Godly Governance, Part 3

Well, today I want to continue the series I started a couple of weeks ago on godly governance.

Last time in part two of what will be a four-part series, I'll end it next time. I stated that the government of God is really God Himself governing. It is the rule of God, which will of course come when Christ returns, to be established when Christ returns. And I showed how in the past that God has governed in the realm of man by three overall methods or approaches, using a direct method where He governed directly with people like He did with Abraham and once and twice with Moses and speaking to them directly and so on.

And then by a direct and indirect approach, as He did through the prophets, speaking directly or communicating directly to the prophets who then communicated God's message to the nation of Israel. And then as He does today by an indirect method or approach. And of course today God governs His church indirectly by and through His Word as preserved and recorded in the Bible through Jesus Christ's teaching, which is in God's Word, and by and through His Holy Spirit, and by and through trials as well. God often governs us and helps us to learn things He's brought in the sermonette by and through the trials we experience. So today then in part three I want to look at two things overall.

First, I want to look briefly at God's expectations for those in top leadership positions, along with a warning given to any of those who would be in top leadership positions, regardless of who they are, whether it's in the world, or what any position might be, whether it's secular or ecclesiastical. And two, I want to show the various human governmental structures God has worked through throughout the time of the Old Testament.

We're going to look at the Old Testament today. We'll look at the New Testament next week. So my title for this particular sermon here this morning is Godly Governance. That's governance, not government, but Godly Governance, part three.

And the subtitle will be Old Testament Governmental Structures that God has worked through. So first let's look at God's expectations. As most of you know, the book of Deuteronomy was written by Moses at the individual's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land. Right toward the end of Moses' life, Moses was approaching or may have been 120 years old at the time Deuteronomy was written, as he was about to enter the Promised Land.

It was at the end of Moses' life. And Israel was about to enter the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, who succeeded Moses. So this is over 300 years before Israel would demand a king, like the other nations around them had. And over 300 years before Saul would actually then become the first king over Israel.

And yet God knew over 300 years in advance that the time would come when Israel was going to demand a king, to be governed by a king like the other nations. And notice what God said as recorded in the book of Deuteronomy, again written just before they were going to enter the Promised Land right at the end of the life of Moses. Moses was at or nearing 120 years of age.

Let's turn to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17 and begin in verse 14. Deuteronomy 17 verse 14, where God here tells Israel through Moses, is, When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and when you possess it, and dwell in it, and say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me.

When you say, I want to be governed by a king. Verse 15, When you say that, you should surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. It shouldn't be one that you choose, but it better be one that God chooses. Because you're going to know what qualities that king is going to need to have. He's going to have that kind of power. One from among your brethren you shall set as a king over you.

You may not set a foreigner. So he has to be at the house of Israel. He was telling them. And he must be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then God gives him further expectations that would be needed for it when it came to the time that they would demand a king.

Verse 16, But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses. For the Eternal has said to you, you shall not return that way again. You see, come to think about it, a king is in a very powerful position. He's in a position whereby he can readily grant himself privileges and advantages that he otherwise wouldn't have. Whereby he can easily take advantage of his leadership position to multiply his material wealth and possessions.

So it goes on here in verse 17, Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. As we know and see in the world around us today, it's very easy for those in very powerful leadership positions to get drawn into all kinds of sexual vice. And we see that a lot in today's world, don't we?

Many examples of that today. See, sexual vice will turn a leader's heart away from God. And it will turn his heart away from his leadership responsibilities, away from his wife, away from his family. And of course it will even lead to the destruction of his own life.

And we've seen examples of that even recently in the world we live in today, right here in the United States. Deuteronomy 17 verse 17, Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. As the old saying goes, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

A king can really take advantage of his power to multiply his wealth. So he ends up putting himself far above his subjects, and that often happens. See, it's very difficult for a king with all that power to really be a servant. Kings don't like to serve. Kings like to be served, generally speaking, with very few exceptions. Verse 18, Also shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, they shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests and the Levites. Verse 19, It shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord is God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. See, it's very difficult for a king's heart not to be lifted above the heart of his brethren. It's very difficult, because all of a sudden you're in the spotlight and you get this high, glorious position and all this power, because after all he is a king with wealth and power and a standard of living far above those he's ruling over in almost every case. Thus God here expected a king to not only read and observe God's law. God also says here that he should write for himself his own copy of the law. Now, you think about it back at this time. That was difficult. You had the scrolls in Hebrew and they only had copies, only the priests and so on had copies. They have them in certain places, the synagogues and so on or temples. They weren't readily available.

They didn't have printing presses, they didn't have copy machines. They couldn't just run off copies for somebody. You had to be written by hand. So for a king to have to write out a copy of the law for himself, it would be quite a task. It would take him some time.

Usually it would take a scribe to diligently copy the law. Even just the five books of Mosa would take considerable time. And the Old Testament would take probably a whole year or more to copy by hand. So it was quite a test. When you're doing that by hand, you've got to be thinking about everything as you're writing it, what it says and what it means.

So it was something that God required of a king. He said, you need to know what God's law is. You need to have it in your heart. You need to write it for yourself. So you really internalize it. So God had very high expectations for a king and for anyone who would find themselves in a top leadership position.

Now when Israel finally did demand a king, God warned them that that was not really a good idea. And God told them what the consequences would be of granting that much power to one individual. And you can read that later for yourselves. We're going to get to 1 Samuel 8, but we won't get into that part of it. But you can read that for yourselves in 1 Samuel 8. But then now let's then look at various governmental structures that God worked through in the Old Testament. And what I want to do is I want to look at seven overall I've divided this up into seven overall time periods to see how God worked through various governmental structures during those different time periods. And the first time period I want to take a look at is the time of the patriarchs or the time prior to the establishment of the nation of Israel, when Israel was established as a nation. Basically from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, if you want to put it in those words. And prior to the establishment of the nation of Israel, God primarily worked with individual households through the head of the household. Now, when you go back and read Genesis 3, you realize that Satan set out to thwart that system of governance that God was going to work through. He tried to thwart that from the very beginning. In Genesis 3.1, Satan bypasses Adam and goes directly to Eve. Now, it's just as interesting. I don't know how many of you have heard of John Milton and his poem Paradise Lost? Have you read that? And if you have that, I have a copy of it. It's actually a book. It's probably the longest poem ever written. It's actually a book. It takes up a whole book, a poem. It's all about Satan's temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. It is mostly fiction, of course, but it is an interesting read, and I've read parts of it. Here is how Milton poetically expresses Satan bypassing Adam and going directly to Eve in Book 9, Verse 480 of Paradise Lost. He writes this, The occasion which now smiles, behold, alone the woman, opportune to all attempts, her husband for a view, not nigh, whom I shine. So Satan shunned Adam as the head of the household and went directly to Eve. Now, if you look at Abraham, Abraham reflects the patriarchal system God governed through in calling and working with individual families prior to the establishment of the nation of Israel. From the time of Adam to the time of Moses, basically. And that system is summed up just by one verse. I was going to look at one verse to kind of sum up that system, patriarchal system that God worked through. That system is summed up by what God says of Abraham in Genesis, Chapter 18. So let's look at Genesis, Chapter 18. We just look at two verses there. Genesis, Chapter 18, or three verses, actually.

In Genesis 18, let's begin in verse 17. In Genesis 18, verse 17, the Eternal said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? I'm talking about Sodom and Gomorrah. Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nation of the earth shall be blessed in him. Verse 19 is the main verse here. For I have known him, and in order that he may command his children as the head of the household, that he command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Eternal, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. So that basically sums up the patriarchal system that God worked through, working through the head of the household, who would then pass on God's laws to his children and to his household. That was used up until the time Israel was established as a nation. So now, the notes of the next time period.

Let's look at the time of the establishment of the nation of Israel. Basically, at the time of Moses and the time when Israel was established as a nation. Now, about 500 years after Abraham, God delivered Abraham's descendants, as we know, out of Egypt. And at the time of their deliverance, they were basically nothing more than a large group of slaves, who were totally untrained and unequipped to govern themselves. And God sets out to make them into, as it says in Exodus 19.6, God sets out to make them into a kingdom of priests and into a holy nation. Now, to do that, God first established his sovereignty over them by displaying his powers. He came down to Mount Sinai. He then gave them his holy laws, gave them the Ten Commandments, by which they would be governed. Their Constitution, if you will. And God also clearly established Moses as his representative, through whom God would then communicate to them. As we read, I think, last time in Exodus 20, verses 18 and 19, the people didn't want God to directly communicate with them. They scared them. They said, well, I want you to communicate with us through Moses, indirectly. And so they liked that, since it was God communicating through a representative, through Moses. And that's recorded in Exodus 20, verses 18 and 19. However, it's interesting to note that even before they arrived at Mount Sinai, the limitation of one man to lead that large group of people became obvious. That was difficult for one man to be ruling over and governing that large group of people. He would need assistance. Let's look at Exodus 18, which is just prior to God coming down on Mount Sinai in Exodus 20. Exodus 18. And let's pick up the story in verse 7. Moses went out to meet his father-in-law. He can meet with his father-in-law here. And he bowed down and kissed him, and they asked each other about their well-being. And they went to Moses' tent. And Moses told his father-in-law all the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake. And he told him about all the hardship that had come upon them on the way and how God had delivered them from all those hardships. Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, rejoiced for all the good which the Lord had done for Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro blessed the Eternal, who had delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who had delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know, he says, that the Lord is greater than all the other gods. Quite an admission for this Jethro who was a priest of Midian. If you go back to Exodus 3, verse 1, he's a priest of Midian, who worshipped foreign gods. And now, after hearing Moses, he says, Why your God is greater than all the gods? For in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, he was above them all. So what admission for a priest of Midian, who worshipped foreign gods, who didn't really understand and know the true God up to this point, when he's kind of revealed to him by Moses. Going on in verse 12, Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt offering and another sacrifices to offer to God, the God of Israel. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. So it wasn't the next day that Moses set to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, What is this thing that you're doing? Why do you alone sit and all the people stand before you from morning to evening? And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God.

When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another.

And I make known the statues of God and His laws. So Moses' father-in-law said to him, The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you surely wear yourselves out, for this thing is too much for you. You're not able to perform this by yourself. Listen to my voice, and I will give you counsel, and God will be with you. Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you should teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they need to walk. Moreover, you shall select from all the people then, verse 21, select able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and play such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens, and let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they can bring to you, but the small matters they can bring to the others, and they can judge. So it will be easier for you, and they can help bear the burden with you. And then he said in verse 23, if you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all the people will also go their way in peace. So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. That's amazing. Think about that. I mean, no wonder God said that Moses was very humble more than all men who were on the face of the earth. Numbers 12, verse 3. Because here was a priest of Midian who worshipped foreign gods, and yet Moses realized the wisdom of his advice.

And he heeded that advice. I mean, how many of us would do that today? Moses was very humble. He was wise to do that. Going on to verse 25 of Exodus 18. And Moses chose able men out of all of Israel. He made them heads over the people, rules of thousands and hundreds and fifties and tens.

So they judged the people at all times. The hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judge every small case themselves. So this then was the first governmental system used by Moses for governing the nation of Israel. And it came as a suggestion from a priest of Midian, not directly from God himself. Even though Jethro acknowledged the sovereignty of the God of Israel here, obviously, there is no indication that he continued to worship the God of Israel. Because the next verse, in verse 27, says, Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way to his own land.

Presumably to continue his job as being a priest of Midian. But what I find very interesting here is that Moses was not above heeding a suggestion that did not come from someone who would have been perceived as being a man of the true God. But there's also nothing here in the context of Exodus 18 to indicate this was going to be God's governmental structure to be utilized from that time on. But there is one thing that does get timeless here. The very high standard of conduct given by this priest of Midian to Moses, he suggested here as a standard of conduct for those who would be chosen to in leadership positions, that is a timeless. It's timeless.

It still stands today. And let's go back there again to verse 21 of Exodus 18.

You should select men from all the people. You should select able men, such as fear God and men of truth, hating covetousness, so on. The leaders must be able men, able to lead by their example, by their wisdom, by their maturity, by their knowledge, and by their faith, courage, and convictions. They have to be able men. And they must fear God.

They must highly honor and respect and fear God and what God says. And it says, leaders must also be men of truth, men who love the truth, who live the truth, who are convicted by the truth, and who are honest and truthful in all their dealings with others. Extremely high standards here. These are timeless standards that still apply today. It says, leaders must hate covetousness. They not only must not covet power and wealth, position, glory, notoriety. They all not just shouldn't desire those things, but they have to hate those things. They must hate covetousness.

They must be something very adverse to them to even think about having those things.

And they must distance themselves from any and all forms of covetousness, says here.

Because it's very easy for someone who gets in a leadership position to enjoy being there and the advantages that come with that, and then to covet more, and to hold on to what they have.

But those standards and those principles of leadership are timeless. They apply to all leaders at all times, regardless of what governmental structure might be in place.

Doesn't matter. Yeah, it's interesting. It wasn't long before this particular system here that Jesterill suggested and Moses enacted. It wasn't long before that broke down.

We'll see that. It broke down. After years of wandering the wilderness, and by the way, it's interesting that in the wilderness is the original title of the book of Numbers, the inspired title. But after years of wandering in the wilderness, the mixed multitude among the Israelites, when they came out with a mixed multitude, because of all the plagues and everything that devastated Egypt, apparently there were a number of Egyptians and others who then decided that they got the leave with the Israelites, and they did. There was a mixed multitude who were non-Israelites, probably most of them Egyptians who also left with Israel.

After a while, the mixed multitude among the Israelites had an intense craving for meat.

They got tired of this manna, and they robbed up the Israelites to complain directly to Moses, bypassing the system that was set up. They said, these guys, these captains, these tens and thousands, they can't help us. We're going to go directly to Moses. We demand meat.

So they bypassed the structure of governance suggested by Jethro in Numbers 11.

Because that got himself—this is in Numbers 11 where this is brought out, I should say.

So because that got himself then altered their form of governance—and we can see that in Numbers 11.

So let's turn to Numbers 11. Numbers 11, let's begin in verse 10.

Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent, because they were all baptized in the system the governance had been set up. Now they're coming directly to Moses. We demand that you take care of this. And the answer of the eternal was greatly aroused—or excuse me, the anger of the eternal was greatly aroused. Moses also was displeased.

So Moses said to the eternal, Why have you afflicted your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight that you have laid this burden of all these people on me?

Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them that you say to me, carry them in your bosom? As a guardian carries a nursing child to the land, would you swore to your fathers? Do I have to nursemaid all these people who are acting like immature children, God was saying to Moses? Verse 13, Where am I to get meat to get to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, Give us meat. I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. So then Moses says to God, If you treat me like this, please kill me here and now.

If I have found favor in your sight, then do not let me see my wretchedness.

So then God altered their form of governance. This is God altering it right now, here in verse 16 and 17.

So the eternal said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is upon you, and will put that same Spirit upon them, and they shall then bear the burden of the people with you, that may not bear it by yourself alone.

So here then God established elders, that is, aged men, who had years of wisdom and experience behind them, who had spiritual maturity, whom he also gave his Spirit, who says here, that to have the wisdom and the wisdom of God, to be able to answer the people, the people would know then that these represented God himself, along with Moses. So here then God established elders as an integral element of Israel's governmental structure, and he remained that way for many years. There are always elders in place to help govern Israel, and elders continued to help govern Israel under Joshua's leadership, even after Moses died. Let's go forward now to the time of Joshua. Let's go to Joshua chapter 1, verse 1. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise, go over to this Jordan, and you and all the peoples, the Lamb which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel. Every place that the soul of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said, to Moses. In verse 5, no man should be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I'll be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. So Joshua also, like Moses, as we'll see here in a moment, he also had elders who assisted him in governing Israel, as Moses did. Let's go to Joshua chapter 7, verse 1. It's to start off in verse 1. Joshua 7, verse 1, says, but the children of Israel committed a trespass. Now I'm going to go into what it was. They committed a trespass, and they described what it was. It's a very serious trespass. And going down to verse 6 of chapter 7, then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the eternal until evening. He and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. So here's mentions that Joshua was also using elders to help him in governing Israel at that time, even as Moses had done under God's suggestion or directive earlier. Let's go to chapter 8, and over to chapter 8 of Joshua, verse 10. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel before the people of Ai. So I'm just pointing out here is that elders are still in place helping Joshua govern Israel, even as they helped Moses govern Israel. So the structural, the structure of governance established by God in Numbers 11, using elders and so on, seems to have been in place through the life of Joshua as well.

Now let's look at the time immediately after Joshua's death.

After Joshua died, there is another slight change in the structure of governance that God worked through.

But it is interesting to note here, and you look at this, that after Joshua died, God did not choose one man to take his place as he had done when Moses died.

When Moses died, it was obvious that God was going to detain Joshua to take his place.

But that doesn't seem to be the case here when Joshua died. Let's go to Joshua chapter 24, verse 31. Joshua 24, verse 31.

Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and then it doesn't mention anybody else taking his place when he died. It says, "...in all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which he had done for Israel." So it appears that after the death of Joshua, that God governed Israel by and through the elders for a period of time, rather than through one individual who was then assisted by the elders, as he had in the case of Moses and Joshua.

Because before Moses died, as we can read back in Deuteronomy 34.9, before Moses died, he laid hands on Joshua, so the children of Israel would know Joshua had been appointed to replace Moses. But there's nothing indicating that happened when Joshua died.

Just apparently the elders continued to kind of govern... God governed Israel through the elders where they were in place. It seems that when Joshua died, he lifted up to all the elders to assume the leadership positions. Thus, one man as the overall leader has not only been the structure of governance that God has worked through. That's the point I want to make.

Some people think that is the only structure God really won't work through.

But there are other places where God did not work through that. Here he's working through elders, and not with one man over all the elders. Let's look at the time of the Judges' fifth time period.

But first, let's know what God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites before they entered the land of Canaan to be established as a nation, as recorded in Deuteronomy 16.

Let's go to Deuteronomy 16.

Very interesting statement here before they entered the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 16, verse 18, God here addressed Israel's need for both a judicial system, capable judges, who would judge properly, and it looks like an executive system as well with officers.

It says here, judges and officers. And of course, also the elders were still in place after Joshua died as a legislative system to teach God's laws and so on.

So during the time of the Judges, elders continued to have an important role, and they continued to play a part in leadership positions that God used in governing Israel.

Let's go now to Judges 8. Let's go to the Book of Judges.

Look at that time period. Judges 8. Let's pick it up in verse 13.

We'll see that elders were in place here, were an important part of the leadership role during the time of the Judges as well. There were judges and officers, and there were still elders that God was using to govern through in governing Israel.

That was a structure that was used during the time of the Judges for over 300 years.

Judges 8, verse 13, Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle, and he caught a young man of the men of Sukkoth, and interrogated him, and he wrote down for him the leaders of Sukkoth and its elders.

I'll tell you who all the elders were over this particular area. A 77 men.

Showing elders still played an important role among the leaders of the cities of Israel during the time of the Judges. Let's go to Judges 11, verse 1.

Now it says, Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor.

Let's drop down to verse 4.

It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel, and so it was when the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Ta, where he was. Then they said to Jephthah, Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.

So the elders here then promised to make Jephthah their head if he defeated the Ammonites.

So during the time that Judges, Israel was governed by Judges, and by officers, and by elders, for a period of about 300 years. That was a governmental structure that God worked through during that time, as best he could. Now, of course, many of the Judges functioned more as commanders or deliverers than they did as actual Judges. Of course, their main judge, their main deliverer, as we know, was God himself. At the time of the Judges, it was a very confusing time because Israel did not look to God as their king or as their overall leader. Instead, as we know, as the book of Judges concludes, in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21 verse 25. Now, I stop and think about that. See, no system of governance. I don't care what system of structure governance is set up.

No system of governance will work when everyone does what is right in his own eyes.

That breaks down any system. No system can function properly of governance. That happens.

Let's now look at the sixth time period here today, and that's the time of the kings.

During the time of the Judges, there was a time's contention between some of the Judges and the elders of a particular area or a particular city, and that contention came to a head after Samuel made his two sons, Judges, over Israel. Let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 8. Let's just lead into the time of the kings. 1 Samuel chapter 8, and I'll begin in verse 1, 1 Samuel 8.

It came to pass when Samuel was old, because he was a judge of Israel, that he made his sons Judges over Israel. And the name of his firstborn was Joel, the name of his second, Abijah, and they were Judges and Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways, in the ways of their father.

They turned aside after dishonest gain. They took bribes, and because of that, of course, they perverted justice, and there was no justice under these two sons of Samuel.

So then all the elders, the elders who were also in leadership positions, all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rama. And they said to him, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways.

Now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations.

Now Rama was where Samuel's home was, is located. It tells us that in 1 Samuel 7, verse 17.

In verse 5, and they said to him, look, you are old, your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the other nations. This is God who predicted in over 300 years prior to this, as we read in Deuteronomy 17, verse 14. Israel now wanted a king like all the other nations.

Verse 6, for Samuel 8. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. So somebody prayed to God. And God said to Samuel, heed the voice of the people, and all they say, may they may say to you, all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

So God told Samuel to go ahead and do what they asked, let them have a king.

But it also, God in essence, told Samuel that the real problem was not the system or the structure of governance that was being used. It was not whether they had a leader like Moses with captains of tens and fifties and hundreds and thousands, or they had a leader like Moses with 70 chosen elders, or it wasn't whether they had a system of judges and officers and elders, or a king. Structure wasn't the problem. The problem was not the governmental structure. The problem was that the people had rejected God as their king. That was the problem.

You know, people tend to think, well, if we could only change the system, then things will work properly. It'll be better. Now, no, not necessarily. See, as I mentioned before, no system will work properly without godly righteousness, without the righteousness of God being in both those who are governing and those being governed. Without that, no system can work properly. You can't have any you can't have and you can't have godly righteousness without God first being your king, so to speak. God has to reign in our hearts and our minds before we can have godly righteousness. God must first rule in us, in our hearts and in our minds. God then warned him here in 1 Samuel 8 that having a human king was not necessarily a good idea. Why not? Well, because, as God would realize, this was far too much power in the hands of one individual, and that would only work to the degree that that king would live up to what God said in Deuteronomy 17 verses 14 to 20.

Now, it's only a way it'd be a good idea if the king lived up to every bit of what that says there in Deuteronomy 17 verses 14 to 20. And very few human kings totally live up to that standard, extremely high standard, and very difficult for someone with that much power as a king to live up to. And no kings of Israel or Judah totally lived up to that standard, even the more righteous. There were a few righteous kings of Judah, but even they fell short of that standard that we read of in Deuteronomy 17. So God then warned them of the potential consequences of having a king and of giving that much power to one individual. And you can read that for yourselves. It's recorded here, and I won't go through it, but you can read that in 1 Samuel 8 verses 9 through 18. He wrote what the consequences would be, because he understands, you know, human beings can't handle that kind of power. Very, very few can. And if you read and analyze those verses, 1 Samuel 8 verses 9 through 18, if you read those very carefully, you can come to readily realize that nearly every individual has ever been granted that kind of power, the power of a king, regardless of the title of his position, that nearly every individual with that kind of power has fallen to that warning, to one degree or another, to one extent or another.

Even very few converted individuals can handle the power of a king. And God knew that and understood that. So he gave these warnings right here in 1 Samuel 8. But for the next 400 years, God had to try to govern Israel and Judah through their monarchy, or their monarchies, because, of course, they separated, they divided into two nations, the northern ten tribes of Israel and the southern tribe of Judah, which is Judah and Benjamin and a half tribe of Levi, and each had their own monarchy, their own set of kings. But God had to try to govern through those kings, and He also then governed by and through His prophets, who then warned those kings when they went astray, which they often did. But very few kings heeded the warnings of the prophets, whom almost never heeded their warnings. So as history painfully proved, having a king was a bad idea, as nearly all of them abused their power and led Israel away from God. So let them bring this to the final period of time that we'll look at today, to the time after the fall of Judah.

Now the house of Israel, the northern ten tribes of Israel, fell to the Assyrians in 721 BC, and the house of Judah fell to King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in 586 BC.

Now King Nebuchadnezzar, he had the power of a king, if you read a historian in the book of Daniel, he radically and insanely abused his power as a king, telling his wise men at one point that he would kill them. He'd kill them all if they did not tell him his troubling dream that he had, and the interpretation. You've got to tell me, not just tell me the interpretation, you can tell me what I dreamed and tell me the interpretation. If you don't, I'm going to kill all of you and burn your houses. Here's what he said, recorded in Daniel 2 verse 5. He never could have said, my decision is firm. If you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you should be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made in asheep.

Of course, that would have included God's servant Daniel and Daniel's three friends.

We all know what happened. God revealed the dream and the interpretation to Daniel.

And then later on in the story, Nebuchadnezzar went insane for seven years, so he could learn a lesson that all kings need to learn. Let's read that for ourselves in Daniel chapter 4. Daniel 4, let's pick it up in verse 33 of Daniel 4. This is the time that Nebuchadnezzar has been going insane. That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from man and ate grass like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws.

At the end of the time, Nebuchadnezzar lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is a never-lasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain his hand or say to him, What have you done? At the same time my reason returned to me, he says in verse 36, and for the glory of my kingdom, and my honor and splendor returned to me, and my concerts and nobles restored to me, and I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me.

So then he says this in verse 37, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and his ways are justice. And those who walk in pride, as he has done, and those who walk in pride he is able to put down, he is able to humble, a vital lesson for all kings, those who walk in pride he is able to put down.

It's hard to stay humble when you have the power of a king.

And a vital lesson for those who are subject to a powerful king like Nebuchadnezzar, who might seek to take their life, a powerful lesson for those who humbly walk with God, and who trust their very lives to God, that lesson is this, that God is sovereign over all things, including he is sovereign over all kings, no matter how much power they might have.

And God can deliver those who trust in him, for many and all life-threatening circumstances, no matter how grave they might happen to be, as he delivered Daniel from the lions den, and as he delivered Shedrak, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. Let's just note that, because it's very inspiring to see how God could govern. The point is that God can govern and work with his people, even when under a foreign power that's extremely abusive. God is still there.

He could still govern his people, and he can deliver them. Daniel 3 verse 24, then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished as he looked in the fiery furnace, where he thought that Shedrak, Meshach, and Abednego would be totally burnt up in just seconds.

And he rose and haste and spoke, saying to his consulars, Well, didn't we cast three men into the midst of the fire? And they said, Well, yes, true, okay?

And that's what we did. We cast three men in there. He said, Well, look, I see four men in there walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the son of God.

He doesn't look like a human being. Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and he spoke, saying, Shedrak, Meshach, and Abednego, service of the Most High God, come out and come here.

Then Shedrak, Meshach, and Abednego came from the midst of the fire.

And all the administrators and governors and so on of the kingdom, the king's consulars gathered together, and they saw these men, on whose bodies the fire had no power. The hair of their head was not singed, no other garments affected, and the smell of the fire was not on them. So then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, Blessed be the God of Shedrak, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel, probably Jesus Christ himself, and delivered his servants who trusted in him. And they have frustrated the king's word. The king had no power over those who trust in God. The king had no power. God was still governing his people and delivering them and protecting them. He frustrated the king's power and yielded their bodies that they should not serve nor worship any God except their own God.

Therefore, I make it decree that any people, nation, or language, or speaks anything I miss against the God of Shedrak, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made in ashy, because there is no other God who can deliver like this. So God can still govern the lives of his people, even in impossible situations. Now, in 539 BC, just to kind of wind this up, Babylon was conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire, looking at the time between the Old New Testaments. God's people were then subject to that foreign power for the next 200 years.

But God was still able to govern his people to accomplish his purpose, even by using carnal unconverted kings, like King Cyrus, who allowed the Jews to return to Judea to rebuild the temple and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. And then, of course, he died, and they tried to thwart that purpose. But then God used King Artaxerxes to carry out the decree of Cyrus. So God was still governing, even though they're under foreign powers. He was still working out his purpose, in his plan, with his people. And then, of course, God delivered during that time. God delivered the people, his people, from Haman and saved them through Queen Esther, who was a Jewish, had earned and replaced, and he was able to work and govern through Queen Esther to save the Jews.

Also, govern his people in and around Jerusalem by and through Ezra and Nehemiah.

Ezra being a priest and Nehemiah being the appointed governor of Judea.

They then helped establish what came to be called the Great Assembly, which was made up of Levitical priests.

The Persian Empire allowed the Jews in Judea to be governed by the Great Assembly in religious and civil matters of the Jews. And later, the Persian Empire was defeated and overthrown by Alexander the Great and the Mirko-Methalodonian Empire. And, of course, in 168 B.C., as we know, Antiochus Epiphanes became king and set up the abomination of desolation and threatened to wipe out all the Jews who would not forsake their religion and worship his gods.

And then God used the Maccabees to restore the temple and to restore Jerusalem to the Jews.

So, God could still govern under all circumstances. And just a real quick scripture here, the prophecy about Antiochus Epiphanes and how God could still govern, even in those kind of circumstances, through people who have courage. Daniel 11, verse 32, a prophecy concerning Antiochus many years before. Daniel 11, 32, those who do wickedly against the covenant, he, referring to Antiochus Epiphanes, he shall corrupt with flattery. But the people who know their God, which is the Maccabees and others who joined with him, the people who know their God shall be strong and will carry out great exploits, as they did, as history proves they did. So, God can govern and work with his people to accomplish his purpose through any and all systems of governance.

Even under the governance of powerful, world-only empires who seek to destroy the people of God, God can still be there and be governing his people under those situations. So, never forget that God is sovereign over all systems of governance and over all kings who might abuse their power. In conclusion then for today, in looking at the Old Testament, there is no single structure of governance that can be identified as the government of God. The government of God will be established when Jesus Christ returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and we shall then reign as a kingdom of priests with God, with Jesus Christ. But there is no single structure of governance that can be identified as the government of God, that is, that God uses through human beings, or the governance of God that should be employed at all times. Because within all structural governance forms, there was both good and bad government which existed. Whether it was good or bad, it depended upon those governing and those being governed. It did not depend on the structure.

But the one form of governance that was subject to the abuse more of his power than any other was that where you had a king who was given too much power in the hands of one individual.

That was obviously the one that had the greatest possibility of having abuse of power.

But Old Testament examples of governance provide the principles for righteous governance, but they don't provide a structure that should be in place at all times. That is a perfect structure. There is no perfect structure because there are no perfect people. Not now.

That's where God is trying to convert us into the image of Jesus Christ and God the Father.

But God was able to govern his true people through many, many human structures and forms of governance down through the ages as we've outlined here in the Old Testament times.

Now next time in part four, as we conclude this series, we want to look at the models and principles for godly governance that are provided for us in the New Testament, and how God wants us to achieve unity through consensus.