“Politics” as the practice of creating or resolving social, economic, inter-personal or inter-group issues, mandating the establishment of certain institutions for that purpose, can be said to be inherent in human history.

It is written: 

“Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba.  But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So, Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also.  Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”

So, Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.  He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.  He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.  And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.  He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage and give it to his officers and servants.  And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.  He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.  And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.”

Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD. So, the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” (1Samuel 8).

The above represented the political trajectory of the ancient world, which was dominated by the rise and fall of empires, the last of which was the Holy Roman Empire, itself conceived as the deliberate extension of the ancient Roman Empire which represented the last of what was then known as Western Civilization, and characterized by various political formulations and permutations, which saw the defeat and emergence of new political forces, especially those of Christians as the dominant political force.

This had been long in coming; from the call of Abraham to the resettlement of Jews in Egypt and the Exodus from its oppression, their dispersal during their period of captivity, having to exist under the rule of various emperors all the way to the dispersal of Christians, after the death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, when His followers or those who believe in Him were first called Christians.

These Christians endured persecution under different Roman Emperors and were redeemed by the emergence of Emperor Constantine under whom they became influential and utilized the same institutional architecture used for their oppression against their opponents until the period when they became the absolute rulers, and from which, in the later stages, the Holy Roman Empire took its name because it saw itself as the continuation of the ancient Roman Empire. 

This Holy Roman Empire comprised several Nations or Nationalities, who eventually revolted, and which led to what we now know as the modern Nation State, and which formalized the structure of politics and established the instruments of its Legitimacy through different apparatuses in aid of the singular goal of ensuring the rule of any group able to seize control of it, one way or the other.

It also prepared the ground for the institution of Prebendalism as the system of patronage organized around church hierarchy. This was the system introduced into the African experience and embedded in the formation of the various African Nation States. When therefore, issues of corruption become topical in Africa, a major part of its source is its Prebendary foundation as the direct consequence of what is written in 1 Samuel 8, which formed the basis for sustaining the ancient Empires.   

This was what God wanted the Jews to avoid when He pointed to the experiences of other Nations when they demanded for a king so that they will be like them. It can therefore be said that these ancient Jews failed to establish a different political paradigm, especially when it is noted that their main reason for wanting a king, was to be like the others. They reinforced the existing order, rather than create a new one, thereby once again, shortchanging humanity, the effects of which are still being felt in our contemporary world.

Despite departures from this situation by some early and even contemporary Christians in Africa, it is also noted that the dominant Christian narrative is anchored on the sustenance of this Prebendary structure which favors the distribution of patronage within “closed” political circles, the effect of the European Nation State paradigm on the various Peoples of the African Continent. (To be Continued).   

© Wale Odeku, October 23, 2021 

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