"...the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will, and sets over it the lowliest of men."

Charles Finney makes the astute observation that the existence of government is made necessary by ignorance, arising from the fact that for any society to agree on communal issues requires a common degree of knowledge.

“Human beings will not agree in opinion on any subject without similar degrees of knowledge.
No human community exists, or ever will exist, the members of which will agree in opinion on all subjects.
This creates a necessity for human legislation and adjudication, to apply the great principles of moral law to all human affairs.”

this need does not necessarily imply a central national government!

In an ideal society the existence of a central national management structure of government is not essential, as was demonstrated in God's ordering of Israel's national life at Sinai where they received the law from Him for their life in Canaan after their covenant submission to Him as their sovereign.

in the years following the death of Joshua (who had led them into Canaan/Palestine) God gave them a king (Saul), not simply because the people wanted to be like other nations and have their own king, but because of the deterioration in that nation's covenanted faith relationship to Him. From God's perspective therefore a central control only became necessary for their national benefit at that time because of the deteriorated state of their society –

"When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, "Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain My people."

Further, the valid existence of a government does not lie in its particular political form such as democracy, as is often implied today. The valid existence of a government, its essential purpose, is the welfare of its people, and in particular their protection. Every other issue is secondary to this. Our world gives adequate examples of invalid government; and weak government is as invalid as corrupt government in this regard.

– one of the world's richest continents, has suffered more than others – sufferings for which foreign aid is no solution though it may wonderfully help a village, a family. Africa's primary problem is not its climate or its history. Africa's primary problem is government: lack of competent human government in many regions.

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Beginning from the model of a family under the leadership and protection of a father, human government became the natural community extension in which the acknowledged leader was regarded as the father of his people. In its earliest form therefore, what we know as the legislative, executive and judicial aspects of government were all combined in the leader, chief, or king of the people, whatever term was used to describe that office.

Government is an issue of management accountability concerning the welfare of its people. Therefore the Bible has a lot to say to us on this issue.

The biblical history of human government begins after the Flood of Noah. In contrast to the pre-Flood situation, in which administration of justice lay only with God (such as with the murder of Abel son of Adam), God now says –

"And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man.
From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in His own image."

From now on, humanity is responsible for the administration of justice (expressed representatively in its most serious form as capital punishment for a capital crime), and accountable to God for this delegated duty.

Human responsibility for justice and thereby human government of society is thus established. Accordingly, law and order, and the protection of life and property, are therefore the first duty of any human government.

This delegated human authority to govern this world is not abdication of God's rule. The words of Genesis 9 that God 'will require' remain true.

Administration of justice is a primary human responsibility – owed ultimately toward God.

By implication therefore, a government's failure to administer justice to the victims of injustice is its first step toward the invalidation of that government.

Government exists firstly to protect its people, individually, from everything that threatens the welfare of its people, without intruding into the personal lives and individual preferences of its people even if they are morally wrong. This balance between respect for personal choice and effective protection of the individual welfare is the central ethic of valid government before God.

Babylon's great dictator, Nebuchadnezzar, needed to learn this accountability to God, as he would do after seven years of appointed mental breakdown –

What is the 'right' form of human government? That which is best suited to the needs of the people, is the short answer, but this creates questions.

Ideally the three principal departments of a government are to be kept distinct and free from interference from each other to restrain their abuse, namely –

the Executive;   the Legislature; and,   the Judiciary;

so as to help prevent the abuse of power by the state.

However, this does not mean that democracy as we know it is therefore the 'right' form of government and all dictatorships are evil.

In 1846, American evanglist-theologian Charles Finney wrote significantly that no form of civil government is universally obligatory, and "that form of government is obligatory that is best suited to meet the necessities of the people." In other words, it is "ridiculous" (as Finney puts it) to set up any form of government as having a claim to divine right. That form of government which is best suited to the moral state of a given society is the best form of government for that society, no matter whether that be a dictatorship, a democracy, or anything in between.

When Abraham settled among the Philistines his observation on their society was "There is no fear of God at all in this place", and he therefore cautiously presents his wife (his half-sister through a different mother) as his sister because of her beauty and the consequent danger that he may be killed in order to take her. (Gen.20:10). Abraham's statment is not a religious observation. It is a moral evaluation!

When a society fails in general to respect persons simply because they are human beings, then in that society the maintenance of stability inevitably requires coercive imposition of respect for social norms by authorities upon those who do not conform. This leads increasingly toward centralisation of control, until a society is eventually ruled by a military dictatorship.

"When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth."

"The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God."

"Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor."

God shows Daniel three different forms of human government, in the successive empires which ruled over Israel from its Exile until the first coming of the Christ, including the hybrid governmental form of ancient Rome, symbolically represented (in contrast to the human form representing God's kingdom) as:

these four being in radical contrast to the character-based Divine form – as 'Human', which is still to come in the completion of God's purpose in His people at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The period/split between the first and second coming of the Christ is completely hidden from Old Covenant prophets, including the greatest of them, John the Baptist, who therefore could not understand why Jesus did not take the government into His hands at that time (see: Mystery of the Kingdom).

This is what you shall say to your masters:
'It is I who by My great power and My outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth,
and I give it to whomever it seems right to Me."

"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.
To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for You have given me wisdom and might,
and have now made known to me what we asked of You,
for You have made known to us the king's matter."

"You must not blaspheme God nor curse the ruler of your people."

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced,
the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled
and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest we become bankrupt.
People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."

"Laws are like spider's webs: if some poor weak creature comes up against them, it is caught;
but a bigger one can break through and get away."

"A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.
An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he carries his banner openly.
But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims,
he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.
He rots the soul of a nation, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist.
A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is a plague."