Israel’s government. They are a kingdom to be ruled by a king.
Initially, Israel was governed by the Lord, himself. God chose Moses to lead them out of Egypt, Acts 7:30-36. While in the wilderness, God gave them his commandments, Ex 19-20. Then in Num 11:16-17 the Lord gave Moses 70 men to help him bear the burden of Israel. Notice, the Lord was instrumental in all of these choices.
After the wilderness journey, God chose Joshua to lead them into Canaan, Deut 31:1-3. After the land was divided among the tribes, Israel went into apostasy, Jud 2:13. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtoreth. This is when the Lord raised up judges to deliver them and judge them, Jud 2:16-19. Their last judge was Samuel, 1 Sam 7:15. In 1 Sam 8:4-9 The elders of Israel demanded a king. And the Lord obliged. He already knew they would ask, Deut 17:14-20. And again he was instrumental in these choices.
When David ascended to the throne, God established his kingdom and throne forever through the reign of Solomon, 2 Sam 7:12-16. This set up a perpetual monarchy. From then on, a descendant of David was to rule over Israel as king. The kingdom divided after Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, came to the throne. And so David’s seed only ruled over the two southern tribes from then on, 1 Ki 11:31-36. The last of David’s descendants to rule in Judah was Zedekiah, 2 Ki 24:18-20. From then until now, they have been ruled by foreign powers in the times of the Gentiles, Dan 2:36-45, 8:19-25.
When Jesus was born, he was born king of the Jews, Matt 2:2. He was a descendant of David with the promise of ruling on David’s throne, Is 9:6-7, Lk 1:31-33. He was rejected by Israel, so his reign didn’t begin during his earthly ministry, Jn 18:33-37. The Jews made a horrible decision when they said, “We have no king but Caesar”, Jn 19:15.
When Jesus returns, he will rule over all the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev 19:16, Zech 14:9. He will unite both houses of Israel under the New Covenant, Heb 8:8-13, Ezek 37:21-28. And David will rule over Israel as their king.
What’s important about this study today is that Israel prides itself on being the only democracy in the region of the middle east. They hope that other democracies, like the USA, will regard their political structure and ally with them in their defense against Arab nations that don’t want them to exist.
The problem is that this is the wrong form of government for Israel. Their government structure is a monarchy. And under Jesus Christ, they will be a theocratic monarchy, a form of government in which the ruling monarch is also the reigning deity.
Once again we can’t look to Israel’s statehood, granted by the UN, and its democratic government, patterned somewhat after the USA, as ultimate fulfillments of prophecies concerning Israel. They’re going to be scattered and nearly decimated before they become the nation that God promised they would be. More on this in another study. To study the prior lesson, see Israel’s Land Grant. To study the next lesson, see Regathering of Israel.