Isaiah 33:22 - Our Form Of Government
Isaiah 33:22 - Our Form Of Government
While researching quotes from our founders for the new site images, I learned something new (yes, us old folks can do that). It seems that the three branches of government found in our Constitution are the result of a scripture. "For the LORD is our judge (Supreme Court), the LORD is our lawgiver (Congress), the LORD is our king (Presidency); He will save us." Isaiah 33:22 (parenthesis inclusions are mine).
It seems that the verse inspired James Madison to separate the powers while attending the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Many forget that our founders were deeply religious men who drew the inspiration for our Declaration of Independence and Rights from the Bible and Christianity.
I always wondered where they got the idea from.
Update:
Since our educational system is lacking these days, I thought I would post a few supporting paragraphs.
Baron Charles Montesquieu wrote "The Spirit of the Laws", a book that was read and studied intently by our Founders. Montesquieu wrote in 1748; "Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative power and from executive power. If it [the power of judging] were joined to legislative power, the power over life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislature if it were joined to the executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor. All would be lost if the same body of principal men exercised these three powers." Madison claimed Isaiah 33:22 as the source of division of power in government. Source
And from the Congressional record:
So how did they produce a document that has withstood the test of an evolving government and growing Nation for 225 years? The answer: these men were steeped in the word of God. They understood their need of its constant direction, and they established a Nation based on its undying principles.
Let me illustrate this fact more. When the Founding Fathers were trying to figure out the most effective form of government, they came up with the idea of three distinct branches of the Federal and State government. Do we know how they decided that? They looked to Isaiah 33:22: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king. He will save us."
Further, they decided there must be a clear separation of powers in these three branches of government to protect from the rise of despotism. They based that conviction on a true understanding of the human heart they found in Jeremiah 17:9: "For the heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately wicked. Who can know it?"
When they sought to develop strong churches throughout the land, and they were encouraged, but not supported, by government funds, they set aside government lands to give to churches, and determined all churches were tax-exempt. We still honor that early conviction. That law was based on Ezra 7:24: "You are also to know that you have no authority to impose taxes, tribute, or duty on any of the priests, Levites, singers, temple servants, or other workers in the House of the Lord."
These leaders knew their Bible, and they absolutely trusted its wisdom. So the first great lie in America today is that our Founding Fathers were not Christians seeking to establish a Christian Nation. They most decidedly were. - Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (House of Representatives - October 17, 2001)
All of that being said, I do not choose to debate the issue. I understand that since I was a child in school, a lot has changed. So our religious heritage has been largely omitted. So, I would suggest you do as Dr. Dubay taught me. Go to the library, and start reading the primary and secondary documents of the period.
Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. - George Washington, 1789
http://farmerforcongress.com/WordPress/?p=107