A Brief History of Government

 A BRIEF HISTORY of GOVERNMENT by Bill Federer

The most common form of government in world history is kings. Their subjects did not vote.

The first well-recorded instance of millions of people living without a king was Ancient Israel’s Republic, circa 1,400 to 1,000 B.C., that initial 400-year period after they left Egypt.

The Bible does not give details, but each tribe and city chose their own elders, as Moses stated:

Exodus 18:21 "Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens”; and

Deuteronomy 1:3–13 "Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes"; and

Deuteronomy 16:18–19 "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates.”

Since the goal was to choose individuals that God wanted, one method of selection was “by lot.” Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”

The Greek word for “lot” is “kleros,” from which the words clergy, cleric, and clerk come from.

Levite priests were chosen by lot to minister in the Temple, as Zechariah was, the father of John the Baptist. Acts 1:26 described how the apostles “drew lots” to determine who God wanted to replace Judas.”

“Kleros” were pieces of wood used for casting lots. Deciding offices by casting lots is where the word “allotment” comes from, and is the origin of the random selection process used to pick jurors from a jury pool in a trial.

In Ancient Athens, 480-323 B.C., instead of casting lots, each Greek citizen placed a pebble in one of two urns to indicate who was chosen. The Greek word for “pebble” was psēphos - (pronounced “say fos”) from which comes the word “vote.” The study of voting is called “psephology.”

Pebbles were replaced with citizens marking a name on small broken pieces of pottery.

Romans used marbles or little clay balls, which voters dropped into boxes. The word for little ball in Italian is “ballota,” in French “ballotte,” from which comes the word “ballot.”

Ancient India, around 920 A.D., used the Kudavolai system, where villagers wrote a candidate’s name on palm leaves which were put inside a mud pot.

In Russia’s Republic of Novgorod, 12th through 15 centuries, citizens gathered in the city square and shouted for their candidate.

The first use of paper ballots in America was in church. The Massachusetts Bay Colony used paper ballots in 1629 to select a pastor for the Salem Church.

Since the goal was God’s will, instead casting lots, church members fasted and prayed, then cast their ballots, thus participating in having God’s will be done through them.

The belief was, that God had preordained someone to be their pastor and church members were simply to recognize the one God had chosen.

Being chosen by God was called being “the elect.” First Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect.”

Paul wrote in Colossians 3:12 “As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies”; and Second Timothy 2:10: “I endure all things for the elect's sakes.”

Mark 13:20 described the last days: “And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.”

The process of putting down the name of God’s “elect” was called an “election.”