Profession
King and kingship
What Israel asked for, what it cost them, and the King God promised.
What the text teaches
Israel began with God as king. Gideon refuses the crown by saying the LORD will rule over you (Judges 8:23), and when the people later demand a king like the nations, God tells Samuel they have not rejected you, they have rejected Me from being king over them (1 Samuel 8:7).
God still gives them one, and then works through the office. Kingship becomes the channel of the promise: David is told that his throne shall be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16), and the rest of the Old Testament watches for the king who will keep that promise.
What it actually was
A king in the ancient Near East held military command, final judicial authority and control of taxation and labour. Kingship was normally dynastic and usually regarded as backed by a god.
Israel's king was meant to be different in kind. Deuteronomy 17 limits him before he exists: not many horses, not many wives, no great hoards of silver and gold, and a personal handwritten copy of the law that he reads every day so that his heart is not lifted above his brothers.
How it worked
The king was rather than crowned by conquest, which put his authority in God's hands and not his own (1 Samuel 10:1).
He judged. People brought disputes to him directly, which is why Solomon asks for an understanding mind to discern between good and evil (1 Kings 3:9) and why Absalom steals hearts by standing at the gate and telling people the king will not hear them (2 Samuel 15:2-6).
He raised armies, and he raised revenue. Samuel warns the people exactly what that will feel like: he will take your sons and your daughters, your fields and a tenth of your grain, and you will be his servants (1 Samuel 8:11-17).
He was to prophets, in a way that had few parallels around Israel. Nathan confronts David, Elijah confronts Ahab, and the confrontation is treated as legitimate rather than treasonous.
Why it mattered in Israel
The nation's whole condition rose and fell with the king's faithfulness. Kings and Chronicles measure each reign by one question, whether he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and the land follows the throne.
The failure of the kings is what makes the exile intelligible and what makes the promise urgent. By the end of the Old Testament there is no king on David's throne and the promise of 2 Samuel 7 is still outstanding.
Why God chose this picture
Because a king is a public, embodied answer to the question of who rules. Israel's cry in Judges is that there was no king and everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25), and Scripture agrees that a people needs a ruler, then insists on the right one.
Because the office holds authority and service together when it is done rightly. Psalm 72 asks for a king who defends the cause of the poor and crushes the oppressor, so kingship in Scripture is measured by what happens to the weakest person in the land.
Because the gap between the promise and the actual kings creates the the Gospels answer. Every reign that ends badly sharpens the question of who the true King will be.
First in Scripture
Genesis 14:18. Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, is the first king in Scripture who is on God's side of the story, and he blesses Abram.
Verses to carry with you
- Deuteronomy 17:18-20. The king must write out the law by hand and read it all his life.
- 1 Samuel 8:7. They have rejected Me from being king over them.
- 2 Samuel 7:16. Your throne shall be established forever.
- Zechariah 9:9. Your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey.
The original language
מֶלֶךְ
The same word is used of God and of human rulers, so Hebrew keeps the comparison in front of the reader constantly. Every human melek in Israel is read against the divine one.
βασιλεία
Often better translated reign than realm. When Jesus says the kingdom of God is at hand, the emphasis falls on God beginning to rule rather than on a territory being marked out.
Historical and cultural background
An Aramaic inscription found at Tel Dan refers to the house of David, an early extrabiblical reference to the Davidic dynasty. History
Where this comes from
Through the whole Bible
Kings are promised in Abraham's line (Genesis 17:6) and the sceptre is given to Judah (Genesis 49:10).
No king, and everyone doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).
Saul, David and Solomon, then a divided line measured reign by reign against the LORD's commands.
A shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), a branch (Jeremiah 23:5), and a king coming humble on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).
Announced as the one who will receive the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32-33), and under the title King of the Jews.
King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), the promise of 2 Samuel 7 finally kept forever.
Where this appears across the Bible
Audela traces king and kingship through 23 chapters in 14 books, from Genesis to Revelation.
Old Testament
Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most High, is the first king in Scripture who is on God's side of the story, and he blesses Abram.
Kings are promised in Abraham's line (Genesis 17:6) and the sceptre is given to Judah (Genesis 49:10).
Kings are promised in Abraham's line (Genesis 17:6) and the sceptre is given to Judah (Genesis 49:10).
The king must write out the law by hand and read it all his life.
No king, and everyone doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).
They have rejected Me from being king over them.
Your throne shall be established forever.
The reign the poor would pray for.
A child born, and government on His shoulder forever.
A shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), a righteous branch (Jeremiah 23:5), and a king coming humble on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).
A shoot from the stump of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), a righteous branch (Jeremiah 23:5), and a king coming humble on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).
Your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey.
New Testament
Announced as the one who will receive the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32-33), and crucified under the title King of the Jews.
My kingdom is not of this world, and yet He is a king.
King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), the promise of 2 Samuel 7 finally kept forever.
Cross references
- Genesis 49:10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah.
- Deuteronomy 17:14-20. How Israel's king was to live.
- 2 Samuel 7:12-16. The promise that shapes the rest of Scripture.
- Psalm 72. The reign the poor would pray for.
- Isaiah 9:6-7. A child born, and government on His shoulder forever.
- Luke 1:32-33. The throne of His father David, and a reign with no end.
- John 18:36-37. My kingdom is not of this world, and yet He is a king.
- Revelation 19:16. King of kings and Lord of lords.
How it points to Christ
2 Samuel 7 promises David a son whose throne lasts forever, and every son who follows dies. The genealogies at the start of Matthew and Luke exist to say that the line survived the exile and arrived at one man, and Gabriel tells Mary that God will give Him the throne of His father David.
He then redefines the office without abandoning it. The King washes feet (John 13:3-5), rides a donkey rather than a warhorse, and is enthroned on a cross under a written charge. Philippians 2:8-11 says that because of that obedience God has highly exalted Him, so the crown follows rather than replacing it.
Teaching on the subject
Read 1 Samuel 8 carefully and it is not a story about God being against government. It is about motive. They want a king so they can be like the nations and so someone else will fight their battles, which means they are asking to be normal instead of being God's.
David is then the standard and the warning at once. Psalm 72 and 2 Samuel 7 show what the throne was meant to be, and 2 Samuel 11 shows a king using the very powers Samuel warned about to take a woman and dispose of a man.
By the time Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, deliberately fulfilling Zechariah 9:9, the crowd is shouting for a Davidic king and expecting Roman soldiers to be driven out. He is the King they were promised, and He goes to a cross with a charge nailed above His head that says exactly who He is (John 19:19).
Often misunderstood
God had already anticipated kingship in the law and set out how a king should live (Deuteronomy 17:14-20), and He chose David Himself. What He confronts in 1 Samuel 8 is a demand made in order to be like the nations rather than to be led by Him.
Jesus tells Pilate that is not from this world, meaning its source and its methods, and in the same conversation He accepts the title of king. Revelation 11:15 has of the world becoming the kingdom of our Lord, which is not a metaphor for an inward feeling.
Living this today
Deuteronomy 17 makes daily reading the safeguard against a leader's heart being lifted up. Whatever authority you hold, put yourself under Scripture at the same regular hour rather than only when a decision demands it.
Psalm 72 measures a reign by the treatment of the poor. Apply that standard to what you actually control, whether a team, a home or a budget.
Related people, places, events and themes
Related chapters
1 Samuel 8, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 72, Isaiah 11
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