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Civil
Disobedience—Examples in Scripture
In Exodus
1,
the Egyptian Pharaoh gave the clear command to two Hebrew
midwives that
they were to kill all male Jewish babies. An extreme patriot would
have carried out the government’s order, yet the Bible says the
midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and “feared God, and did not do as the
king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live” (Exodus
1:17).
The Bible goes on to say the midwives lied to Pharaoh about why they
were letting the children live; yet even though they lied and
disobeyed their government, “God was good to the midwives, and the
people multiplied, and became very mighty. Because the midwives
feared God, He established households for them” (Exodus
1:20–21).
In Joshua
2,
Rahab directly disobeyed a command from the king of Jericho to
produce the Israelite spies who had entered the city to gain
intelligence for battle. Instead, she let them down via a rope so
they could escape. Even though Rahab had received a clear order from
the top government official, she resisted the command and was
redeemed from the city’s destruction when Joshua and the Israeli
army destroyed it.
The
book of 1 Samuel records a command given by King Saul during a
military campaign that no one could eat until Saul had won his battle
with the Philistines. However, Saul’s son Jonathan, who had not
heard the order, ate honey to refresh himself from the hard battle
the army had waged. When Saul found out about it, he ordered his son
to die. However, the people resisted Saul and his command and saved
Jonathan from being put to death (1
Samuel 14:45).
Another
example of civil disobedience in keeping with biblical submission is
found in 1
Kings 18.
That chapter briefly introduces a man named Obadiah who “feared the
Lord greatly.” When the queen Jezebel was killing God’s prophets,
Obadiah took a hundred of them and hid them from her so they could
live. Such an act was in clear defiance of the ruling authority’s
wishes.
In
2 Kings, the only apparently approved revolt against a reigning
government official is recorded. Athaliah,
the mother of Ahaziah, began to destroy the royal offspring of the
house of Judah. However, Joash the son of Ahaziah was taken by the
king’s daughter and hidden from Athaliah so that the bloodline
would be preserved. Six years later, Jehoiada gathered men around
him, declared Joash to be king, and put Athaliah to death.
Daniel
records a number of civil disobedience examples. The first is found
in chapter 3 where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down
to the golden idol in disobedience to King Nebuchadnezzar’s
command. The second is in chapter 6 where Daniel defies King Darius’
decree to not pray to anyone other than the king. In both cases, God
rescued His people from the death penalty that was imposed, signaling
His approval of their actions.
In
the New Testament, the book of Acts records the civil disobedience of
Peter and John towards the authorities that were in power at the
time. After Peter healed a man born lame, Peter and John were
arrested for preaching about Jesus and put in jail. The religious
authorities were determined to stop them from teaching about Jesus;
however, Peter said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to
give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot
stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts
4:19–20).
Later, the rulers confronted the apostles again and reminded them of
their command to not teach about Jesus, but Peter responded, “We
must obey God rather than men” (Acts
5:29).
One
last example of civil disobedience is found in the book of Revelation
where the Antichrist commands all those who are alive during the end
times to worship an image of himself. But the apostle John, who wrote
Revelation, states that those who become Christians at the time will
disobey the Antichrist and his government and refuse to worship the
image (Revelation
13:15)
just as Daniel’s companions violated Nebuchadnezzar’s decree to
worship his idol.
Civil
Disobedience—Conclusion
What
conclusions can be drawn from the above biblical examples? The
guidelines for a Christian’s civil disobedience can be summed as
follows:
•
Christians
should resist a government that commands or compels evil
and should work nonviolently within the laws of the land to change a
government that permits evil.
•
Civil
disobedience is permitted when the government’s laws or commands
are in direct violation of God’s laws and commands.
•
If
a Christian disobeys an evil government, unless he can flee from the
government, he should accept that government’s punishment for his
actions.
•
Christians
are certainly permitted to work to install new government leaders
within the laws that have been established.
Lastly,
Christians are commanded to pray for their leaders and for God to
intervene in His time to change any ungodly path that they are
pursuing: “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers,
petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings
and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and
quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1
Timothy 2:1–2).
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