Elazar, Daniel J. Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel: Biblical Foundations and Jewish Expressions Vol 1. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick. 1998

In Daniel Elazar’s Covenant & Polity in Biblical Israel the concept of the covenant is applied to the foundations and origin of political systems modeled in different social structures throughout history. Elazar gains his understanding of covenant from Scripture and applies it to various types of understanding ranging from marriage covenants, social contracts, political origins, and cultural values & ethics.

Elazar links various forms of limited government to origination in the idea of covenant. He argues that the task of politics is not simply to organize societies that operate with certain degrees of civility and refinement. Instead, politics seeks to create culture that is compatible with human nature. In fact, he goes further to articulate the claim that politics and political life is not concerned only with the negative value of simply allowing human nature to exist, but to create conditions for it to actually flourish. I.E. for humanity and human nature to lead the best possible life. He derives this point from Aristotle who says, ‘people form political associations not only to maintain life but to achieve the good life.’ Many authors have picked up on this theme, especially Daniel Kemmis in his book the Good City and the Good Life, which analyzes politics role in creating and refining the human habitat which in turn shapes the ability of human nature to achieve a good life.

What Elazar does not describe is what this ‘good life’ consists of, which is crucial to understanding the proper ordering of covenant politics. He does introduce the two faces of politics, what he calls ‘justice and power’. Power is concerned with who gets what, when and how, an idea based off of Harold Lasswell. Justice is concerned with who should get what, when and how…and why. All people must determine to some basic degree what to do with the resources that can be culturally mined. Dividing this “capital” out and apportioning it in some way, regardless of its material or value (land, natural resources, authority, etc.) is what power is centrally concerned with. It is the “means by which people organize themselves and shape their environment to live.

A proper understanding of politics will be able to reconcile and synthesize these two values, which are difficult to get to coexist structurally together. Politics cannot be detached from the form and reality of the brokenness of human relationships. But it can also not be detached from justice, morality, and ethics. This is the point where the covenant aspect of politics informs and shapes our understanding. Covenant framework allows justice and power to be linked morally and operationally. This means that the two become pursuant of the other. Justice seeks power, and power seeks justice.