Requirements for the King
At the last segment of Deuteronomy 17, there is a record of expectations for any future Israelite king. This king is required to be a native and expressly favored by God. He is not to acquire great wealth or to make a harem of women for himself to mistreat, or to be lead astray by lust and idolatry. Additionally, he is forbidden to bring Israel back to the country of their enslavement. All of these make the future king of Israel as distinct from other kings as Israel is from other nations.
The most important distinction is for the king to have a personal copy of the law, when he takes the throne. This is to be his standard for living and ruling, and his rule will always be successful and his reign one of abundance and joy — so long as he walks in lock-step with the holy expectations of God. He is to keep the law and walk in humility, and not to set himself above his people. Ultimately, God is their King and any human leader they select from themselves had better line himself with the character of God. For the sake of his kingdom, his family, and his nation.
In America, we don’t have a king. A vast accumulation of wealth may be a problem for corrupt leaders, but there are (normally) steps to avoid that. Having a lot of horses wouldn’t bother very many people, as long as they aren’t gathered with funds meant for sensible things. Having more than one wife at the same time is (generally) frowned upon. Our leaders are not held to the arguably “outdated” expectations that the ancient kings of Israel were.
Or are they?
I don’t mean horses or harems or silver and gold. I mean this part:
“It [this law] is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees…” (Deuteronomy 17:9)
Our American leaders are sworn in, and the emblem of integrity and expectation is a Bible. The book of Deuteronomy sits between those pages. The same words, translated in a different language that still say the same things they have always said. Rulers are to be held accountable, demanded to stay humble and walk like Yahweh yearns for them to walk. It said that before there was a king, and it kept saying that long after every king ended with failure and sin and disaster.
We don’t have the same kind of government. We are a nation founded on values, not a theocracy ruled by God (though that sounds remarkable). But those values are still built on that same Book, the same Book that King David celebrated all his days and clung to above all else. He failed but he still held on as long as he was on this earth.
Without being overly pessimistic, that isn’t the case, not in this season, not from most of our leaders. They absolutely and utterly fail to even keep a single line contained in the Book they swear on. Of course, every human being does, and nobody can do it without the Author of Life whose breath helped pen and maintain the documents that eventually crafted that same Book. I don’t expect every American to be a perfect Christian, because there’s no such thing as that.
But if God demanded that the kings of Israel follow that Book, and we ensure our leaders swear upon them — why shouldn’t we ache when they pretend that book they place their hand upon is nothing more than the last step to power.
Why shouldn’t we fume, at least a little, when our leader won’t show his face to the people who he leads for months on end? Why shouldn’t we roll our eyes when he takes credit for actions done long before he was on office? Why shouldn’t we point with distress at the enormous human rights violation occurring just outside our borders?
There are desperate people being treated as a political weapon. Children are crammed together (in the same “cages” once moaned about without ceasing) away from their families.
Drug-runners and human traffickers mocking representatives just trying to turn the lights on — because they have been allowed to think no one will stop them.
I won’t go on and on, I won’t carry around frustration about things I can’t control. But I’ll keep writing about them until they change. I’ll keep praying for public repentance, even though my human eyes tell me it’s impossible. I’ll keep looking for the genuine good buried by bad news and gossip.
I will trust that God will hold leaders to the mark and call them out when they fail — and that He will restore them if they repent and turn to Christ. I know that it seems unfair to ask that God help them when they don’t do a thing to help anyone else. What can we do if our voices are ignored, when we have to wait for our votes to change the scene again? Trust in the God who demanded that Book be recorded and remembered. He undid four centuries of the same. Slavery, idolatry, abuse — nothing changed, until:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
The Lord is the God of hope.
The Lord is the God of promises kept.
The Lord is the God of nations.
The Lord is the God of freedom.
The Lord is the God of justice.
Our God is a good God, and He reigns. Through good leaders and really, really bad ones. The moment any person stops and looks at themselves through the lens of that Book, something happens. Change starts. They put their hand on that book. It’s not magic. But the Spirit that forged it is stronger than any human heart, and His character reflects brightly from its pages.
Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 30:9–10)
