The destruction of a Nation is easy

Excellent. Thank you for sharing it. Along those lines, this morning I came across this excerpt about civil war erupting among the Israelites from an essay on the Book of Judges by D. A. Carson in his 1998 book, For the Love of God:

“That is the sort of thing that happens when the rule of law dissolves, when people start acting out of tribal loyalty and not principle, when vengeance overtakes justice, when superstitious vendettas displace courts, when brothers no long share a common heritage of worship and values, when government is by fear and not by the consent of the governed. There is no logical stopping place. It can start a regional conflict, it can ignite a Bosnia, it can start a world war. It is the stuff of dictators and war lords, the lubricant of gangs and violence.

“The sad reality is that every culture is capable of this. The ancient Israelites sink into this quagmire not because they are worse than all others, but because they are typical of all others. A society that no longer hangs together, whether on the ground of religion, shared worldview, or at least agreed and respected procedurals, is heading for violence and anarchy, which sooner or later, becomes the best possible breeding ground for the ordered response of tyrants – power authorized by sword and gun.”