Senator Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts had the auspicious dishonor of being the first Senator in United States history to experience censuring. It all happened on yesterday’s date, January 2nd, 1811. Pickering had violated the law by publicly revealing secret documents presented by President James Madison. “In an effort to prove President James Madison had acted unconstitutionally in seizing part of West Florida from Spain, Pickering overlooked a rule that protected a document from being publicly shared.”1
Pickering joins an ignominious group of politicians who have experienced censuring. As of the day this devotional was written, nine senators and 28 congressmen have experienced censure. The last senator to experience this was David Durenberger (R-Minn) in 1990. The last censured congressmen were Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich), censured this year over her anti-Israeli comments concerning the war between Israel and Hamas, and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), censured for pulling a fire alarm.
What exactly happens at a censure? After a vote in favor of censuring has been cast, the censured individual stands before their colleagues while a resolution is read into the public record. The Speaker of the House or Senate Majority Leader will often scold the individual after the resolution has been read. Quite often, they are also stripped of committee assignments. The idea is to humiliate and shame the politician for their ethics violation. In the past, some have been apologetic before their colleagues and constituents. Others have doubled down, defending themselves without any show of remorse.
If the offense was especially grievous, the proceedings could be elevated to possible expulsion. To this date, 18 senators have gone through expulsion proceedings without any results while 15 have been expelled. In the House, 12 have experienced a reprimand (a step below censuring), and 12 have been expelled, the most recent being George Santos (R-NY) for fraud and misuse of campaign funds.
Modern-day politicians aren’t the only ones to be censured and expelled. The same thing happened to Israel’s first king. 1 Samuel 15:2-3 starts the story. “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. (3) Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
Saul’s orders seem clear. Go. Fight. Destroy all. Simple enough, right? “But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.” (1 Samuel 15:9)
The king could not carry out the simplest orders of the Lord. Instead, he evidently thought that he had a better plan than God. Does God look at this and say, “You know what? That was a better plan. You did a good job, Saul. I knew you were the right man for the job!” Is that what God said? Not hardly!
1 Samuel 15:10, 13-15, 19, 22-23, 28 says, “Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, (11) It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments… (13) And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. (14) And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? (15) And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed… (19) Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? … (22) And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. (23) For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king… (28) And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.”
Reprimanded. Censured. Expelled. Saul, you knew what you were supposed to do and yet you did what you thought was best. He spiritualized his disobedience. Sounds like the response of many professing Christians today.
To obey IS better than sacrifice. To disobey is to invite God’s censure and possible expulsion from his service.
1https://www.senate.gov/senators/FeaturedBios/Featured_Bio_Pickering.htm
