The Throne of Zion
It was never the mind of God to set “ earthly kings” upon Zion, the throne of God.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:1-9).
On the suggestion of his father-in-law, Moses established a system of judicial review, not quite like a government. The leaders were selected by Moses to be officials over tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands. These men were to be judges, settling disputes between individuals, but the requirements of camp life was left up to the individual family members of the tribes. In a sense, it was the first communistic form of governance. The major exception being that the Israelites did have a king; God.
However, after Moses died, then Joshua after him, the people went through a time when there was no central, strong earthly figure who they could look to as leader, or guide. From time to time God would raise a person of faith to show the people that they still had a king in heaven, but eventually the people would forget and they would go seeking after pleasure instead of piety. Inevitably God would punish the people to remind them of their failures.
Finally the people had enough of the constant cycle of destruction and redemption. They came up with a solution, a solution that many see as the beginning of the height of the history of Israel. The israelites demanded a king, “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.’ ” – I Samuel 8:4-7 TNIV
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. – 1 Samuel 8:19-20 ( KJV emphasis added)
The people rejected God as their king, and instead chose to have a man rule over them. They looked back at the history of Moses and thought that Moses was the leader of old that made Israel great, that gave them the ability to take the promised land, to make it whole. They suffered from the same problem we face today.
How often have you heard someone refer to a seminary tradition as a source of authority for Christian doctrine? How many times have you heard a preacher’s name in association with the proper instruction of the scriptures? How many books have you read about how to understand the Bible?
Read once more the reasons why the Israelites wanted a king:
“That we also may be like all the nations;” homogeny, a sense of belonging and in that belonging, righteousness.
“that our king may judge us;” forgiveness, knowing that the judgements of God are absolute and that men are more tolerant towards weakness in sin. Wanting someone else to take responsibility for value judgements.
“and fight our battles;” absolution, to give someone else the responsibility for not only fighting battles, but making the hard decisions. Giving someone else the blame, and subsequently the guilt associated with bad decisions.
God warned “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve…” (I Samuel 8:11) The passage goes on to enumerate all of the things the king will claim as his own from the people, but the people didn’t care. They wanted to be cared for, but moreover they wanted to absolve themselves of blame. They wanted a god of their own making, a god that they could depose should that god become too overbearing. Unfortunately what the people didn’t realize is that men are, at heart, desperately wicked. This means not only the king is prone to despotism, but the people under that king’s rule are prone to go right down the same path.
The first king that was appointed over them by the prophet Samuel began to prove God’s words true. (I Samuel 8:4-22). Saul fell out in apostasy soon after his coronation (Read I Samuel chapter 15). Though Saul was an angry, vengeful tyrant who killed thousands most of the people surrounding him remained true to his kingship. They had built for themselves a place of power and comfort. When the usurper, David came along they fought against him tooth and nail, despite the fact that Samuel had already declared David king in Saul’s place.
David was crowned to succeed Saul. David was “a man after God’s own heart” but he also “sinned greatly” in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. The results of this sin brought about the downfall of the kingdom, and eventually the total devastation of the people God had once called his own.
God, from the beginning of creation, never intended that man should have a king other than Himself to rule over them.
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
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