Teach us to pray-3

As God has already chosen David to be the next king, what is required of all the kings of Israel. It would be helpful to review this in preparation of studying the events that led up to the prayer of Solomon. God provided and commanded that the future kings of Israel would reign according to all that He required. But, did they obey?

Deuteronomy 17:14  "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,' 7:15  you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 

Through Moses, perhaps hundreds of years before a king ruled over Israel, God gave specific commandments to them. First, the king must come from within the tribes of Judah.

17:16  "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.' 

This prohibition has two elements. The first, the king must not look horizontally to comfort himself in the size of his army. Horses were fundamental to war and all of the enemies of Israel had horses for that reason. Second, Egypt was a known source of horses. Going back to Egypt was an affront to the God who redeemed them from Egyptt.

Deu 17:17  "He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. 

There are numerous problems with multipe wives. The one that brought down Solomon were wives from other countries and therefore other religions, all idolatrous. So multiplying horses, wives, and material wealth was prohibited, as they focused too much on a path of self-sufficiency.

17:18  "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 

This very specific requirement does not appear to have been followed by any of the kings. If it was, it is not recorded. Why is this important?

17:19  "It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 17:20  that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. 

Here is the answer! Fear the Lord, humble the king, obey God, and his reign will continue. None took this commandent to heart, as they often built up their kingdoms to copy the kingdoms of the idolatrous nations around them. They encouraged marrying wives of other nations as some type of guarantee of peace. Europe had a habit of doing this very same thing in the years leading up to WWI.

Disobeying God always puts us in opposition to God. While God instituted these important requirements to all future kings, He wanted to protect them from sin and to remember who provided them with all the army, wealth, and peace they so desparately needed and sought.

What can we learn? Following the playbook of the world leads us away from God. This puts us in opposition to God and the withdrawl of the blessings from God.

More next Saturday.