End Time-The Solutions: Rulers

Definition

From Webster's Dictionary:

1. One that governs, whether emperor, king, pope or governor; any one that exercises supreme power over others.

2. One that makes or executes laws in a limited or free government. Thus legislators and magistrates are called rulers.

3. A rule; an instrument of wood or metal with straight edges or sides, by which lines are drawn on paper, parchment or other substance. When a ruler has the lines of chords, tangents, sines, &c. it is called a plane scale.

Definition of "Governor" from Easton's Dictionary:

Governor
(1.) Heb. nagid, a prominent, conspicuous person, whatever his capacity: as, chief of the royal palace (2Ch_28:7; compare 1 Ki_4:6), chief of the temple (1 Ch_9:11; Jer_20:1), the leader of the Aaronites (1 Ch_12:27), keeper of the sacred treasury (1Ch_26:24), captain of the army (1Ch_13:1), the king (1Sa_9:16), the Messiah (Dan_9:25).

(2.) Heb. nasi, raised; exalted. Used to denote the chiefs of families (Num_3:24, Num_3:30, Num_3:32, Num_3:35); also of tribes (Num_2:3; Num_7:2; Num_3:32). These dignities appear to have been elective, not hereditary.

(3.) Heb. pakid, an officer or magistrate. It is used of the delegate of the high priest (2 Ch_24:11), the Levites (Neh_11:22), a military commander (2 Ki_25:19), Joseph's officers in Egypt (Gen_41:34).

(4.) Heb. shallit, one who has power, who rules (Gen_42:6; Ezr_4:20; Ecc_8:8; Dan_2:15; Dan_5:29).

(5.) Heb. aluph, literally one put over a thousand, i.e., a clan or a subdivision of a tribe. Used of the “dukes” of Edom (Gen. 36), and of the Jewish chiefs (Zec_9:7).

(6.) Heb. moshel, one who rules, holds dominion. Used of many classes of rulers (Gen_3:16; Gen_24:2; Gen_45:8; Psa_105:20); of the Messiah (Mic_5:2); of God (1 Ch_29:12; Psa_103:19).

(7.) Heb. sar, a ruler or chief; a word of very general use. It is used of the chief baker of Pharaoh (Gen_40:16); of the chief butler (Gen_40:2, etc. See also Gen_47:6; Exo_1:11; Dan_1:7; Jdg_10:18; 1Ki_22:26; 1Ki_20:15; 2Ki_1:9; 2Sa_24:2). It is used also of angels, guardian angels (Dan_10:13, Dan_10:20, Dan_10:21; Dan_12:1; Dan_10:13; Dan_8:25).

(8.) Pehah, whence pasha, i.e., friend of the king; adjutant; governor of a province (2 Ki_18:24; Isa_36:9; Jer_51:57; Eze_23:6, Eze_23:23; Dan_3:2; Est_3:12), or a perfect (Neh_3:7; Neh_5:14; Ezr_5:3; Hag_1:1). This is a foreign word, Assyrian, which was early adopted into the Hebrew idiom (1Ki_10:15).

(9.) The Chaldean word segan is applied to the governors of the Babylonian satrapies (Dan_3:2, Dan_3:27; Dan_6:7); the prefects over the Magi (Dan_2:48). The corresponding Hebrew word segan is used of provincial rulers (Jer_51:23, Jer_51:28, Jer_51:57); also of chiefs and rulers of the people of Jerusalem (Ezr_9:2; Neh_2:16; Neh_4:14, Neh_4:19; Neh_5:7, Neh_5:17; Neh_7:5; Neh_12:40).

In the New Testament there are also different Greek words rendered thus.
(1.) Meaning an ethnarch (2 Co_11:32), which was an office distinct from military command, with considerable latitude of application.
(2.) The Procurator of Judea under the Romans (Mat_27:2). (Compare Luk_2:2, where the verb from which the Greek word so rendered is derived is used.)
(3.) Steward (Gal_4:2).
(4.) Governor of the feast (Joh_2:9), who appears here to have been merely an intimate friend of the bridegroom, and to have presided at the marriage banquet in his stead.
(5.) A director, i.e., helmsman; Lat. gubernator, (Jam_3:4).

Quotes

"Nothing sooner overthrows a weak head than opinion of authority; like too strong liquor or a frail glass."

"Five things are requisite to a good ruler--ability, clean hands, dispatch, patience and impartiality."

"Wicked men obey out of fear; good men, out of love."

“The man who commands efficiently must have obeyed others in the past, and the man who obeys dutifully is worthy of being some day a commander”

"The man of upright life is obeyed before he speaks"

"Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed"

“The child that never learns to obey his parents in the home will not obey God or man out of the home”

“You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him”

“Where desire doth bear the sway - the heart must rule, the head obey”

“If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully.”

General Scriptures:

Romans 13:1-3 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.

Notice the commentary...

Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers--- The apostle having finished his exhortations to this church, in relation to the several duties incumbent upon both officers and private Christians, as members of a church, and with reference to each other, and their moral conduct in the world; proceeds to advise, direct, and exhort them to such duties as were relative to them as members of a civil society; the former chapter contains his Christian Ethics, and this his Christian Politics.

There was the greater reason to insist upon the latter, as well as on the former, since the primitive saints greatly lay under the imputation of being seditious persons and enemies to the commonwealth; which might arise from a very great number of them being Jews, who scrupled subjection to the Heathen magistrates, because they were the seed of Abraham, and by a law were not to set one as king over them, that was a stranger, and not their own brother, and very nwillingly bore the Roman yoke, and paid tribute to Caesar: hence the Christians in common were suspected to be of the same principles; and of all the Jews none were more averse to the payment of taxes to the Roman magistrates than the Galilaeans; see Acts 5:37. And this being the name by which Christ and his followers were commonly called, might serve to strengthen the above suspicion of them, and charge against them.

Moreover, some Christians might be tempted to think that they should not be subject to Heathen magistrates; since they were generally wicked men, and violent persecutors of them; and that it was one branch of their Christian liberty to be freed from subjection to them: and certain it is, that there were a set of loose and licentious persons, who bore the name of Christians, that despised dominion, and spoke evil of dignities; wherefore the apostle judged it advisable especially to exhort the church of Rome, and the members who dwelt there, where was the seat of power and civil government, so to behave towards their superiors, that they might set a good example to the Christians in the several parts of the empire, and wipe off the aspersion that was cast upon them, as if they were enemies to magistracy and civil power. By "the higher powers", he means not angels, sometimes called principalities and powers; for unto these God hath not put in subjection his people under the Gospel dispensation; nor ecclesiastical officers, or those who are in church power and authority; for they do not bear the temporal sword, nor have any power to inflict corporeal punishment: but civil magistrates are intended, see Titus 3:1; and these not only supreme magistrates, as emperors and kings, but all inferior and subordinate ones, acting in commission under them, as appears from 1 Peter 2:13, which are called "powers", because they are invested with power and authority over others, and have a right to exercise it in a proper way, and in proper cases; and the "higher" or super eminent ones, because they are set in high places, and have superior dignity and authority to others.

The persons that are to be subject to them are "every soul"; not that the souls of men, distinct from their bodies, are under subjection to civil magistrates; for of all things they have the least to do with them, their power and jurisdiction not reaching to the souls, the hearts, and consciences of men, especially in matters of religion, but chiefly to their bodies, and outward civil concerns of life: but the meaning is, that every man that has a soul, every rational creature, ought to be subject to civil government. This is but his reasonable service, and which he should from his heart, and with all his soul, cheerfully perform.

In short, the sense is, that every man should be subject: this is an Hebraism, a common way of speaking among the Jews, who sometimes denominate men from one part, and sometimes from another; sometimes from the body or flesh, thus "all flesh is grass", Isaiah 40:6, that is, all men are frail; and sometimes front the soul, "all souls are mine", Ezekiel 18:4, all belong to me; as here, "every soul", that is, every man, all the individuals of mankind, of whatsoever sex, age, state, or condition, ecclesiastics not excepted: from civil jurisdiction; nor any of the true ministers of the Gospel; the priests under the law were under the civil government; and so was Christ himself, and his apostles, who paid tribute to Caesar; yea, even Peter particularly, "Subjection" to the civil magistrates designs and includes all duties relative to them; such as showing them respect, honour, and reverence suitable to their stations; speaking well of them, and their administration; using them with candor, not bearing hard upon them for little matters, and allowing for ignorance of the secret springs of many of their actions and conduct, which if known might greatly justify them; wishing well to them,
and praying constantly, earnestly, and heartily for them; observing their laws and injunctions; obeying their lawful commands, which do not contradict the laws of God, nature, and right reason; and paying them their just dues and lawful tribute, to support them in their office and dignity:

for there is no power but of God--- God is the fountain of all power and authority; the streams of power among creatures flow from him; the power that man has over all the creatures, the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fishes of the sea, is originally of God, and by a grant from him; the lesser powers, and the exercises of them, in the various relations men stand in to one another, are of God, as the power the husband has over the wife, parents over their children, and masters over their servants; and so the higher power that princes have over their subjects: for it is the God of heaven that sets up kings, as well as pulls them down; he is the King of kings, from whom they derive their power and authority, from whom they have the right of government, and all the qualifications for it; it is by him that kings reign, and princes decree justice.

The powers that be are ordained of God.---The order of magistracy is of God; it is of his ordination and appointment, and of his ordering, disposing, and fixing in its proper bounds and limits. The several forms of government are of human will and pleasure; but government itself is an order of God. There may be men in power who assume it of themselves, and are of themselves, and not of God; and others that abuse the power that is lodged in them; who, though they are by divine permission, yet not of God's approbation and good will. And it is observable, that the apostle speaks of powers, and not persons, at least, not of persons, but under the name of powers, to show that he means not this, or the other particular prince or magistrate, but the thing itself, the office and dignity of magistracy itself; for there may be some persons, who may of themselves usurp this office, or exercise it in a very illegal way, who are not of God, nor to be subject to by men. The apostle here both uses the language, and speaks the sentiments of his countrymen the Jews, who are wont to call magistrates, "powers"; hence those sayings were used among them; says Shemaiah (t),

1 Timothy 2:1-2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty.

Deuteronomy 25:1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

Deuteronomy 1:3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them.