“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them
Deuteronomy 17:18-19
Introduction
If there has been an area marred with great ignorance it is with regard to authority and governance. Since time in me memorial people have organized themselves into units which always had the governed and the authorities. From the civilized to the primitive, rich and the poor, the sophisticated and the simple alike have desired for a government of some sort over them just like the people in the antique Israel who demanded for someone to rule over them. That period in time had nations and people who had a well-defined political system and elaborate political processes. Most leaders have conquered their constituents and empires and exerted their influence across the conquered states as he expanded. It is apparent that
From Theocracy
Give us a king to judge over us! This unpondered request was a turning point for the nation of Israel, where they departed cast aside the invincible from of the Almighty and wanted a vincible embodiment of a King. There was fault in the justice system in place, corruption was stinking to the heavens and justice perverted. It is in this noble desire that their frustration was turned in a subtle way against their God (King) as they demanded to walk out of the covenant and chart their way through the uncharted waters of politics and nationhood. They so easily entangled themselves from their God and his benevolent practice that had seen them fight their enemies, conquer their land and enjoy the blessings of being defended. This was not to go without dire consequences that will live on. The Solemn Words ‘for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them’. This was to a departure, that declared their own independence, self-rule and self-determination. Unsaid was that we want to be like all the other nations.
The Costly departure
Their departure was primarily a desire to not be under God! For human heart conceives many wanderings that the reality of God is antithetical to any over-arching notions of freedom and independence. These chilling consequences were to be served cold as warning to what they so badly yearn for so that they are never without sufficient guidance and information. These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 1 Samuel 8:11-18. This was to so soon become their reality and has since been our sad reality to this day. This would make slave out of the poor for the now royalty will demand their best flocks, and by law the kingdom will be sustained by the citizens. The pomp and aggrandizing will be the trademark of the royal status and their nobles, they will live large at the expense of their subjects.
I know you must have read something like taxation, right? Yes, the running of this stately outfit will be financed through the goods of the citizens and their service to the king. The subject was not only to meet their required parts but were to ensure that the royalty is well taken care of to the highest standard enviable. Even with strict layout of consequences they still pressed Samuel so had to give them a king, someone to rule over them. They were unimpressed by the peculiar nature and status as God’s people and so wanted to be like other nations. They resort to sight; someone they can see who can lead them into battles and fight.
Reflection from the departure
Since insistence upon their request was granted so perfectly and so earnestly the fine print in the last statement below the chilling consequences, ‘and you shall be his slaves. And in that day, you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day’. It seems to have an implication that the human situation in their sin will most easily make slaves out of their subjects and that the disposition of man’s heart was to neither be above its brethren in practice or if so, it was to be thoroughly to be subject to THE SCRIPTURES. It was hardly to be envisioned that a sinner will not selfishly use the crown to their own ends and to the detriment of their subjects. God pronounced himself that his rule was to influence the nation through his laws, which was to make a peculiar people out of this nation. Therefore, any departure was to be costly and would place the people to a contract that will play out in the exact consequences they chose upon themselves, from this point they were to pressed below the weight of their desire and to righteously bear through the sometimes, through tyranny and excesses of restrained human action. Were they to pray? Yes, this was to be a worthy ponder yet again it was never to shield them from the consequences of the choices but rather for the sovereign and eternal purposes of God to so eclipse the passing reigns of those in authority as well argued by the apostle Paul, ‘First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’. 1 Timothy 2:1-5.
Prior Prescription
It seems that God in his omniscience and pre-thought had conceived that there will come a time when his people will demand for a king. Therefore, it was fitting that he lets his people know the prerequisite and the fences to guard rail them into safety and prosperity. Since such desire was prone, God weighed in his guideline to the human king who was to sit on the throne as outlines in Deuteronomy 17.
“When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. Deuteronomy 17:14-17
Implications, Since the first insistence to have a king, God knowing the depth of human heart with its desire foresaw this time of when they will want to set a king over themselves, God quickly reminds them that it is him who will set the king over them – Whom the Lord will choose for you! Right? History unravels and God has purposes way beyond our reach and time in history, he steers the course of history and spins this worldly timeline in wisdom and has utter grip on the affair of his world. He is not aloof as some will consider, his purposes are active and ways past our grasp. So, God chooses kings! Let that sink deep into the hearts that often see the world as though it is spiraling out of control, the steady hands of God still has a grip on the affairs of man and history.
This is where the Apostle Paul is quick, to say that there is no authority except that which is from God. Yes! All human government are planted on God’s earth by God. We often ask the wrong question of if all authority is from God, the right question is not if but why. Some are given to steer history in a certain direction, some were given when the nation was in needed a way out of a crisis, some are given as God’s judgement to a people as written
In direct instance we see God giving a king to his people, and mocks their trust and inability to even defend them, as famously quoted, in my anger I gave you a king, which is okay to render in judgement I gave you a king Scriptures puts it even clearer “Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers— those of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”? I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath. Hosea 13:10-11
Some are raised for special purposes like King Cyrus, “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Ezra 1:2
Some like Pharaoh, God chose that in their obstinance and stubbornness God’s excellence and power might prosper and his saving act a marvelous display of His Name “For this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16
For Nebuchadnezzar the bible uses says of him being chosen as God’s servant to actually seize and capture Judah, Uh! “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him Jeremiah 27:5-6
In the New Testament we see the Great Roman empire from Ceasar Augustus to Nero is the dominant political power of the time, this brutal and bloody regime had Jews under their heavy yoke, all in purpose that at the height of political tensions The Christ is born. History continue to unfold as remarked by C.H Spurgeon, “God is both the dictator of destinies and appoints both means and ends, He is the King of kings, ruling rulers and guiding counsellors, alike in the crash of battle and in the hush of peace, he does according to his will, Yon Fiery steeds which dash so terribly along the highway of time do not career madly- there is a charioteer whose almighty hands have held the reigns of the ages and will never let go, things are not in hurry-burly which we imagine, but are driven onward by power which is irresistible, they are under a law to God, and speed onward without deviation towards a goal which He has designed… All is well
The early church had grown accustomed to the political realities of their time and the kingdom which had come, Christ had inaugurated the most enduring kingdom that was to outlive the roman establishment, one which will know no end. It is true that in this time of brutal Roman regime the desire for emancipation was real yet for their soul’s good it meted all the stately tortures and persecution and a reality a government they could not overthrow. It was clear that they looked forward for a better country with a magnificent king.
It was this overstepping and brutal establishment that the Apostle Peter admonishes the Christians to was ‘Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme’ 1 Peter 2:13 this was to the establishment that would later kill him and as a martyr he still understood that the establishment was a broken entity of human desire, that understanding that there is way greater steering of history that stretches through the ages, which our little lives are but a dot in the canvas of the universe.
Even in the modern days, government are more sophisticated and the political processes, with empires a thing of a distant past, with independence, democracy, sovereignty of the states and constitution have continued to play a very essential role in new forms of governments and authority. They may appear different from their former political administration but they in form remain similar at the core. As we move from monarchs, empires and aristocracies to democracies, from heredity of the throne through bloodlines and the absolute authorities where the king’s word was law. We are increasingly watching the emaciation of the crown as many checks and balances are established such as constitutions, parliaments and courts.
Guard rails were put to steading the throne, highlighting the few practical steps that were to help steady the kingdoms. As a requirement to the throne was not to be given to a foreigner but to a brother/citizen, he was not to acquire for himself excessive gold and silver, he was not to acquire many wives lest his heart be lifted above his brothers and fall a prey to pride and haughtiness. Again, he was not to acquire many wives lest they stray his heart from the devotion to the Lord.
Conclusion
God in his omniscience and forethought had a clear diagnosis of the human heart and its limitless possibilities and desires. The yearnings for independence once again like in the garden of Eden it lured our kind from theocracy, just as they slaved into sin once more, they slaved again into political establishments. From God’s diagnosis of the human heart, it is ever apparent that man once to linger further and further from the God’s rule and reign. Only the gospel remains the truest and lasting prescription to man and his forms of governance. Beyond the experiments of kingdoms and empire it remains apparent that there is only one kingdom established in righteousness all under the ONLY SOVEREIGN, THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS