"Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.
A man will be as a hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest…" (Isaiah 32:1-2)

Torah Portion: Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9

Shoftim (‘Judges’)

We live in a time when there is increasing uncertainty about the future and questioning of what has previously been accepted as the structure of society. Trusted foundations are found to be crumbling and those in authority often treated with scant respect. So, we come to this week’s Torah portion to be reminded of the order commanded by the Lord Almighty for His people, an order with leaders serving under His authority.

Judges and officials were to be appointed in every town in the land of Israel, instructed to follow justice and justice alone. If they followed God’s laws fairly, they would be able to live long in the land they were being given. If these local leaders faced cases that were too hard for them, they were to go to the priests and to the judge appointed by God over the entire nation, in the place where they served the Lord. They were expected to be seeking God’s wisdom for the people of the land.

However, the Lord also gave instructions for the time when the people would want more than this - when they would want to be like other nations in having a king. This would fulfil part of God’s covenant promise to Abraham that kings and nations would come from him and his wife, Sarah (Gen 17:6, 16). The Lord renewed this promise to Jacob at Bethel (Gen 35:11).

Instruction for Kings

Israel might become like other people in having a king, but their king was to be different from those of other nations. Only one chosen by the Lord was to be given that position, a brother Israelite who would keep God’s law without deviation and not consider himself better than his brothers. Therefore, the accumulation of great wealth was forbidden, as was acquiring large numbers of horses, which was something that would draw the people back to Egypt in search of more. Marriage was often used to seal treaties with foreign rulers but that would involve honouring the gods of those lands, so the king of Israel was not to take many wives.

On succession to the throne, the king was commanded to write out his own copy of the Torah, so that he would have it with him and read it all the days of his life. The king was expected to take God’s words to heart so that he could rule as the Lord directed him.

David was a man after God’s own heart but, when he became king in Jerusalem, he took more wives and concubines in addition to the seven he already had. Once we come to Solomon (1 Kings 10:14-11:8), we read of his great wealth, numerous horses imported from Egypt and his many foreign wives who brought their own gods and drew him away from the Lord.

Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah) came as a man in the kingly line of David to be the one truly righteous King of Israel, towards whom the Torah pointed and of whom David was a type. Throughout His ministry Yeshua taught that the Kingdom of God was at hand, but He would not take power as the sort of king the Jews were looking for at that time – one who would deliver them from Roman rule. To Pilate, Yeshua affirmed that He was a king, but that His kingdom is not of this world.

Before entering Jerusalem, when He knew the people wanted to make Him king, He told them a parable of an unpopular man having to go to a far country to be made king. During his absence, his subjects were given a sum of money to put to good use and he punished or rewarded them when he returned based on how they had invested it (Luke 19:11-27).

A Kingdom of Priests

We are in that time when the King is expecting us to make the most of His gifts in His absence (though we are not without His Spirit). We also know that we are grafted into His people, Israel, to be a kingdom of priests to serve His God and Father. With that responsibility, we, too, can learn from the instructions for the king.

First of all, we must take the Torah and all of God’s word to heart and read it all the days of our lives. We should not be focussed on accumulating great wealth or making ourselves superior to others. We come as equals, as brothers, to our Heavenly Father.

Secondly, we should not be striving to be like other people in finding our strength in the world’s resources, as Solomon went to Egypt for horses to build up his army. The weapons with which we fight are not the weapons of the world, for our battle is not against flesh and blood (2 Cor 10:4).¹

Thirdly, we must also take heed how we form alliances with others. Biblical marriage is between one man and one woman – the foundation for families according to God’s design. Paul also told the Corinthians clearly not to be yoked together with unbelievers, for we are the temple of the living God. We are called out of the world to be separate, just as Israel was called to be a holy people, distinct from the nations around. They were to be a witness to those nations showing the working of the Lord among them – a great and costly privilege. We, too must remain distinct, recognising the pressures to compromise so that Yeshua is seen as just one god among many.

“Christian faith tends to thrive when it is distinct from the prevailing culture…A Christianity that merely recycles the norms and values of the prevailing culture renders itself irrelevant and subservient” (Rod Thomas, Bishop of Maidstone).² Will we take our distinctive and rightful place as priests within God’s Kingdom, now, as we look for the return of Yeshua to rule as King of kings and Lord of lords?

References

1 In this same Torah portion, we read instructions for going to war. Israel was not to be afraid when confronted by larger and better equipped armies. The priest would remind them that the Lord their God was going ahead of them. Any man with unfulfilled commitments or who was afraid was encouraged to go home since any divided loyalty could undermine the confidence of others. We too should remember that the Lord can give victory to a very small number who are fully committed to obeying Him.

2 Quoted by The Christian Institute, 24 November 2016.