Kingdom Presence: Old Testament (7)

“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19.5, 6

“When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” Deuteronomy 17.14, 15

A growing sense
By the time Israel had settled in Egypt, the idea of a kingdom, involving them as a people specially chosen by God, had begun to gain some traction in the thinking of their leaders.

Adam and Eve had passed down the notion of “dominion” so that all those who heard their story must have pondered their own lives in something of that light. As human beings and, more specifically, as those descended from Adam and Eve through Abraham, many among the people of Israel would have understood that they had a duty to learn as much as they could, to work at ordering, managing, and developing their places and possessions, and to guard these against corruption or loss. It should not surprise us that those who received and acted on this story—from Seth and Noah to Abraham and the patriarchs—became fruitful and prospered in their endeavors.

Moreover, from Abraham the idea of a rule characterized by righteousness and peace—like the rule of Melchizedek—and a heritage of kings and nations in which God’s blessings would be known, began to inform and shape the story of God’s covenant people. Covenant and kingdom were becoming intwined in the hopes and dreams of the faithful.

It thus seems perfectly in line with this growing trajectory that Jacob should have prophesied of his son, Judah, that a King would descend from him, One for whom dominion and rule had been prepared, and that He would exercise that dominion and rule not only over the covenant people but all the nations and peoples of the earth as well (Gen. 49.8-11).

Israel’s growing prosperity during those early years in Egypt must have fueled the thoughts and hopes of those who clung to these promises. But their hopes would be sidelined by the cruelty of a king who cared not a whit for their history or aspirations, and who saw them only as a means to realize his own selfish ambitions (Ex. 1.8ff).

A vision recovered
By the time Moses appeared to lead Israel out of captivity in Egypt, the people of God understood well the kind of power an earthly king could wield. It would fall to Moses to help them put away their fears of such human rulers and recover their vision of the kingdom presence God was preparing for them.

By codifying the Torah (Law) into a body of literature, and instructing the fathers of Israel to teach this Law to their children, Moses restored in the minds of God’s covenant people what years of slavery and oppression had obscured: They were to be a kingdom, a kingdom belonging to God. Their future hopes and the promises of God’s covenant would be bound up in Moses’ vision of their relationship with God and the way He intended to bring them into the fullness of His precious and very great promises.

It seems the expectation was always alive in the minds of God’s people that, as a kingdom and priests, they should have a king. This was in line with what had been prophesied about Judah. Thus God, knowing the people would ask for a king once they had settled in the land of promise, gave through Moses strict guidelines as to whom they might appoint to this office and how their king should serve.

A kingdom of priests
First, however, God would have to deliver His people from the fear of earthly kings and reorient their thinking about kings and kingdoms within a different framework. What God intended for them, what He was preparing them to be, would require of them a measure of trust, courage, and hope that Israel, in captivity to Pharaoh, had long since despaired of knowing.

The destruction of Pharaoh and his army, and the later defeat of the Canannite kings encountered en route to the plains of Moab must have persuaded Moses, Joshua, and the people of Israel that no earthly king could stand in the way of what God intended for His people. He had taken Israel as His kingdom, and He would rule them for righteousness, peace, and abundant blessing, as long as they dwelled within the safe parameters of His covenant and Law (Deut. 28.1-14). Every Israelite would be a priest unto God, observing His rule and honoring Him with sacrifices and daily lives of justice, righteousness, and love.

And every king was to be a student of the Law of God (Deut. 17.18-20) and to rule in such a way that the blessings promised in that Law should abound throughout the kingdom. The king would govern the people as God’s own chosen agent and proxy, ruling His people as God Himself would, so that they would be wise and holy, a witness and a marvel to all the nations (Deut. 4.5-8).

Thus, the idea of kingdom and its importance in the life of God’s covenant people continued to grow throughout those early days of the Old Testament. The ideas of dominion and rule, given to Adam and Eve and carried forward through Abraham and the patriarchs, became bound up in the covenant struck at Sinai and in God’s promising that Israel would be a kingdom ruled by God Himself. Israel was to understand that the Lord “was king in Jeshurun,/ When the leaders of the people were gathered, /All the tribes of Israel together” (Deut. 33.5).

Dominion, covenant, and kingdom: With Moses these ideas were brought forward, consolidated, and expanded; and with those ideas, a vision of God’s Kingdom would begin to be greatly enlarged and enhanced.

For reflection
1. In your own words, sum up the idea of kingdom as it developed from Adam to Moses.

2. What does that suggest about the centrality of this idea for the remainder of the Old Testament?

3. What did God promise His people as a result of the Kingdom’s presence in and through them?

Next steps—Transformation: Are you beginning to think differently about the Kingdom of God and its presence on earth as it is in heaven? How has this brief survey of the Old Testament’s view of the Kingdom helped to shape or change your thinking?

T. M. Moore

A companion book to this study of “Kingdom Presence” is available at our bookstore. Learn more and listen to an excerpt from The Kingdom Turn, by clicking here. Then order your free copy.

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