The third character quality that God unveils through Jethro is the hate of “dishonest gain”. For clarity’s sake, I want to insert the caveat that God is not against prospering, even for civic officials. The key to understanding prosperity is not the amount of money made, but rather the way one makes that money.
There is a certain mystery, for example, of how people who make $180,000 yearly end up with net worths of millions after several years of public service. Culture hammers preachers on this point, yet we see this frequently with our civic leadership.
Israel followed kings who lined their own pockets. The kings were destroyed, but the entire nation went into captivity. Judgment fell on all the people, even the ones who were ripped off. There is a kind of reciprocity between the civic leaders and the citizens. God’s law covers the entire community, and the sin of one affects the many. You might want to carefully consider this biblical principle of leadership before you endorse the next candidate.
The Hebrew word, BETSA (dishonest gain) is also the word for covet and greed. So, a leader who succumbs to the temptation to take advantage of position breaks several commandments: not to steal, not to covet and dishonoring God. The Bible tells us that God will severely judge leaders who lust for personal profit. They will be destroyed. If we choose to follow men or women like this, we too will reap disaster. Sin has communal consequences.
So the candidate must have a record of financial integrity and propriety. Again, this isn’t an admonishment about prospering, but rather prospering in a transparent and credible fashion. This is not a party-politics issue. It is an issue of sinful desire; an insult to God. God will surely judge them for such total disregard of their privileged status. But that is only part of the tragedy. The rest of the story is the disastrous consequences for those who follow such covetous, dishonest and idolatrous men and women. If we march to their tune, we will also meet God’s judgment.
An unattainable expectation? Not hardly…
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