Interpretation

Truth is in the nature of God.  Believers in God look to God for truth, and the assurance that truth will triumph.  Truth ultimately wins, and persons who seek truth, live by it, advance its meaning and purpose will be most satisfied with life.  Truth as mankind manages it may not be perceived in the ideal of truth as God is identified with truth.  We fumble with truth, distort it, parcel it in and out of our thought and conduct, assimilate it as we see fit in mortality hindered by ignorance, emotion, and energy.  That means we do not have enough truth in that some truth is boring so passed over; that truth sometimes takes more energy than we are willing to invest; and, the issues list out.  Some of the barriers are of our own making, and some are visited upon us.  It all begins in our infancy.  There is considerable sifting to be done, and we are often reluctant to go through the processes to gain even that available to the human context.  We stumble along.  Some of that stumbling won’t make any difference except for the loss of time, but sometimes it becomes serious, perhaps fatal.  Much of the truth we need is found in righteousness, but we may skirt it, or use only a part appealing to us.  We end up with something that doesn’t work.  It may work for a period of time.  Forces of change and violation drain the good from it and the application.

We may illustrate this in government to understand the point practically.  If we followed truth (found in righteousness) it wouldn’t make any difference if a government were democratic, royalist, dictatorship, communist, or found in some exotic combination not yet tried.  If in righteousness the authorized government would serve others (citizens); would be dedicated to peace (non-militaristic); forge good neighbor policies (helpful and unselfish in relationships); find disclaimers of arrogance (so to practice equality as policy); commit to education (so as to prepare persons for life, work and relationships); operate within the availability of resources (so to avoid debt not guaranteed by collateral benefit); and, the list can be continued.  This can be done by an individual holding the godly value system, or it can be done by a congress of citizens, or it can be done by following the wisdom of judges guided by charter.  In the microcosm of families we find the effectiveness of those who follow the pattern whether the family is run by the father or the mother, or both, or even by the children with all members in a democratic combo.  It is also interesting to follow Israel in Scripture following every pattern we imagine (even keeping cultural unity during slavery) with some success in each – and failure.  As slaves in Egypt the people held together not only in human identity but in their faith in God.  Moses had a people at the start of things, and ran the government rather well, relying also on his siblings – Aaron and Miriam.  The secret was found in keeping the laws (righteousness) of God, with ups and downs as they leaned into righteousness or leaned away from it.  They emerged from slavery in Babylon only as a small remnant.  The easy slavery of Babylon permitted most of the captives to assimilate.  The wandering Jew pattern was born.  In the centuries following there were Jewish groupings in nearly every nation in the European and Mediterranean rim.

We choose democracy but it has many failings beginning with the masses who may not seek truth but self-interest.  We say we live by the contract of the citizens, so support open elections to guarantee that freedom.  The best that may be said for it is that we would rather make our own mistakes than to pay for the mistakes of others.  Polls are taken to determine the public support for this or that officer, this or that plan, and the tension is born between vested groups and their leaders.  In a few months the opinion of the masses has been changed, sometimes by some event that is dramatic on a national level, and the laws are shifted.  Public opinion in the 1920s moved to prohibition.  In the 1930s we moved back to free flow of alcohol.  What did we not know in the 20s?  Recently some drugs have moved to legal acceptance.  Same-sex marriage gained large approval.  In the last decade of the 20^th century states were moving to make traditional (male/female) marriage a part of their constitutions.  In ten years tradition was turned away from gender with the common insinuation that holding the former standard is now prejudicial.  Much of life and its social directions are determined not cerebrally but by shifting, garbled emotions or tendencies that redefine values.  We fail objectivity, creating contradictions or paradoxes.