Yesterday (May 6) the coronation of the UK’s new king, Charles III, dazzled the world with a millennium of tradition behind its pomp and pageantry. The last coronation was nearly seventy years ago for the new king’s mother, so the rareness of this spectacle increases its significance. The monarchy no longer has political power but symbolically heads both the state and the Church of England.
What lessons on biblical kingship can we learn? In ancient Israel, the kings were political and spiritual leaders, not just figureheads.
Did God plan for Israel to have kings?
When God delivered Israel out of Egypt, he was their king. Some say God never wanted Israel to have human kings, but the LORD knew these would be in their future. God told Abraham and Sarah: “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.” (Genesis 17:6).
Moses gave the Israelites God’s instructions for their future kings:
When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose.
Deuteronomy 17:14-15
Warnings followed for the king including a command which would help keep his heart on God’s will:
And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them.
Deuteronomy 17:18-19
Israel’s first kings
God wanted the kings of Israel to rule as his representative and do his will. But the people instead wanted to trust in a human leader. We get clues about what attracted the people to their first king, Saul: he was tall and handsome (1 Samuel 9:2). When Saul hid when he was to be anointed hints at his coming poor leadership (1 Samuel 10:22).
The Bible describes King David, Israel’s second king, with the warm words of one after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), but he is also known for his grave sins of adultery and murder. Despite his shortcomings, God promised an eternal lineage for David, later fulfilled in the Son of David, Messiah Jesus.
The kingdom of David’s son Solomon is known for prosperity and the greatest land expansion, but he flagrantly violates God’s laws for kings against accumulating wealth, women, and horses.
Good kings, bad kings
The kingdom split after Solomon into the Northern Kingdom (also called Israel, which can be confusing) and the Southern Kingdom (also called Judah). The North had nineteen kings, all evil. The South had nineteen kings and one queen; all except eight were evil.
Instead of leading the people to obey God, they led the people into idolatry, giving allegiance instead to other gods. Because of this, both kingdoms were led away into exile.
Shepherd kings
Kings are to serve God and the people. The Bible’s common reference to leaders as shepherds often comes with a scathing rebuke: “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray.” (Jeremiah 50:6).
God gives this message of hope through his prophets: “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.” (Ezekiel 34:23).
Jesus came as the promised Son of David and described himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). He told parables of seeking the lost (lost sheep, coin, and sons in Luke 15) and said he came for the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24).
Anointed One
King Charles was anointed with oil from Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives as part of his coronation.
The word Messiah comes from the Hebrew for “anointed one” (Mashiach). The word Christ comes from the Greek Christos, the equivalent of Mashiach, Since those most frequently anointed are kings, saying “Jesus Christ” could also be “King Jesus!”
The Kingdom of God
In the US, we don’t have a monarchy, but those who submit to Jesus are part of his kingdom. It continues to advance, wherever and whenever God’s will is done.
As Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) And Jesus teaches us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). While people chant “long live the king!” we can rejoice that we have a King who lives forever!
Swearing allegiance
In yesterday’s ceremony, the archbishop invited people to swear allegiance to the new king. For millennia, observant Jewish people have twice daily pronounced their loyalty to God with the Shema, a practice referred to at the time of Jesus as accepting the “yoke of God’s kingdom.”
The Shema emphasizes what Jesus called the greatest commandment, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and might (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Jesus expanded on this to loving one’s neighbor.
Ponder
Some refuse to swear allegiance to the new king of the UK, but much more serious is whether people submit to King Jesus. How well are you living loyal to King Jesus, demonstrated by how you love God and others?
(Because Jesus taught more about the Kingdom of God than anything else, we have written about this theme before here, here, and here.)