In the biblical narrative, the concept of wicked rulers is a recurring theme that highlights the consequences of leadership that strays from God's commandments and principles. The Bible provides numerous examples of rulers whose actions and policies were deemed wicked in the sight of the Lord, often leading to the suffering of their people and divine judgment.

Old Testament Examples

1. Pharaoh of Egypt: The Pharaoh during the time of Moses is a quintessential example of a wicked ruler. His refusal to release the Israelites from bondage, despite witnessing the plagues sent by God, exemplifies a hardened heart and defiance against divine authority. Exodus 7:13 states, "Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said."

2. King Ahab of Israel: Ahab, along with his wife Jezebel, is often cited as one of the most wicked rulers of Israel. His reign was marked by idolatry, the promotion of Baal worship, and the persecution of God's prophets. 1 Kings 16:30-33 describes Ahab's actions: "Ahab son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him."

3. Manasseh of Judah: King Manasseh's reign is noted for its extreme idolatry and bloodshed. He rebuilt high places, erected altars for Baal, and even sacrificed his own son. 2 Kings 21:9 records, "But the people did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites."

New Testament Insights

The New Testament also addresses the theme of wicked rulers, often in the context of the Roman Empire and its leaders.

1. Herod the Great: Known for his tyrannical rule and the massacre of the innocents in Bethlehem, Herod's actions were driven by paranoia and a desire to maintain power. Matthew 2:16 recounts, "When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he sent orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under."

2. Pontius Pilate: As the Roman governor who presided over the trial of Jesus, Pilate is often criticized for his role in the crucifixion. Despite recognizing Jesus' innocence, he succumbed to political pressure. John 19:12 notes, "From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, 'If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.'"

Biblical Principles and Warnings

The Bible consistently warns against the dangers of wicked leadership. Proverbs 29:2 states, "When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan." This highlights the impact of leadership on the well-being of a nation.

Furthermore, Scripture emphasizes that God holds rulers accountable for their actions. Daniel 2:21 declares, "He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them." This underscores the belief that God is sovereign over all earthly authorities and will ultimately judge them according to His righteousness.

Conclusion

The biblical portrayal of wicked rulers serves as a cautionary tale about the perils of deviating from God's ways. Through these narratives, the Bible underscores the importance of righteous leadership and the divine accountability that all rulers face.Genesis 15:13,14
And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
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Exodus 3:9
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come to me: and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
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Deuteronomy 27:19
Cursed be he that perverts the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
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1 Samuel 8:10-18
And Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people that asked of him a king.
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2 Chronicles 28:19
For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD.
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Nehemiah 5:7-9
Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said to them, You exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.
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Nehemiah 9:34-37
Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept your law, nor listened to your commandments and your testimonies, with which you did testify against them.
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Job 24:22,24
He draws also the mighty with his power: he rises up, and no man is sure of life.
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Job 35:9
By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
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Psalm 10:17,18
LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear:
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Psalm 12:5,8
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, said the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffs at him.
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Psalm 49:20
Man that is in honor, and understands not, is like the beasts that perish.
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Psalm 58:1,2
Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men?
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Psalm 82:2
How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
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Psalm 94:20,21
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with you, which frames mischief by a law?
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Psalm 110:5
The Lord at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
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Proverbs 17:15,26
He that justifies the wicked, and he that comdemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
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Proverbs 28:15,16,28
As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
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Proverbs 29:2,4,12
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bears rule, the people mourn.
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Proverbs 30:21,22
For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:
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Ecclesiastes 3:16,17
And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
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Ecclesiastes 4:1,13,14
So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
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Ecclesiastes 5:8
If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regards; and there be higher than they.
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Ecclesiastes 8:9
All this have I seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man rules over another to his own hurt.
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Ecclesiastes 10:5-7,16,17
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceeds from the ruler:
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Isaiah 1:23
Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
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Isaiah 3:12,14,15
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
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Isaiah 5:7
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
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Isaiah 10:1-3
Woe to them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
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Isaiah 14:4-20
That you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
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Isaiah 28:14,15
Why hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
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Isaiah 29:20,21
For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
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Isaiah 30:33
For Tophet is ordained of old; yes, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.
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Isaiah 33:1
Woe to you that spoil, and you were not spoiled; and deal treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with you! when you shall cease to spoil, you shall be spoiled; and when you shall make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.
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Isaiah 40:23
That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity.
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Isaiah 52:5
Now therefore, what have I here, said the LORD, that my people is taken away for nothing? they that rule over them make them to howl, said the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
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Isaiah 59:14,15
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
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Jeremiah 5:28,29
They are waxen fat, they shine: yes, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
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Ezekiel 21:25,26
And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
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Ezekiel 22:6,27
Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in you to their power to shed blood.
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Ezekiel 28:2
Son of man, say to the prince of Tyrus, Thus said the Lord GOD; Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas; yet you are a man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God:
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Ezekiel 34:2-4,7-10
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to them, Thus said the Lord GOD to the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
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Ezekiel 45:9
Thus said the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, said the Lord GOD.
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Hosea 5:10
The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath on them like water.
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Hosea 7:3
They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
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Hosea 10:7
As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam on the water.
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Amos 3:10,11
For they know not to do right, said the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
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Amos 4:1,2
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
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Amos 5:11,12
For as much therefore as your treading is on the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them.
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Amos 6:12,13
Shall horses run on the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:
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Micah 3:1-3,9-11
And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and you princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
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Micah 7:3,4
That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asks, and the judge asks for a reward; and the great man, he utters his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
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Habakkuk 1:4
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment does never go forth: for the wicked does compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceeds.
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Habakkuk 2:5-13
Yes also, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man, neither keeps at home, who enlarges his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathers to him all nations, and heaps to him all people:
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Zephaniah 1:8
And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
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Zephaniah 3:3
Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
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Acts 23:3
Then said Paul to him, God shall smite you, you white washed wall: for sit you to judge me after the law, and command me to be smitten contrary to the law?
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James 2:6,9
But you have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
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The Wicked Husbandmen.
... he will destroy those wicked men, and will let out the vineyard unto others. The
interpretation of this turning-point is given to the Jewish rulers in full ...
/.../arnot/the parables of our lord/xi the wicked husbandmen.htm

How Jehu was Anointed King, and Slew Both Joram and Ahaziah; as ...
... and buried there, after he had reigned one year, and had proved a wicked man, and ...
one to them that brought up the children, the other to the rulers of Samaria ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 6 how jehu was.htm

Moreover, --To Touch Briefly Some of the More Recondite Topics ...
... Under that bond then every man was held by those most wicked rulers, which same
bond Christ, when He came, tore down and stripped them of this their power. ...
/.../15 moreoverto touch briefly some.htm

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and ...
... is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead." And verses 10,
11, show the different condition of people under wicked rulers and godly. ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/section v scriptures showing the.htm

That the King of Babylon Repented of Making Jehoiachin King, and ...
... that he must leave off his impieties and transgressions, and take care of what was
right, and neither give ear to the rulers, [among whom were wicked men,] nor ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 7 that the king.htm

On Daniel. vi. On Susannah.
... 20. "Behold, the garden doors are shut." O wicked rulers, and filled with the
workings of the devil, did Moses deliver these things to you? ...
/.../the extant works and fragments of hippolytus/on daniel vi on susannah.htm

But the Angels, who are the True Rulers and Generals and Ministers ...
... But the angels, who are the true rulers and generals and ministers of God, do not ...
Celsus had in mind, do inflict evils, they show that they are wicked, and that ...
/.../origen/origen against celsus/chapter xxxvi but the angels.htm

The Wicked Servant
... My friends, the Jewish rulers of old said so, and cried, 'We have no king but ... he
is in it; and that in a very terrible way:- 'Thou wicked servant, unworthy of ...
/.../the water of life and other sermons/sermon xviii the wicked servant.htm

John Chapter xiv. 29-31.
... darkness; but now are ye light in the Lord." [1375] For all have been under the
rulers of this darkness, that is, [under the rulers] of wicked men, or darkness ...
/.../augustine/homilies on the gospel of john/tractate lxxix john chapter xiv.htm

How Ahab when He had Taken Jezebel to Wife Became More Wicked than ...
... to have Naboth punished; and she immediately sent letters to the rulers of the ... all
his family should perish, because he had been so insolently wicked, and had ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 13 how ahab when.htm

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