It is extremely difficult for even a good person to resist the temptations of absolute power. After King Solomon, the kingdom was divided, conquered, and the people carried into slavery.
Nephi and his brothers
Public pressure to anoint a king happened more than once in the Book of Mormon. Nephi’s older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, tried to kill him and make themselves kings over the family. They did this more than once – even though the first time they had been stopped by an angel. (1 Nephi 3: 28-30).
This angel told them specifically that Nephi had been chosen to rule over them because of their iniquities. They stubbornly refused to remember the angel’s message.
Eventually the threat from the Lamanites became so great the people of Nephi had to flee into the wilderness (1 Nephi 5:5-10). After the people had rebuilt in the land of Nephi – and even built a temple – the people asked Nephi to become their king (2 Nephi 5:17-18). He refused. He knew the people shouldn’t have a king.
Alma
The people of Alma, who had escaped from the wicked King Noah, wanted Alma to be their king (Mosiah 23:6).
But he said unto them: Behold, it is not expedient that we should have a king; for thus saith the Lord: Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another; therefore I say unto you it is not expedient that ye should have a king.
Mosiah 23:7-8,13
Nevertheless, if it were possible that ye could always have just men to be your kings it would be well for you to have a king.
…
And now as ye have been delivered by the power of God out of these bonds; yea, even out of the hands of king Noah and his people, and also from the bonds of iniquity, even so I desire that ye should stand fast in this liberty wherewith ye have been made free, and that ye trust no man to be a king over you.
King Mosiah
When King Mosiah’s sons wisely refused to accept the kingship, Mosiah proposed that the country be governed by “judges” who would be elected “by the voice of the people.” In other words, he changed the country from a kingdom into a democracy.
Mosiah and his father, King Benjamin, were righteous leaders, but in setting up the new form of government Mosiah warned the people, in detail, about the dangers of having an unrighteous king.
And he also unfolded unto them all the disadvantages they labored under, by having an unrighteous king to rule over them;
Mosiah 29:35-36
Yea, all his iniquities and abominations, and all the wars, and contentions, and bloodshed, and the stealing, and the plundering, and the committing of whoredoms, and all manner of iniquities which cannot be enumerated—telling them that these things ought not to be, that they were expressly repugnant to the commandments of God.
Now I say unto you, that because all men are not just it is not expedient that ye should have a king or kings to rule over you.
Mosiah 29:16-17
For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction!
And behold, now I say unto you, ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous king save it be through much contention, and the shedding of much blood.
Mosiah 29:21-23
For behold, he has his friends in iniquity, and he keepeth his guards about him; and he teareth up the laws of those who have reigned in righteousness before him; and he trampleth under his feet the commandments of God;
And he enacteth laws, and sendeth them forth among his people, yea, laws after the manner of his own wickedness; and whosoever doth not obey his laws he causeth to be destroyed; and whosoever doth rebel against him he will send his armies against them to war, and if he can he will destroy them; and thus an unrighteous king doth pervert the ways of all righteousness.
People have not changed
I believe the message these scriptures have for our day is clear. However, led by the Republican Party, many Americans are now willing to give up our freedom and democracy in support of a illiterate narcissistic bully. They are willing to give absolute power to a man whose wickedness, selfishness, and vengefulness have always been plain to see.
My sorrow is that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are among this evil man’s strongest supporters. The scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, have given us clear and specific warnings about this exact problem. But then, in those same scriptures, it is the members of the Church who, by ignoring the warnings of God, bring destruction upon their nations.
Will we let it happen again?
Source:
John Avlon, “The King Trump defense is terrifying,” CNN, January 31, 2020.
Thanks for a good article. It’s exactly what I’ve thought for a few years. It’s sad that so much has changed in the Republican Party in the past few years.
An apt comparison!
And yet many LDS are still planning to vote for Trump if he wins the Repub nomination and hasn’t already been sent to prison (which I doubt will happen). I have talked to several of my friends about how the BofM scriptures are to be likened unto our day…but they say…oh they don’t mean that literally! Well, what other way do they mean it?