In the beginning, YHWH created the man and his wife in His own image, and they began to multiply.

 

 

As long as Adam was alive, he was the patriarch of his house. Adam’s children should ideally have looked to him for leadership; and had they done this, no other form of government should have been necessary. 

 

However, even had all of Adam’s descendants lived under His headship as they should have, Adam would still have died one day, and the extended family would have been split into more than one clan. At that point, some form of extra-patriarchal authority (government) would have become necessary, in order to resolve all disputes between the different clans (because Adam was no longer around, to do so). Additionally, as more time passed and the children became increasingly more distant from their common ancestor, this extra-patriarchal form of dispute resolution would have become more and more important. Because men are what they are it is unlikely that peace would have been possible without such government. 

 

There are clearly advantages to good government. However, where people get concerned is that not all governments are good; and in fact, many of them are not, and people are justifiably suspicious of submitting to rulership of anyone other than their paternal father. Yet not even rule by one’s father is always beneficial, because many fathers are unrighteous; and when a government is composed of unrighteous fathers, then the governments are typically also unrighteous.

 

 

Nimrod began to be a mighty one on the earth. The word here is ‘gibor’, and it refers to a ‘mighty man’ (i.e., a ‘strong man’). However, in Nimrod’s case it meant a tyrannical emperor.

 

 

Nimrod was not a man who served his people: Nimrod was an emperor whose people served him. He did not use his strength to serve others, but in order to take advantage of them. This is the exact opposite of the selfless service to others that Yeshua preaches.

 

 

The lords of the Gentiles use their power and position to make things better for themselves, at the expense of the people. This is the exact opposite of what YHWH wants in the men He raises up to lead and to shepherd Israel. What YHWH wants is for the men He raises up to serve His people Israel, even when it comes at great expense to themselves.

 

Does Scripture give us any examples of the kinds of leaders YHWH wants serving His people Israel?