GOD’S TWO KINGDOMS

Part Two

God’s People Under Worldly Government

 

A Study By

Gary Ray Branscome

 

 

The elders of Israel… came to Samuel at Ramah, And said… appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations… And the LORD said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people… for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them. (1Samuel 8:4-7).

 

In part one I explained that unlike other nations, Israel was to be God’s kingdom on earth. His Law was to be the highest authority in the land, an authority that every ruler was to obey. In short, God was to be the head of both church and state. Furthermore, even though the Law allowed the people to have a king, if they did place a king in authority he was to make a copy of God’s Law, and be subject to that Law (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). That fact makes it clear that when the people came to Samuel, asking for a king, they were not asking for the kind of king that the Law of Moses provided for, but a king “like all the other nations” had. That is, a king who was above the Law, a king who was lord and master over the people, a king who could make the people his slaves (1Samuel 8:11-18). In other words, a king who was a law unto himself, a king who followed a double standard exempting himself from the laws he imposed on the people.

 Because the people had rejected God as their king (1Sam. 8:7), during the period of the kings they did not have the government that God had given them, but a government that differed little from the governments of other nations. Nevertheless, they still had the Word of God, the priesthood was there to instruct the people, and God was ultimately still in control, just as He is in control of all nations (Psalm 103:19). Some people think of this control as God’s third kingdom, a kingdom of His power by which He rules over those nations that reject Him.

 

Before the time of Samuel the Law of Moses provided a constitution for Israel. The fact that rulers were to be servants of the people, who were themselves subject to the Ten Commandments, was a source of freedom. The commandment, “Thou shall not kill” gave the people the right to life. And, because involuntary servitude is a way of stealing a person’s labor, the commandment, “Thou shall not steal” gave them the right to liberty and property. That constitution forbade rulers to take bribes and pervert justice. Yet that is exactly what the sons of both Eli and Samuel did (Deuteronomy 16:18-19). And, because the law was not enforced, because the sons of Eli and Samuel were not punished, the people lost confidence in their constitution, and like many people today, assumed that a ruler with more Godlike power would be more Godlike (1Samuel 8:3-4). Yet nothing could be further from the truth. That is why Samuel (at God’s behest) warned the people saying (in part), “He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive groves, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your grain, and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your best young men, and your donkeys, and make them do his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks: and you will be his slaves” (1Samuel 8:9 -17).

 

Because Samuel’s warning was ignored, God’s people were ruled by a succession of kings, who, with few exceptions, committed one crime after another. Saul attempted to murder David, and because a priest helped David Saul had eighty-five priests along with all of the women and children in the city of Nob murdered (1Samuel 22:5-19). He also put many of the Gibeonites to death for no reason (2Samuel 21:1-3). David seduced Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah. Solomon married many wives, contrary to the Law of Moses, and allowed those wives to promote idolatry.

Baasha acquired the throne of Israel by murdering Nadab, and as soon as he came to power killed all the descendants of King Jeroboam (1Kings 25-29). Because Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard, his wife Jezebel had Naboth falsely accused and put to death (1Kings 21:1-25). Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, having seized power after the death of her husband and son, had all of David’s male heirs except one put to death (2Kings 11:1-2). Menahem, having come to power by assassination, sacked the town of Tirzah and ripped open all of the pregnant women, simply because the town would not open its gates to him (2Kings 15:13-16). King Manasseh promoted idolatry, burned his son as an offering, and filled Jerusalem with the innocent blood of those he slaughtered (2Kings 21:1-17).

What I have said is only a sampling of all the wickedness done by those who ruled Israel during that time; rulers who ignored the Ten Commandments. Many of those kings committed murder while promoting immorality and idolatry, and most Americans think that could never happen today. But, it is happening right before our eyes. And, it will happen in any nation that does not require its rulers to obey the Ten Commandments. Just as rulers then promoted idolatry, our government pays teachers and professors to promote the idolatry of evolution, [the idea that nature is our creator]. Just as rulers then committed murder, our government licenses doctors to murder babies by abortion. Just as rulers then promoted immorality, our government pays teachers to promote immorality in the name of sex-education, while passing laws aimed at forcing the people to accept immorality and sexual perversion. At the same time, our churches have drifted so far from God’s will that many churchgoers see nothing wrong with our government doing those things, think that is the way God wants it, defend the antichristian separation of God from government, and assume that requiring rulers to follow the Ten Commandments (like the Bible says) would result in tyranny (Deuteronomy 17:18-20). Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

 

American law has its roots in English law, and English law is rooted in the Ten Commandments. Going back to the origin of English law, we find that King Alfred (Alfred the Great, 849-899 AD), who ruled the West Saxons from 871 to 899 AD (and was fairly well educated for his day) set in place the laws that are the foundation of English and American law. Those laws included the Ten Commandments along with other portions of the Book of Exodus. Moreover, Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England” remained the standard textbook for American law students for over a century after American independence, and would still be used if secular judges had not found a way to circumvent its moral influence on our law.

Commenting on the fact that the Ten Commandments form the very basis of Western law, lawyer and columnist David Limbaugh once said. "We should be aware that other Biblical laws were also foundational to our system of jurisprudence. In the Book of Exodus following the Ten Commandments are further laws, sometimes collectively referred to as the Book of the Covenant.  As a lawyer I was fascinated to discover just how much of our law - torts, contracts, property and criminal law - is obviously traceable to this section of scripture." (From his newspaper column, used with permission.)

[Note: King Alfred saw divine law as a source of first principles, and human law as a reflection of divine law. (“From Alfred to Henry III”, by Christopher Brooke, page 45)]

 

The Origin of Congregational Worship

 

Because of widespread wickedness during the reign of King Manasseh, God’s prophets warned of a coming judgment, saying, “Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that both the ears of whoever hears of it will tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down” (2Kings 21:12-13). However, a few years prior to the fulfillment of that prophesy Judah experienced a return to God under King Josiah (2Kings 22-23). And because of that revival, the Jews who were carried captive into Babylon found the immorality and idolatry of that city repugnant. Therefore, instead of being assimilated into the culture of Babylon they formed communities of their own, and inside those communities set apart places where they could gather for worship. Jews could go to those places to pray at any time. The men would often gather there at the end of the day to discuss questions of how God’s Law should be applied to various situations that they had encountered during the day. And they would regularly come together on the Sabbath for joint prayer and worship.

Some of the older men of the community (elders) would be chosen to oversee these community gathering places, and when they were chosen they were ordained as a ceremonial way of publicly investing them with responsibility (Titus 1:5). These lay elders formed a council. They were responsible to the men of the congregation, and each year one of them was chosen to preside at their meetings. It was the job of those elders to see that the building was taken care of, lead the Sabbath worship, and during the week teach the boys how to read, instruct them in the laws and culture of Israel, and have them memorize long portions of Scripture. For that reason, those synagogues were said to have a threefold purpose: 1- a house of fellowship, 2- a house of worship, and 3- a house of learning. As time went on the elders who had actually lived in Israel began to die off, so the congregations began to hire professional teachers (rabbis) who had been trained in the laws and traditions of Israel. Those teachers taught the boys during the week, and led worship on the Sabbath. And, even though a rabbi who held that position was an elder of the congregation, because he was hired by the lay elders of the congregation he was answerable to them. And, because being paid by the congregation invested him with responsibility, he was not ordained.

The elders of the congregation were referred to as the elders, pastors, overseers, or rulers of the congregation (Acts 18:8). However, the fact that they were called rulers did not mean that they could boss the others around any more than giving the head of the local garden club the title “president” means that he can raise an army. Their word for ruler took its meaning from the context in which it was used. And, in the synagogue the elders were answerable to the men of the congregation, not lords over them (1Peter 5:3). Moreover, each synagogue and community of God’s people was a part of the nation of Israel as a whole, and thus a part of God’s earthly kingdom.

 

Because God’s House was a house of prayer, the children of Israel could come to the Temple to pray at any time (Isaiah 56:7, 1Samuel 1:9-13). And, because many came to pray on the Sabbath, and it was the duty of the priests to teach them God’s Law (Leviticus 10:11), the priests would lead the people in worship on the Sabbath. Now, even though the Bible does not describe those worship services, we know that they included prayers, psalms, Bible readings and instruction in God’s Word. Therefore, whenthe Jews who had been carried into Babylon began to worship, their worship services were patterned after those in the temple. Prayers would be read or recited by the congregation; psalms would be sung or chanted, portions of Scripture would be read or recited with explanations, and the people would be instructed in God’s Word (Luke 4:15-20). This formal style of worship has continued to our present day, and the ancient liturgies of the Christian church have grown out of it.

 Because worship in the synagogue was patterned after worship in the Temple, there is usually a box in the front in which the scrolls are kept. That box corresponds to the Ark of the Covenant in which the Ten Commandments and Torah were kept (Deuteronomy 10:1-2 and 31:26). In some congregations that box is visible to all, in others it is kept in an alcove with a curtain in front of it.

 

Conclusion 

 

          The development of synagogues made it possible for Jews to spread throughout the Mediterranean area. So much so, that by the day of Pentecost there were “devout Jews from every nation under heaven, living in Jerusalem” (Acts 2:5). The Apostle Paul preached in many of their synagogues, and James addressed his epistle, “to the twelve tribes that are scattered among the nations” (James 1:1). Many of those Jews were the first Christians, the congregations that they started were patterned after the synagogues they were familiar with, and each of those synagogues was a portion of God’s earthly kingdom, the same kingdom that He established at the time of Moses, scattered like seeds among the nations, all in accord with God’s plan.