CHAPTER 4
Kings and Contracts
Not all kingdoms have a king. In point of fact, not many countries in the world today, have a king. So we have a concept problem to iron out. First, scriptural references to kings live in scriptural times. Second, spiritual-realm kings are not human kings in kind. Third, Kings and Queens of this age play a totally different role to the scriptural context. Given that God’s original commission to Humans was that they should have dominion over the earth, we are obliged to discover what type of dominion He had in mind. Taking it into his own hands, human has tried all sorts of methods and failed: Feudalism; Land-lords; Communism; Capitalism; Socialism; Dictatorship; Democracy; and the rest of human experimental systems have all failed miserably as ‘the few’ get locked into a power grab over ‘the rest’. Many systems start out with good intention but get hijacked and corrupted, very quickly by a spiritual motivation for power. This cannot be coincidence. All of these systems could work equally well but for the corrupt human heart. The caveat, of course, is that such a kingdom be ruled by a righteous and benevolent ruler. Otherwise, any kingdom will prove to be no better than any other system. There is something about the position of a ruler that makes it susceptible to corruption. It has to be something to do with, the focus of spiritual powers on an easily corruptible humankind, as we saw in Chapter-two.
In Chapter-three, we established the Kingdom-of-Heaven is not a place where finally we get to do our own thing. No! It is a place where God gets to do His thing. It is not a place where we have an endless banquet, an endless praise session around the throne, an endless exploration holiday. It is a place of structure, a place with a purpose, a place with underpinned laws, and a place with a hierarchy structure that works upside down. Genesis began with the idea behind Yahweh-Elohim’s plan for Creation. If we accept the first book and chapter described the plan for the earth, and the last chapter of the last book is the fulfilment of that plan, then we must surely accept that we exist within the processing time of that plan, Only then can we see the strategy being worked out through time and history toward that goal. In that opening chapter, when we stop arguing about ‘the How’ of the creation story, to see ‘the Why’. We see Yahweh-Elohim designed creation as a Kingdom idea. We see the first ruler in the physical realm was not a person but the sun. We also see that the sun was not given that position for what it could get out of creation but what it could give. Kingdom-of-God rulers, are there for what they give, not what they receive. World-Kingdom rulers, use subjects for what they can get from them. The primary goal for creation was, God reigning over the cosmos, from a throne on the earth, through His vice-regents, for the blessing they could give.
From the fall in Genesis-three when humans fell, we see, rather than rolling the whole thing up to start again, He introduced the plan of redemption via the Cross. As Jeremiah had to learn, It would be a foolish potter who, seeing the lump of clay out of shape on the wheel, had no skill to reshape it. But an even more foolish piece of clay, resisting the potter, on the assumption it could make better its own shape.135 So, The Kingdom was always his plan, but at various times during history, various peoples have moved the concepts to align what they understand rather than see the concepts in God’s plan.
Hebrew understanding of time helps here, time is the process from beginning to end, Time does not dictate the speed of a process it is the slave of the process. Only when the process is complete does time stop. Hang on to the good bit, time does not govern when the Kingdom will come, completing the process determines that. When Jesus was asked when will the Kingdom come, He replied only the father knows that136, precisely because the Father will not sign off his idea until it meets his expectations. That misconception has confused understanding of the plan in the minds of creation, at many times in history. The suffering servant was confusing to several generations, who were only looking for the final glorious powerful king, a king who would smash the enemy, as we see in the prophets.
So now we can deal with the concepts in the minds of his creation. The Book of Kings helps us understand this. We, having the oversight of events, up to this point in history, can see the progress toward that end. But we can also see how past folk have tried to adapt the idea to suit their time and culture. Every age has tried to make a system more serviceable to human ideas and intentions. Out of impatience, even God’s chosen people have thought they needed to intervene to suit a human timescale. Through the Torah, we might well have decided the goal was to gain the land as territory. When they finally went into the promised land, they said, ‘Thank you very much Yahweh-Elohim, we can take it from here’. What happened? They undermined the laws on which the Kingdom-of-God was to stand. By the end of the book of Judges, they had returned the kingdom to chaos.
The story so far
God Establishes His Kingdom at creation,
The subjects rebel resulting in the fall,
The King chooses Israel as His community in the world,
God, chooses the Land in which he will build his Kingdom,
God, moulds his community to see the value of the laws on which his Kingdom is based, and sets to establish the culture motivation as Gratitude.
God fulfils his plan, enabling the expansion of His kingdom over the whole world.
So far, is where we are. The plan is on track and will culminate when Servant-King restores the cosmos and rules from his throne on the earth. He is King because of his servanthood, not despite it. God’s Kingdom is different. In the Kingdom of God there are no subjects, only citizens, but every citizen is a prince or princess in his or her own right. As such they stand as ambassadors of the Kingdom-of-God in a World-Kingdom.
Joseph became God’s ambassador in Egypt, not viceroy of Pharaoh. But he did it through his servanthood to God through all bitter circumstances on the way. That is what he meant so confidently when he said:
You planned to do something bad to me. But really, God was planning good things. God's plan was to use me to save the lives of many people. And that is what happened.137
The Suffering servant-king himself could echo those words.
So far, we have seen that the ‘Community-of-God’, seen first in the garden of Eden is based and built on Law, and we have evaluated the value of law. But laws can never change anyone on the inside. Laws can sometimes moderate behaviour, but that is not the goal. God’s goal was always to have a people after His own heart, a people who would, of their own free will, share His values and objectives. That cannot be programmed into creation, it has to be freely given in a response. That is fully understood by God who established the first and fundamental law of the Kingdom-of-God as, ‘You shall love the lord your God with all your heart mind and being’. It was no egotistic rule on God’s part, it is essential for the functioning of the Kingdom-of-God. It has to be higher than, ‘love your neighbour as yourself’, because neighbours are going to cause us to want to make modifications to Kingdom-of-God laws that will dethrone God and return us to World-Kingdoms. To do that at the point of a sword simply cuts the heart out, so it cannot love at all. God’s motivational plan for delivering a people out of Egypt for himself, was to replace their heart.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; You are mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation138.
This is a relationship that can only be established by a king. Presidents and Prime-Ministers are representatives of human choice, but a king owns by right. Contracts with Presidents or Prime-Ministers are negotiable. The concept of a King, was established in Genesis when God set the sun to rule. A king is established by a higher law, authority of the king is established by obedience to those laws, they are not negotiable. Without these higher laws not only the king but the kingdom will collapse and return to the chaotic soup from which it came. The role of a priest was precisely to be an ambassador of the Kingdom-of-God. Priests stood as representations of God as He is in the established Kingdom-of-Heaven, as it expands into this new realm. The task of an ambassador, by any other name, is to: Represent the character of the king of a territory; Explain his will, his intent, and his purpose in another's territory; And demonstrate the culture and society of the king; its nature, values, and morals.
Given this, we can say the heart of any kingdom is its king, If the heart of the citizens is not its king, the kingdom cannot function as it should. Hence, the underpinning law, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all that you are’. It is not a law of the land like driving on the right or left, it is a law of gravity that will send us spinning uncontrollable if we break it. Without it, the kingdom will have no circulatory system to carry corpuscles of love around it.
That is precisely what happened in the garden of Eden. The rebellion displaced the first law, causing Adam and Eve to lose their domain rulership. The broken law caused control of this realm to pass to the usurper, the Satan. Satan’s prime kingdom-law is Control. He sought to have supreme control by trying to take the throne of God. But a kingdom based on control, stops a circulatory system, diverting everything to the top throne, from where it is returned in restriction, violence and force. Jesus sums this up before Pilot,
“Are you the king of the Jews?”…Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest. But now My kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.” 139
A contrast of the two kingdoms is clear here. World-Kingdom fight with a sword. If we fight that way, we are subject to World-Kingdom laws, which control by pressure or force. World-Kingdom’s first law of control, produced rebellion, which dictates destruction and chaos.
As we have seen, there are two methods of enforcing law, either force, or gratitude. Either method can ensure compliance. Force gets quick results but breeds resentment. Gratitude, takes longer but softens the heart. Gratitude was the method used in the garden of Eden. God made a covenant with Adam and Eve, which failed the test of commitment. God entered covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon. Some produced commitment, some did not. Covenant and Kingdom are not in competition, but two sides of the same objective. When we talk about Kingdom, we are also talking about Covenant.
The Question of Covenants
The book of Kings draws attention to Covenants. Kingdom-of-God kings, make covenants with their people. People make covenants with their kings. Covenants are contracts with heart. World-Kingdoms make contracts. Contracts might get what we want by demand, but covenants are built on relationships. Contracts can be demanded. Contracts are made with a King’s subjects. Conquering Kings demand contracts of the vanquished, making them subjects. In the Kingdom-of-God there are no subjects, every citizen is a prince or princess in their own right. Covenants are mutual, they are built on the laws of trust, respect, honour, integrity, and relationship. God always used covenants, never contracts. In Eden, God gave Adam and Eve a kingdom which they lost. Only God has the right to restore the kingship status. You will remember, when Lot lost his kingdom to a consortium of four kings, Abraham won them back. He is the Kinsman Redeemer for the kingdom of Lot and restored it to him.140 God sent a Kinsman Redeemer to restore the kingdom Adam and Eve lost. God also declares his motivation for rescuing Israel out of Egypt.
“Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.141
This is a covenant not a contract, it is built on the relationship, ‘my treasured possession’. The Children-of-Israel, reneged on the covenant that brought them into Palestine. Palestine was the land of the Philistines. Instead of success they had anarchy, ‘Everyone did what he thought right by his own eyes’. Under the terms of the lapsed covenant with God, God allowed the Philistines to harass Israel. Instead of returning to their existing covenant, they sought to go their own way, by copying the nations around them by installing another king of their own choice.
The options before them were these:
Either repent and renew the covenant with God which promised blessings in return for keeping His kingdom laws, or make a contract with a king like other nations, who would promise takings in return for keeping his laws.
So Samuel told them everything the LORD said. Samuel said, "If you have a king ruling over you, this is what he will do: He will take away your sons and force them to serve him. He will force them to be soldiers—they must fight from his chariots and become horse soldiers in his army. Your sons will become guards running in front of the king's chariot. "A king will force your sons to become soldiers. He will choose which of your sons will be officers over 1000 men and which will be officers over 50 men. "A king will force some of your sons to plow his fields and gather his harvest. He will force some of your sons to make weapons for war and to make things for his chariots. "A king will take your daughters and force some of them to make perfume for him and some to cook and bake for him. "A king will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves. He will take them from you and give them to his officers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and grapes, and he will give them to his officers and servants. "A king will take your men and women servants. He will take your best cattle and your donkeys. He will use them all for his own work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks. "And you yourselves will become slaves of this king. When that time comes, you will cry because of the king you chose. But the LORD won't answer you at that time."142
Samuel is describing the pattern of world-kingdoms. It is based on motivation within the character. It is a spiritual characteristic. You cannot see, selfishness or greed walking the earth, outside a body. You cannot see fear hiding in the shadows unless you see it in the faces of people or the choices they make.
You know the story, They chose to go with Saul because he was a big man and they thought he would frighten the Philistines, Saul did win a couple of battles against the Philistines, but when the Philistines paraded Goliath, Saul’s size was small and his courage smaller. But the contract was signed, and the people lived under a king, used to his own way, and adding ever more luxury to it. They were desperate for God to keep his side of a covenant that was no longer in force, because they had taken out a contract on World-Kingdom terms. God was no longer obliged to keep his side of the bargain.
The patience of God is infinite. He had in mind an even smaller person who could do the job. But God had to persuade the people. David is that story of God persuading a people. The story of David and Goliath is well known because of the heart of David, but that is overlooked in place of David’s glorious achievement.
David’s covenant was with God. It is no coincidence that David came in from the sheep fields. Away from the consensus views and tittle-tattle in the kingdom of Saul, was the ideal place to find the Kingdom of God, and he found it in his heart. David, (in the first half of his life at least), demonstrates the Kingdom-of-God. Israel is about to become the empire it thought it ought to be, under a king it would never have chosen; except for a bit of manipulation by God himself. But it had two opposing effects. The nation’s concept of, ‘God’s Kingdom’, change to become, ‘We can conquer the world with the right king’. And the Kings concept of a king became modified by the kingdoms of the world around him. The spiritual is at war! All the time David lived under Kingdom-of-God laws, he had success in the purpose of God. But two events acted together to take his eyes off the goal.
David was middle-aged and his skills in battle were weakening by the physical process of ageing. He nearly lost his life. His fellow soldiers, seeing him in difficulty, came to his rescue. In the review afterwards, the review committee decided he was of more value to the cause at home and not on the field143. We don’t get to hear what was going on inside of David, But a psychologist will tell you, David had always recognized God as the victor in a fight, and, inside he would need to separate the act of getting old from the distancing of his God, because he could no longer go to the fight. A double-whammy came as a result. In his association, ‘Women loved me for killing the ten thousands’, will the still love me when I cannot? Who knows what was going on behind the scenes in the spiritual realm at this time, but by ‘coincidence’, his palace overlooked a woman sunbathing, and you know the rest of the story. That one incident turned the history of Israel one-hundred-and-eighty degrees in its fortune. It took a Prophet to come and point out what was going on in the spiritual realm. David hadS been living by Kingdom-of-God laws, but his inner conflicts had caused him to associate Kingdom-of-God laws with World-Kingdom results and purposes. But David’s motivation was still in a covenant with God, and hearing how his inner confusion had left him with World-Kingdom associations, he repented. David did not lose sight of the spiritual battle insight for long:
I did what you said is wrong. You are the one, and the only one I have sinned against. I say this so that people will know that I am wrong and you are right. What you decided is fair.144
135 Jeremiah 18 ff
136 Matthew 24: 36
137 Gen 50:20
138 Exodus 19:5-6
139 John 18:33b,36-38.
140 Genesis 14 ff
141 Exodus 19:5-6
142 1Sa 8:10- 18
143 2 Samuel 21 : 15-22
144 Psa 51:4