Also see Blog 146. דמים Revisited. And you can search for “superlatives” and “high hand” in LogAndSpeck.
⦁ Deuteronomy 32:27-28
27 Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, “Our hand (is) high;
And it is not the LORD who has done all this.“‘
28 “For they (are) a nation void of counsel,
Nor (is there any) understanding in them.
h3027. יָד yâḏ h7311. רוּם rûm
⦁ Numbers 20:11-12
11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” (the stiff price of arrogance!)
⦁ 1 Kings 11:26-27
26 Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. 27 And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father.
I am currently reading an excellent book that I recommend. As with any book, neither you nor I will agree with everything that is stated, but this book by Lukianoff and Haidt, called The Coddling of the American Mind is very powerful in many areas. I want to focus on an area that they discuss that appears to be very much in accordance with Scripture and with things I have shared in numerous entries on the website. The topic they denote as “Identity Politics.” There is a section in Chapter 3: The Untruth of Us Versus Them: Life is a Battle Between Good People and Bad People, the section being called, Two Kinds of Identity Politics. I will take a few excerpts from that section and use for the discussion:.
“Politics is all about groups forming coalitions to achieve their goals.” p.59
From p.60 of the printed book:
One kind of identity politics they call “common-humanity identity politics.” They give Dr. Martin Luther King’s approach as the epitome of this type of identity politics, and at its basis the statement from the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.”
Perhaps we never really completely followed that statement? Here is a quotation from an artificial intelligence overview (Google): “Manifest Destiny was a 19th-century American belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand across North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to spread democracy and capitalism. Coined in 1845, this ideology justified westward expansion, the Mexican-American War, and the forced displacement of Native Americans.” (Now perhaps we are seeing the price there is to pay.)
They also quote Pauli Murray, “ I intend to destroy segregation by positive and embracing methods… When my brothers try to draw a circle to exclude me, I shall draw a larger circle to include them. Where they speak out for the privileges of a puny group, I shall shout for the rights of all mankind.”
However, I refer you to the Scriptural idea above, that perhaps “shouting” is not really God’s direction. King probably strikes the note more accurately. When we turn to shouting, it looks a lot more like the other type of identity politics that the book discusses.
They give the other type of Identity Politics as “Common Enemy Identity Politics.”
They speak earlier in the chapter about groups and tribes. And from page 63:“Identifying a common enemy is an effective way to enlarge and motivate your tribe.”
This type of Identity Politics all comes back to “Us vs. Them,” or at its core, arrogance, hubris, “My way or the highway.” Oh, it always seems to come back to:Judging Others
⦁ Matthew 7:1-5
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
“In my judgment, My way is better…” Get other people to join “My way.” Soon we become a “tribe” with a high hand and with shouting. “Common Enemy Identity Politics.” Do we live out what we say, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” ??? Are others entitled to believe differently from how I believe? Do I have to fight against them? Is this not exactly what Yeshua/Jesus is talking about when he says,
⦁ Matthew 5:44-45
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
And, in case you thought this was only a principle in the Greek Scriptures, remember that Yeshua/Jesus “repackaged” ideas that were already existing in the Hebrew Scriptures –
⦁ Leviticus 19:15
15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
⦁ Exodus 23:1-9
1 “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. 2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. 3 You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. 5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.
6 “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. 7 Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.
9 “Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
⦁ Job 31:28-30
28 This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment,
For I would have denied God who is above.
29 If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,
Or lifted myself up when evil found him
30 (Indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By asking for a curse on his soul);
⦁ Proverbs 24:17
17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
⦁ Proverbs 25:21
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
- And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink – this is a “slow movement toward increasing/reducing power,” גחל from the אכל group. It makes them “consider” (v.22).
Remember his statement about new wine / old wineskins… Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37 (always with context).
⦁ Micah 6:8
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
⦁ Deuteronomy 10:12
12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
⦁ Leviticus 19:18
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
⦁ Matthew 5:44-45
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The “race” that we run is not against “our enemy,” but a race of faith:
⦁ 2 Timothy 4:7
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
- The battle is within each of us as individuals.
“Common Humanity Identity Politics.”
Keep telling yourself two things when you see yourself falling into the old patterns/wineskins:
❶ “I am better than this.”
❷ Philippians 4:13 ESV
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” From MLK sermon “The Most Durable Power,” 1956.
Where are we, America?
Blessings, PG
Ⓒ Copyright Philip E. Gates; LogAndSpeck.com, February 2026. Please cite if you use this material.