De Gedeone forma praesidentium et Antiocho
The Humility of Gideon
Gideon serves as a model of leadership by refusing to dominate the people, choosing instead to defer to the law of God.
I don't see what those people are thinking who try to crush the commonwealth—that is, the people of God—under an unearned yoke of slavery, unless perhaps they crave power for the sake of bearing the torments of misery more forcefully. If they only wanted to govern, rather than dominate, they would consider the weight of the office and wouldn't rush into it with such greed. A ruler's will depends on the law of God and doesn't infringe upon freedom. But a tyrant's will serves desire, and by resisting the law that fosters freedom, he tries to impose a yoke of slavery on his fellow servants. Scripture teaches us this, and we aren't allowed to contradict it. All the men of Israel said to Gideon, 'Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson, because you have saved us from the hand of Midian.'✦ He replied to them, 'I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you, but the Lord will rule.'✦ And he said to them, 'I ask one thing of you: give me the earrings from your plunder.'✦ I seem to see in the face of this writing what I had said. Gideon—whose name is interpreted as 'one who goes around the useless' or 'the temptation of their iniquity'—seems by his name and his words to point to the role of a leader. It is his task to go around the useless things and either destroy them or call them back to fruitfulness, and to exclude from his borders whatever he finds to be iniquitous, so that victory may proceed for him against his enemies. The honor of lordship is offered to him, and he refuses it; yet he subjects those he has freed from the yoke of slavery to the law. A subsequent honor is offered to the father of children, but he preferred that God be honored. Who among them can rightly be compared to this man—those who confuse right and wrong, and who busy themselves with labors and hardships so that they might have children as heirs, not so much of honor, but of plunder and iniquity? For who would prefer children to the law of God and His justice, which consists in love alone? 'Whoever loves father or mother or children more than me,' He says, 'is not worthy of me.'✦ Indeed, those who prefer passing things to Christ pass away more quickly than the things themselves; nor is their glory perpetuated among those for whom, with all else set aside, Christ remains inglorious.
The Peril of Sacrilegious Pride
The author warns against the pride of Uzziah and Antiochus, who usurped priestly roles and attacked the law of God, comparing them to contemporary figures who meddle in sacred affairs.
Therefore, a leader should fear a fall if, forgetting charity, he diminishes divine honor out of affection for his children or some other impulse. Yet no one admits to rising up against God; nevertheless, many do, and it's happening openly now. Antiochus entered the sanctuary with pride, and many indeed do the same. Uzziah—whom reliable records commemorate as having been righteous in many things—after the death of the priest Zechariah (whose surname was 'the Intelligent'), usurped the priestly order not so much piously as audaciously, and when the Levites protested, he heard them say: 'Are you not Uzziah the king, and not the priest?' He refused to listen. Immediately, leprosy struck that part of his body which the priest, according to the law, was covering with a gold plate, so that in accordance with the prophetic curse, his face might be filled with ignominy. The king is indeed well-known, both from his contemporary kings and especially because Romulus, from whom the Roman race descends, was born in the year of his death. Many imitate Uzziah by presuming to take on priestly duties, but very few blush at his leprosy. Many, however, follow Antiochus, who enters the holy places not with devotion to offer sacrifice in the priest's stead, but to destroy whatever is holy in the temple of the Lord. For when Antiochus had fashioned an idol of desolation and abomination, he burned the books of God's law with fire and tore them to pieces; and he slaughtered anyone in whose possession the books of the Lord's testament were found, or anyone who observed the law of God according to King Antiochus's edict. In my own time, I've seen some who meddle in the priestly office and recklessly shoulder the burden, trying to snatch the Ark from the shoulders of the Levites, unmindful of the place that's called 'the striking of Uzzah' to this very day. I've seen others who consign the books of the law to the fire and wouldn't hesitate to tear them apart if the laws or canons fell into their hands. During the time of King Stephen, the Roman laws were ordered out of the kingdom—laws that the household of the venerable father Theobald, Primate of the Britains, had brought into Britain. It was prohibited by royal edict for anyone even to keep the books, and silence was imposed upon our Vacarius; but, by God's doing, the power of the law grew stronger the more that wickedness strove to weaken it. Yet among so many thousands who crave to rule, who wants to be like Gideon? Or who wants the law to rule over himself and the people?
The Sufficient Rule of Law
A leader finds true sufficiency when he promotes the law of God and the people respond with obedience and peace.
Still, it should be enough for everyone that Gideon asks only for the earrings from the spoils. For if a leader takes care to declare what the law says, and the people obey and agree so that there is no wickedness or conflict in the city, then that should surely be enough for the leader, and for the people he oversees.
Read the original Latin
Quid itaque sibi uelint qui rem publicam, id est populum Dei, indebito seruitutis iugo nituntur opprimere, non uideo, nisi forte ea de causa potentiam appetant ut tormenta miseriae potenter feraut. Si enim regere tantum appeterent, non dominari, onus oflBcii metientes, nequaquam tanta currerent auiditate. Voluntas enim regentis de lege Dei pendet et non praeiudicat libertati. At tiranni uoluntas concupiscentiae seruit et legi reluctans, quae libertatem fouet, conseruis iugum seruitutis conatur imponere. Docet haec Scriptura, cui contraire non licet. Dixerunt omnes uiri Israelis ad Gedeon: Dominare nostri tu et filius tuus et filius filii tui, quia liberasti nos de manu Madian. Quibus ille ait: Non dominabor uestri, nec dominabitur in uos filius meus, sed dominabitur Dominus. Dixitque ad eos: Vnam petitionem postulo a uobis, date michi inaures ex praeda uestra.
Videor michi in huius litterae facie quod dixeram intueri. Nam Gedeon, qui interpretatur circumiens inutile uel temptatio iniquitatis eorum, nomine et uerbis uidetur principis oflBcium indicare. Eius enim est circumire inutilia et ea uel delere uel reuocare ad frugem et quod iniquum deprehendit excludere a finibus suis, ut sibi aduersus hostes procedat uictoria. Defertur honor dominii et recusat; legi tamen subicit quos a iugo seruitutis absoluit. Patri filiorum successiuus def ertur honor; at ille Deum maluit honorari. Quis eorum recte huic assimilabitur qui fas nefasque confundunt, et uersantur in laboribus et erumpnis, ut filios possint non tam honoris quam rapinae a et iniquitatis habere heredes? Quis est enim qui legem Dei et iustitiam eius, quae in sola caritate consistit, filiis anteponat Qui amat, inquit, patrem aut matrem aut filios plus quam me, non est me dignus. Et profecto qui transitoria Christo praeponunt, ipsis transitoriis citius transeunt: nec eorum perpetuatur gloria apud quos, postpositis aliis, Christus manet inglorius.
Ergo casum timeat princeps qui liberorum aut camis motus affectu honorem diuinum minuit immemor caritatis. Sed nemo est qui in Deum se fateatur insurgere; insurgunt tamen plurimi, et iam ista palam fiunt. Intrauit Antiochus sanctificationem cum superbia; et hoc quidem faciunt multi. Ozias, quem litterae irrefragabiles iustum in multis fuisse commemorant, mortuo Zacharia sacerdote, cui cognomen fuit intelligens, ordinem sacerdotalem non tam pie quam audacter inuasit et reclamantibus Leuitis: Nonne tu es Ozias rex et non sacerdos? audire contempsit. Statimque lepra partem illam corporis eius inuasit quam sacerdos ex lege auri tegebat lamina, ut iuxta imprecationem propheticam facies eius ignominia repleretur. Rex quidem notus est et ex coeuis regibus et eo maxime quod anno mortis eius natus est Romulus, a quo genus est Romanorum. Imitantur plurimi Oziam sacerdotalia praesumentes, sed lepram eius paucissimi erubescunt.
Plures tamen sequuntur Antiochum, qui non cum deuotione, ut offerat uice sacerdotis, sancta ingreditur, sed ut deleat si quid est in templo Domini sanctum. Cum enim Antiochus desolationis et abhominationis ydolum fabricasset, libros legis Dei combussit igni et scidit eos; et apud quemcumque inueniebantur libri testamenti Domini, et quicumque obseruabant legem Dei, secundum edictum regis Antiochi trucidabant eum. Vidi temporibus meis nonnullos sacerdotali se immiscentes officio et humeros temerarie supponentes, ut archam praeriperent ab humeria Leuitarum, loci immemores qui in praesentem diem dicitur Ozae percussio. Alios uidi qui libros legis deputant igni nec scindere uererentur, si in manus eorum iura peruenirent aut canones. Tempore regis Stephani a regno iussae sunt leges Romanae, quas in Britanniam domus uenerabilis patris Theodbaldi Britanniarum primatis asciuerat. Ne quis etiam libros retineret edicto regio prohibitum est et Vacario nostro indictum silentium; sed, Deo faciente, eo magis uirtus legis inualuit quo eam amplius nitebatur impietas infirmare. Quis autem in tot milibus regnare afiectantium esse uult similis Gedeoni'? Aut quis legem sibi uult dominari et populo?
Omnibus tamen illud deberet sufficere quod Gedeon a subditis petit, id est, si solas ex praeda sibi consequatur inaures. Si enim quae lex loquitur, indicare curauerit, et ei obediens populus adquiescat ut non sit iniquitas et contradictio in ciuitate; et populo, cui praeest, debet profecto sufficere praesidenti.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Judg.8.22 — Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, "Rule over us—you, your son, and your grandson as well, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian."
- ↩Judg.8.23 — But Gideon said to them, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you."
- ↩Judg.8.24 — And Gideon said to them, 'Let me make a request of you: let each man give me an earring from his plunder.' For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.
- ↩Matt.10.37 — Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Policraticus companion
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