Parallel Concepts between the U.S. Constitution & the Bible

Parallel Concepts between the U.S. Constitution & the Bible

Our last three monthly newsletters have shown the amazing correlation between Biblical concepts and the Principles of Liberty established by the Founders for freedom, prosperity, and peace, and how they were reflected in the Declaration of Independence. This month we will show how many of those same concepts are also reflected in our structure of government as established by the Constitution of the United States. These reflections should not surprise the honest student of American History. Scholarly studies have shown that the Bible was the most quoted source, by far, in all the Founders’ speeches and writings. The reverence which the Founders showed toward Biblical concepts in both the Old and New Testaments was reflected by John Adams when he said:

"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God.... What a Utopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

When reading the Biblical law of government as proclaimed by Moses, it must be remembered that ancient Israel was a unitary republic of one nationality and one faith. The American Founders knew they must establish a government for a pluralistic society. It was John Adams who took these same functions of government from the Old Testament record (Isaiah 33:22) and, following the advice of Polybius and Montesquieu, pushed for a separation of powers into three branches. Rather than attempt to explain these scriptural passages in our words, we prefer to let them stand on their own. As the student of history studies these references and tries to understand the spirit in which they were given, he will, no doubt, come to see that same spirit in the ideas of the Founders as they structured the American nation. No other source gave to the Founders the ingredients they sought for the establishment of a free people better than the Bible. No writings of ancient philosophers, which the Founders also studied, established the pathway to freedom so powerfully as did the Bible. As these scriptures are read, it is hoped that insights will distill upon the reader as they did upon the Founders. It will soon become apparent to the honest seeker of truth that, as George Washington testified many times, the Hand of Providence was in this work.

From the Preamble to the United States Constitution:

“We the People…”

Exodus 24:3 - And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do. Deuteronomy 31:12-13 - Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: And that their children, which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

1 Samuel 8:10-18 - And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

“In order to form a more perfect union…”

Genesis 2:24 - Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Matthew 19:6 - What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Psalms 133:1 BEHOLD, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

“Establish justice…”

Psalms 82:3 - Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Proverbs 1:3 - To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

Proverbs 21:3 - To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Ezekiel 45:9 - Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD.

Acts 10:34 - Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

“Ensure domestic tranquility…”

Leviticus 26:6 - And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.

“Promote the general welfare…”

1 Chronicles 22:13 - Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.

Joshua 1:8 - This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Proverbs 31:20 - She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.

“Provide for the common defense…”

Hebrews 11:32- 34 - And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

Luke 14:31-32 - Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

“Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…”

Genesis 45:7 - And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Daniel 2:44 – 45 - And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Galatians 5:1 - STAND fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Article I of the United States Constitution

“All legislative power shall be vested in a Congress of the United States…”

Exodus 19:7-8 - And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.

1 Samuel 8:10-18 - And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

“…which shall consist of a Senate…”

Numbers 11:16-17 - And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

“…and a House of Representatives.”

Deuteronomy 1:12-16 - How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.

Article I, Section 8 “The Congress shall have the power to…”

“… lay and collect taxes…but all…shall be uniform throughout the United States;”

Leviticus 27:30-33 - And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's: it is holy unto the LORD. And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.

Malachi 3:8-10 - Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

“…to coin money…and fix the standard of weights and measures;”

Leviticus 19:35-36 - Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

More to come next month. Just a reminder:

Psalms 19:7 - The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Sincerely, Earl Taylor, Jr.