Servant Leadership
The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. -Luke 22:25-26
Well over 1,000 years before the Magna Carta was issued, Jesus Christ was teaching His disciples about a very similar principle: the principle of servant leadership.
That is, leaders ought not to take advantage of their power, and use it in a self-promoting way. They ought instead to consider it a privilege to lead, and to lead by example, and through servitude.
A long history of servant leadership
But even Jesus’ words, which were nearly 1,200 years before the Magna Carta, there were the commands and laws that Moses issued on leadership: some 2,500 years before the Magna Carta was issued, advising a limitation on the king’s powers.
Moses begins:
When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. -Deuteronomy 17:14-15
And after this introduction, a list of limitations and recommendations are given for the king:
Military power:
The king was not to build up an excessive amount of horses. By this, I interpret this to mean military power and might, as the horse-drawn chariot was one of the top weapons of war at the time. “But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way” (Deuteronomy 17:16).
Women:
The king was not to have an excessive number of wives. Since he could virtually have any woman that he pleased, his office could easily be abused. “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away…” (Deuteronomy 17:17a).
Money:
The king was not to use his office for increasing personal wealth. “…[N]either shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:17b).
Study and learn of God’s laws:
The king was required to hand-copy a duplicate of the book of God’s laws, and read and learn of them so that he would be an informed and wise leader. “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them” (Deuteronomy 17:18-19).
A pattern for humility
At the end of this passage in Deuteronomy chapter 17, we see the ultimate motivation for these commands. In essence, it is humility, and servant leadership at its best:
That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. -Deuteronomy 17:20
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