Political Pursuit of Unity: A Narrative Inquiry into the Davidic Reign and its Typology in the Oyo Empire

Abstract

This is a contextual-biblical study on how political leaders can effectively pursue national unity amid diversity. Psalm 133 is one of the remarkable biblical texts on unity, it, therefore, becomes a major standpoint in this study. First, the study draws a connection between Psalm 133 and David’s reign, otherwise called Davidic unity reign. Second, it examines the unification strategy in the Oyo Empire and highlights its similarity in comparison with the Davidic unity reign. The methodology used in the study is narrative inquiry. It investigates the life of David in connection to Psalm 133 bringing out the relevant narrative behind the psalm. It also inquires about the historical narrative of the Oyo Empire with the aim of uncovering the political practices that were geared towards the unity of the empire. All the information in the study was gleaned from existing literature. Based on biographical, historical, and comparative analysis, it is evident that both King David’s Israel and Alaafin’s Oyo Empire have the worship of a divine being as their tool of unity. The major antithesis is that while Yahweh, the universal God, used David to unite all the tribes of Israel through worship, Alaafin used Sango, a tribal god, to unify all the people under his ruler-ship.