Empire equals slavery for the conqueror

I highly recommend this video by John Mearsheimer because it illustrates something I’ve long written about: the foolishness of empire.

There is a fascinating dynamic with all empires: the host nation, in this case the US, comes to dominate other lesser (in power) nations. For instance, Australia is bound up in US policy, as is most of Europe, including Britain, parts of Asia, South America, and the Middle East.

We all understand that empire means that one nation rises up to be dominant over many other nations, but the dynamic does not stop there because in the process of dominating lesser nations, some of those lesser nations then come to dominate the host nation. This has happed to the US. American foreign policy is driven in large part by nations like Israel, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and perhaps a few others to a lesser degree. The Israel lobby is particularly strong. As John Mearsheimer, an American Jewish Political Scientist notes in this video: no US president will contradict the Israel lobby, this is why Netanyahu treats the US politicians with such contempt, and this offends him as an American.

But this dynamic is observed in all historical empires. Rome became dominated by many other peoples, and its capital was eventually moved to Greece, and the official language of the empire became Greek. But the rule by lesser nations did not end there, they were dominated by Macedonian elites, Isaurian elites, Gothic elites, and more. The more nations Rome overcame the less Roman she became. Egypt famously was taken over by the Hyksos in its ancient era, and in the days of Caesar was ruled by Greek rulers, who titled themselves Pharoah’s of Egypt. China at many times in the past was taken over by various other peoples, the Mongols, the Manchu and others. The city of Babylon, the great seat of power of the Amorites and Chaldeans and their empire, passed through the hands of many other peoples before it was eventually destroyed. The examples could go on and on, because when nations seek to rule over other nations, they then tend to be enslaved by the very nations they enslave.  

I’ve long written about the various curses of empire. But they can be summed up in Biblical rephrase: you reap what you sow. The slaver becomes the enslaved. The one who seeks to dominate the other nations becomes dominated by them.

Before an empire collapses, God always teaches the host nation: you do not rule the world, you cannot even rule yourselves. See, see how these other nations have come to dominate you!

The American nation decided to go against the advice of their founders to stay out of the affairs of Europe, they decided to proclaim manifest destiny and take over the rule of the whole of what is now called the United States but was once the domain of many Native American nations and peoples. And it decided to use force to make the south remain part of the Union, making it an empire in fact. All of this set  it up to become a powerful empire. But all empires are overcome by some of those they seek to rule.

America is finding out how humiliating it is to not even rule yourself. God humbles the proud. I hope our leaders are looking at this and paying attention.

Matthew Littlefield writes to think through some of the current issues facing society, the Church and whatever else comes to mind that might be interesting to process. Matt's focus is usually historical or scriptural, though he will address current issues from time to time as well. He is a co-author of The Ezekiel Declaration and the book, Defending Conscience, How Baptists reminded the Church to defy tyranny. He blogs most days at YoungGospelMinister.blogspot.com.