THEOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN BIBLICAL ISRAEL AND THE CHRISTIAN IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN POLITICS

Abstract

The Israelites initially had a theocracy (ruled directly by God) beginning with God establishing His covenant with Abraham through the days of Moses and Joshua. For example, God led the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Promised Land using a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Theocratic governance, the Biblical representation of God’s relation to, and rule in and over Israel, provides a framework that is instructive for how present-day Nigerian Christians can be structured for political participation in politics. The Nigerian nation has multiple problems and challenges, ranging from bad and unchristian leadership and corruption. Different solutions have been proffered to solving the problem of governance concerning corruption in Nigerian politics but with little attention paid to a Biblically constructed solution as referenced in the theocratic governance of ancient Israel. Can the principles of theocratic governance, as seen in the Biblical account of God’s relationship with the ancient Israelites, be applied to non-Biblically normed entities like Nigeria? Therefore, the paper descriptively interrogates theocratic governance in Biblical Ancient Israel to provide templates for contemporary politics in Nigeria. This is done by examining Nehemiah and Esther as political leaders. The findings show that Christian theology is capable of considering the political implication of its belief framework and serves as an example of theologically-based good governance. The paper concluded that in theocratic governance in Biblical ancient Israel, Nehemiah as a model perceptively masterminds directions and Christians' participation for good governance in Nigerian contemporary politics.