On February 9, the Sakharov Center hosted the third lecture by biblical scholar Andrey Desnitsky. The series it belongs to is devoted to the biblical origins of the modern concept of human rights. The lecture was titled “Man and Power in the Bible.”
In the announcement of the event, it was noted that the relationship between the individual and power—the king, the state, the traditional community—has been discussed ever since the very concept of power arose. The Bible is no exception here. According to the organizers, representatives of power have always loved to quote biblical passages demanding complete submission from man, but the Bible cannot be reduced to quotations.
Questions about the nature and limits of power, about the balance of personal freedom and state coercion, about the combination of rights and responsibilities, as the announcement pointed out, are discussed in the Old Testament constantly and through numerous examples. Many of them have entered the “golden fund” of Christian culture, such as the story of King David and Bathsheba or of Daniel at the Babylonian court.
The very idea of monarchy in the Bible proves controversial: God yields to the Israelites in their desire to have a king, like other nations, but does not approve of it. New Testament texts also say a great deal about man’s relationship to power, and the principle of loyalty is combined in them with others, less obvious and less convenient for rulers.
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