Christianity Today: Moses Warned His People. So Did George Washington., by Domonic D. Purviance (Pastor, Cornerstone Church-Atlanta):
Before Israel entered the land God had promised, Moses gathered the nation and delivered a final warning (Deut. 28–30; Lev. 18:28). Prosperity, he told them, would be achieved by covenant faithfulness, humility, and obedience. If Israel forgot the Lord, embraced idols, tolerated injustice, and allowed pride to take root, the land itself would eventually expel them.
Centuries later, in his farewell address after declining a third term as president, George Washington issued a remarkably similar address to the young American republic. Though separated by covenant and context—one speaking as a prophet of Israel, the other as a statesman of a pluralistic republic—both leaders delivered final remarks that revealed their belief that the greatest threat to a nation’s success is not external enemies but internal decay.
For Washington, this threat came in the form of the “spirit of party,” in which political factions prioritize their power above the common good. Conceding that this spirit is at some level inevitable, Washington warned that factionalism left unchecked would lead to a “frightful despotism.”
Any casual observer can see the spirit of party’s influence on our modern cultural landscape. As I’ve written before, party ideologies shape both politics and our identities. Influenced by a partisan media ecosystem, we reduce complex realities into simplistic, ideological narratives of villains, victims, and solutions. Convinced that our side alone is right, we become blind to the limits of our own worldview and increasingly incapable of meaningful self-critique. Opponents become easier to caricature than to dignify. …
[F]or Washington, the preservation of liberty and the common good were the only things existential in a republic, worth pursuing even if prioritizing them meant losing political power. He demonstrated this by his willingness to give up the presidency at the end of his second term.
By contrast, giving up power is catastrophic for those driven by the spirit of party, so much so that anything becomes permissible to maintain it. Instead of working to convince those with different ideological views of the efficacy of their policies or (better yet) accepting defeat when those policies have proven ineffective, politicians seem more willing to redraw political boundaries or compromise long-standing norms. …
Moses knew maintaining national prosperity required obedience to God’s commands. Chosen by the Lord to be instrumental in his plan of salvation through Christ, Israel’s fidelity was indispensable. They were to be a holy people, set apart for God’s exclusive purpose.
For his part, Washington believed it was “substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.” He warned that the United States’ future would depend on the strength of its institutions, yes, but also on the moral formation of its people and leaders. …
History teaches the same lesson again and again. Nations decay from within when fidelity to power, factionalism, and expediency subvert loyalty to transcendent truth.
Revisiting Washington’s farewell through the lens of Moses’ final words offers a sober reminder that no political structure alone, however virtuous, can preserve a nation. Preservation, from Christianity’s perspective, starts not with vague moral instruction but with a reminder of the transcendent truth we find in the gospel. Instead of giving reductionistic diagnoses and unnuanced ideological prescriptions, the gospel reminds us our problem is sin and our Savior is Christ alone. Without this reminder, we see politics as salvific, we understand opponents as enemies, and despotism ultimately subverts liberty.
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