Walking the Point

posted by Writer on Oct 28

“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Abraham speaking with God in Genesis 18:25

The Third reference to God in our Declaration reads “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude* of our intentions…” Once again, we’ll ask Noah Webster to shed light on the meaning behind these words, both of which are capitalized, signifying the importance of the One they are speaking of.

Supreme –  “Highest in authority; holding the highest place in government or power. In the universe, God only is the supreme ruler and judge. His commands are supreme and binding on all His creatures.” (1)

Judge – “The Supreme Being – Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18:25.  A second definition states, “to rule or govern” with Hebrews 10:30 following, “The Lord shall judge his people.” (2)

At the time the country was founded the language in the Declaration reflected the spiritual mindset of the people – the overwhelming majority of which were Christians. The Founders did not establish a national denomination (which is why the Pilgrims fled England) but decided we would be governed according to the principles found in Scripture.

Keep in mind the pulpits were very active during this time and preached on the issues of the day using scripture as their platform (The word Liberty comes from the Bible, and Leviticus 25:10 is inscribed on the Liberty Bell.) (3)

Newspapers and pastors often equated America’s struggle to what Israel faced in scripture as this editorial attests; “If an army should be sent to reduce us to slavery, we will put our lives in our hands and cry out to the Judge of all the earth…Behold-how they come to cast us out of this possession which Thou has given us to inherit. Help us, Lord, our God, for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude.” (4)

John Witherspoon was the only pastor to sign the Declaration. Do you think he knew what these words meant? I do. Secondly, do you think he would have signed if it were speaking of some generic deity? I don’t.

The Founders realized they were going up against the greatest military power of the world and to quote Lincoln, they had “nowhere else to go” and made their appeal to the ‘Judge of all the earth‘, Jesus Christ.

Back to Reverend Witherspoon for a moment who made this statement: “That he is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy to his country.” (5)

Let me reiterate it again, a person cannot make the claim of being Christian who understands scripture, while at the same time supporting an administration that seeks to change the definition of marriage, advances abortion, or distances itself from Israel (just to name a few). Jefferson trembled at the thought of God’s judgement, while George Mason warned that when ‘calamities’ occur in a nation it might be a signal of God’s displeasure.

We haven’t even touched on the numerous sermons of that time when the pastors spoke of keeping sin in check – another reason for God’s judgment. Maybe for another day.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out why these miseries have come upon us.

*****

(1) Webster, Noah, An American Dictionary of the English Language, p.1112;  (2) Ibid p.634; (3) “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”; (4) Marshall, Peter and Manual, David, The Light and the Glory p. 266 (An editorial by the Boston Gazette September 1768); (5) Ibid p. 296

* – Rectitude means integrity, trustworthiness and honesty. Laird, Charles, Webster’s New World Thesaurus p. 343