Today's newspapers are full of the Democrats' triumphant takeover of the House and Senate. Will things be any different than they've been under the Republicans? We'll see, over the course of the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, I've been using the Daily Lectionary in the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship Book. It's set up in an interesting way. The daily readings are keyed to the readings for each Sunday or Holy Day. So I've been reading the passages leading up to the Epiphany, which is tomorrow. One reading for the past three days has been Psalm 72, and that Psalm gives Biblical commentary on what God expects of politicians. Listen to selected verses:

Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to a king's son.

May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice....

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor....

Of course, there are verses like this one:

May his foes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.

But why would God allow the king to be so successful in geopolitics? According to the Psalm, it is because the king takes care of the poor!

For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.

He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.

From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight....

I wonder sometimes about the Christian "religious right" and those politicians who are beholden to them, who are so outspoken about their religious motivations. I wonder why the issues they push do not come out of the Bible? The Bible says nothing about abortion, for instance, or same sex marriage, or stem cell research. Whenever the prophets or Psalm writers or, for that matter, Jesus, condemn or praise political leaders, the sole criterion is how those leaders care for the poor, the weak, the helpless in society.

I would suggest, as Biblical Christians, that we judge the righteousness of our leaders by the same criterion.