The Majority Isn’t Always Right!

Though I am going to make a political point to introduce this post, please don’t assume this missive is political.  But to learn the lessons we should, I want to take you back to High School Civics class.  The United States of America IS NOT governed as a pure democracy.  Before you criticize me as a traitor, I hope you remember that the USA is instead a constitutional republic.  In a democracy, the majority rules, no matter what.  Yet in the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, they protected the rights of the minority by NOT establishing a pure democracy.  Instead, those who are chosen to represent us – a republic is a “representative democracy” – vote to protect the interests of ALL of us.  But even then, those chosen representatives aren’t always right.  Take a look:

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”  ³ So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.  Numbers 13:1-3

The setting?  The Israelites have just fled from bondage in Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and are now moving across the Sinai Peninsula on their way to the land promised to them – modern day Israel.  They needed to take the land, so Moses sent a reconnaissance team made up of the best guys Israel had to offer.  Before you suggest that maybe Moses should have sent women, I’d offer that perhaps he didn’t have any he could afford to lose!  This was enemy territory, after all.  Well, these brave fellas came back with this report:

Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel…Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large…³⁰ Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”  ³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”  Numbers 13:26-31

“Mr. Moses, the majority of the committee (the vote was 10-2) finds our venture into the Promised Land to be more than we choose to risk at this time.  We would prefer not to take the land promised by God, even though He swore to be with us.  Thank you.”  The majority had spoken.  And they were dead wrong.  Literally.

You see, only the two men who voted to follow God’s lead into the “land flowing with milk and honey” actually got to go back.  Because the rest of the “leaders” died in the wilderness of Sinai.  It only took Moses a couple weeks to move the millions in his flock to the edge of the promise of God.  But instead, they were forced to wander around Sinai for 40 years – until everyone who failed to follow God’s lead had died.  Even Moses perished in the desert. 

So the next time someone wants to influence your direction by telling you that the majority “thinks this or that”, remind them that the majority isn’t always right.  It’s always better to vote with God, even if you’re the only one. 

Jacob