The Theme of Kingship in the Book of Hosea

Kingship is a rather prominent theme in the book of Hosea. Israel’s kings and princes rejoiced in evil (Hos 7:3). The princes were drunkards and full of treachery and political intrigue (Hos 7:4–7). None of the kings of the northern kingdom had been set up with God’s approval (Hos 8:4).

Hosea preached that judgment was coming against the king of Israel (Hos 5:1). The king of Israel was going to be destroyed (Hos 10:7, 15). Like a twig floating on the surface of a body of water, Israel’s king was going to perish (Hos 10:7). The king of Israel would “be utterly cut off” (Hos 10:15). Following this, Israel would be devoid of a king for a long period of time (Hos 3:4), i.e., during the time of the exile and beyond.

Surprisingly, the king who is acknowledged in the book of Hosea as being “great” and “mighty” is the king of Assyria (Hos 5:13; 10:6)! Israel had sought to overcome her internal weaknesses by turning to Assyria as an ally, but in the end Assyria would not provide any genuine help to Israel (Hos 5:13). Indeed, the tribute paid to foreign nations (particularly to Assyria) would end up making the situation far worse for Israel’s king and princes (Hos 8:10). The idolatrous calf of Bethel would end up being carried off as tribute for the king of Assyria (Hos 10:6). Because of the Israelites' refusal to turn to God, Assyria would be their king (Hos 11:5).

The execution of divine judgment against Israel, however, would cause her to lose faith in kingship (whether divine or human) as an institution (Hos 10:3). This stands in contrast to the false expectations that many Israelites had harbored previously with respect to the ability of human kings and princes to provide salvation (Hos 13:10; see also 1 Sam 8:19–20). The kings of Israel had been permitted by God to reign out of divine anger, and their end also came about as a consequence of God’s wrath (Hos 13:11).

The restoration of Israel, however, would see Israel turning back to Yahweh, which would involve at the same time Israel’s turning back to the Davidic king (Hos 3:5). This is significant because the northern kingdom had been in rebellion against the Davidic king (i.e., the king of Judah) since the days of Rehoboam. At this time, Israel would rightly lose faith in the false saving abilities of Assyria and human military might (Hos 14:3).

The Great Commission of the King

Many (if not most) Christians have heard of the Great Commission:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:19–20).

But all too often these verses are quoted, and even thought of, in isolation from their context, which includes in particular Jesus’ preface to the Great Commission in Matt 28:18.

Immediately preceding the words of the Great Commission, Jesus proclaimed his universal authority. In saying “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt 28:18), Jesus clearly stated his understanding that he was the divinely-appointed Messiah. Jesus understood, in accordance with Old Testament prophecy (see my previous post ‘“All Authority in Heaven and on Earth Has Been Given to Me”: Intertextuality between Matthew 28:18 and the Old Testament’), that he had been appointed by God to be King over all the nations on earth.

It is important to understand, therefore, that the Great Commission is a function of Jesus’ great authority as the King of all nations. The presence of the word οῦν therefore in v. 19 makes explicit the causal connection between Jesus’authority (as stated in v. 18) and the Great Commission (stated in vv. 19–20). Because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the risen Lord Jesus, disciples are to be made of all nations.

The Great Commission, therefore, is not just about evangelism in the narrow sense of merely preaching the death and resurrection of Christ. The gospel is supremely the proclamation of the lordship of Christ, and the Great Commission is the command of the divinely-appointed Messiah for the church to engage in the important task of calling upon all people everywhere to submit to the lordship of the divinely-appointed risen King.

The Rise of the Monarchy in Israel Viewed in the Light of the Concept of Kingship in the Old Testament

The rise of the monarchy in Israel needs to be viewed in the light of the broader concept of kingship presented in the Old Testament. The primary theological point relating to the issue of monarchy in Israel is the consistent teaching of the Pentateuch and the books of Joshua and Judges that kingship is first and foremost an attribute of God. God is presented in the Pentateuch as being the King of creation. God appears in Gen 1 as the King whose word of command established the boundaries and content of created reality (compare Ps 148:5–6). Even though God’s kingship is not frequently mentioned in an explicit way in the Pentateuch or in Joshua and Judges, God’s rule over creation is the presupposition upon which the content of these books rests. What is presupposed and implicit for the most part in the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges becomes more explicit in the biblical books from 1 Samuel onwards. The royal psalms in particular link God’s work of creation and his subsequent work of providence for creation with his “honor and majesty” and “glory” (e.g., Ps 19:1; 95:3–5; 104:1–32). Such psalms make explicit the theology of kingship that is implicit in the Pentateuch and the books of Joshua and Judges. The Old Testament teaches that one of the reasons that God created the world was so that his universal kingship might be acknowledged by all his creatures (Ps 96:1–10; 99:1–3; 145:10–13; 148:1–13; 150:1–6).

Even though kingship is supremely an attribute of God, Gen 1–3 indicates that God created human beings in his royal image. The significance of being created in God’s image is linked in Gen 1:26–28 with humanity having “dominion … over all the earth” and over all the creatures of the earth. By giving humanity dominion, God established humanity as having authority as kings over creation. Humanity was given the task of filling and subduing the earth. In other words, God engaged humanity in the work of helping to bring about the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth. Once the whole of the earth had been brought inside the boundaries of the garden of Eden, then humanity’s work would be finished, and the kingdom of God complete. To be successful in this task, however, it was necessary for human beings not only to work after the pattern of God himself (hence, the significance of the Sabbath commandment in Exod 20:8–11) but also to submit to God by keeping his commandments. The Pentateuch makes it very clear in a number of ways that humanity’s royal authority was to be exercised under the higher authority of God himself. The fact that Adam was placed under divine command shows that Adam and his descendants were to submit themselves in obedience to God (Gen 2:16–17). The subsequent episodes of God’s judgment of Adam and Eve, the judgment of Cain, the destruction of the flood at the time of Noah, and the judgment of the builders of the tower of Babel all serve to show God’s authority over humanity and/or the whole of creation.

Even though God is the King of the entire world, it is also important from the perspective of the Old Testament to recognize that God chose to realize his kingship over the world through the nation of Israel. Thus, God is seen in the Old Testament to be the King of Israel in particular. The covenant of circumcision established the idea that God would be the God of Abraham’s descendants (Gen 17:7). Abraham’s descendants for their part had the responsibility to “keep [God’s] covenant” (Gen 17:9; 18:19). God promised Abraham that there would be “kings” among his descendants (Gen 17:6). Jacob prophesied that royal authority would be exercised by Judah on a worldwide scale (Gen 49:10). God considered Israel to be “[his] people” (e.g., Exod 3:7; 5:1; 15:16). God’s redemption of Israel out of Egypt further established God’s claim of possession over Israel (Exod 15:13, 16; 20:2). This was also symbolized through the rite of the consecration of the firstborn (Exod 13:1–2, 11–16). After the exodus, the relationship between God and Israel was formalized in a covenant ceremony at Mount Sinai (Exod 19:1–24:11). This was an exclusive relationship which demanded Israel’s faithfulness or loyalty to God. Even though “all the earth is [God’s],” the other nations were excluded from this special relationship with God (Exod 19:5–6). Israel willingly submitted to the covenant that that God offered to them at this time (Exod 19:8; 24:3,7). This covenant, also known as the old covenant (as per 2 Cor 3:14), formally established God’s kingly rule over Israel. The condition for Israel to benefit from this special relationship was covenant obedience, i.e., a commitment to serving God through keeping the law of Moses (e.g., Deut 6:1–3).

It is significant that one of the benefits of Israel keeping covenant with God was that Israel would be constituted as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). Given that the word kingdom in the phrase a kingdom of priests parallels the word nation in the phrase holy nation, the expression a kingdom of priests and a holy nation speaks of Israel as a nation consecrated to the service of God. In other words, Israel would only be a kingdom before God to the extent that the nation submitted itself to the rule of God. What submitting to the rule of God involved for Israel was subsequently spelled out in great detail in the Mosaic law. Even though the context suggests that the kingdom in view in Exod 19:6 is Israel as a divine monarchy rather than Israel as a human monarchy, the books of Samuel and Kings in particular show that the divine and human aspects of the monarchy in Israel were intertwined in God’s plan, with the success of the institution of human monarchy within Israel dependent upon how well the institution of divine monarchy was respected. Israel submitting to the rule of God would mean the restoration of the kingdom ideal that existed in the garden of Eden but which was lost after Adam’s rebellion.

God’s intention for Israel, therefore, involved the development of human rule under the ultimate rule of God. This human rule would also be focused in a particular human being who would also be called the king of Israel. That God’s theocratic rule over Israel would incorporate a human king is indicated in Deut 17:14–20. This passage sets out the divine laws regulating human kingship within Israel. Even though Deut 17:14 is effectively a prophecy that Israel’s motivation for asking for a human king would not be proper (in that it would be motivated out of a desire to imitate the kind of government found in the surrounding nations), the fact that the law of Moses made provision for a human king indicates that human kingship was an integral part of God’s plan for Israel from the beginning. Israel would have a human king, but the one appointed as king had to be the one “whom Yahweh [their] God [would] choose” (Deut 17:15). The king was to be an Israelite, and should not acquire many horses, or wives, or excessive silver and gold (Deut 17:15–17). He was obligated to have his own copy of the Mosaic law to study in order to “keep … all the words of [God’s] law” (Deut 17:18–19). Thus, Mosaic law clearly placed the human king of Israel under the authority of God and his law. Indeed the length of the king’s dynasty is connected in Deut 17:20 with how well the king would follow “the commandment,” i.e., the law viewed as a whole. The idea of human kingship in Israel was, therefore, built into the Mosaic law. The law made provision for a human king but proscribed the authority of this king. The human king was to be subject to the authority of God, the King of kings.

Given what has been observed above, we have to conclude that there was nothing wrong with the concept of human kingship per se operating in Israel. In fact, the evidence strongly favors the conclusion that human kingship was one of the purposes that God had had in mind for humanity and Israel from the very beginning. God has given humanity the privilege of dominion over the earth. For this dominion to be legitimate, however, it must be exercised in submission to the greater authority of God, for God is King over all.

The Universal Rule of Christ according to Psalm 2

The British Empire at its height commanded 20% of the world’s land surface and over a quarter of the world’s population. They used to say: “The sun will never set on the British Empire.” But historically with the fall of Singapore the British Empire started to unravel. This retreat of Britain from its colonies in Asia was completed in 1997 when Hong Kong was handed back to China.

The truth is that superpowers come and go. With the fall of the Soviet Empire, America is now the undisputed world superpower, but the question is: For how long?

I’m no prophet, but it seems like China is on its way to becoming the next world superpower. It’ll be interesting to see (provided the world doesn’t end in the meantime) who China sides with: with the West, or with the Muslim world whose oil is so important to China’s future development?

But whoever is the superpower of tomorrow, there’s one thing for certain: they won’t be a superpower forever.

King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon, which was the superpower of the Ancient Near East back in the sixth century B.C., is recorded in the Bible at the height of his reign walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, proud of his achievements. Looking down upon the vista of his kingdom below, he said: “Isn’t this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan 4:30). But while these words were in the king’s mouth, a voice from heaven announced to him that he would shortly be driven out from human society to live in the fields like a wild animal, eating grass, “until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will” (Dan 4:31–32).

Nebuchadnezzar eventually learnt his lesson, and came to acknowledge that God’s “dominion is an everlasting dominion, and [that] his kingdom [alone] endures [forever]” (Dan 4:34); but sadly not everyone is willing to submit to this truth.

In Ps 2:1–3 David reflects upon the empty rebellion of the world against God. He begins in v. 1 by asking a question: “Why do the nations throng tumultuously and the peoples devise empty schemes?” The nations are like a thronging crowd or raging mob, raising their fists in the air against God. But why do they do this? Is it possible to successfully oppose the Creator of this universe? It doesn’t make sense. It’s a futile act.

And yet “the kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers sit close together, against Yahweh and his anointed.” The nations are led in this rebellion by their rulers (Ps 2:2). Their rulers sit closely together to take counsel and to devise their plans. They are united in their opposition against God and his anointed one, the Messiah, which translated into Greek is the Christos, the Christ. And their plan is to rebel against God’s authority.

In Ps 2:3 the content of their plan can be seen: “Let’s tear apart their bonds, and cast their ropes from us.” Their obligations of submission and service to God are pictured as bonds to be broken, as ropes to be cast off.

If God is the Creator of the world, and if Jesus Christ is God’s chosen King, then it is simply the height of arrogance to think that we can escape the rule of God.

And yet the nations and their rulers still seek to rebel against God. Back in May 2011 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation program Foreign Correspondent presented a story on the persecution of religion in China. The story is called True Believers, and is well worth watching. The larger part of the story focuses on the rapid growth of Christianity in China, and some of the attempts of the Chinese government to hinder the growth of underground churches.

But whether it be state sponsored opposition like in China, outright prohibition like in Saudi Arabia, or the scoffing ridicule of atheistic progressives in the West, truth be told, thinking you can successfully rebel against God is totally ridiculous.

Psalm 2:4–6 records God’s response to such opposition: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord mocks them. Then he will speak to them in his anger and dismay them in his fury: ‘But I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.’”

God’s attitude to those who oppose him is basically to laugh at their puny efforts. Imagine what an elephant might think on learning that the bunch of ants in front of him was planning to capture and destroy him. An elephant scared of ants? Not likely.

Any such efforts on the part of human beings are but “empty schemes” as Ps 2:1 indicates. Seriously, you reckon you can take on God and win? Don’t you realize that God is the one who created this universe? He only has to open his mouth, and whatever he wills happens. To take on God is pure stupidity. Whoever opposes God will definitely lose.

But laughing at the puny efforts of humans to rebel against him isn’t the totality of God’s response. In Ps 2:5, David prophesies that one day God will act against those who oppose him. One day God will speak clearly, and reveal his anger. On that day God’s wrath against the rebellious will be evident for all to see; and, according to Ps 2:6, God will point to the rule of Christ in Zion, which is Jerusalem, as proof of his sovereignty.

Think about it: the world’s opposition to God and his Messiah reached its climax at the cross when God’s Messiah, Jesus, was brutally killed. The rulers of the Jews at the time, symbolizing the attitude of the nations to God, scoffed at the man hanging on the cross. If you’re the Son of God, come down off the cross! You saved others; can’t you save yourself? Come down, and we’ll believe you! The Roman soldiers also mocked him. But these mocking voices were not the last word. You think you can rebel against me? You think you can destroy the Messiah? Well then, you’ve got another think coming! Witness the resurrection of my Messiah! Witness his ascension into heaven! Witness his enthronement at my right hand on the throne of Messiah! Witness the expansion of his rule throughout the world!

According to Ps 2, the installation of the Messiah as King at the right hand of the Father in heaven is the key event in God’s response to human rebellion. It was only after great opposition that he came to the throne; but having ascended the throne of highest power in the heights of heaven, there is no power or authority on earth that will be able to oppose him. As the Son of Man prophecy in Dan 7 makes clear: “behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away; and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Dan 7:13–14).

In Ps 2:7–9, David recalls the decree, the abiding law, that God has made concerning the Messiah: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; like a potter’s vessel you will smash them.”

Psalm 2:7 links God’s installation of his King in Zion with God’s proclamation of the sonship of the Messiah. Jesus’ ascension and enthronement in heaven marks the commencement of his rule in Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. Jesus’ ascension and enthronement in heaven is proof that he is the only begotten Son of the Father. As the Apostle Peter in his Pentecost sermon in Acts 2 observed, the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on the church is proof that Jesus has been “exalted at the right hand of God,” and that Jesus has been made “both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:33, 36). Jesus, the Son of Man is Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is God’s chosen King, and the fulfillment of the ancient Chinese ideal of Shèngmíng Tiãnzĭ (圣明天子), the enlightened Son of Heaven, the perfect ruler who brings peace and harmony throughout his kingdom.

Ascended on high, Jesus the Messiah has become the Son of God in power; and enthroned as the risen Lord in heaven, Jesus has the right, according to God’s plan, to ask God the Father to give him the nations of the world as his inheritance, the ends of the earth as his possession. This is why you have various languages represented when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church at Pentecost. This is why we have Jews, Samaritans, Greeks, and Romans responding to the gospel in the book of Acts. The book of Acts records the beginning of the Messiah’s work to take control over the nations, the commencement of the messianic work of bringing Planet Earth back in submission to the rightful rule of God.

According to Ps 2:9, the Messiah will exercise strong rule over the nations. Any nation that opposes the rule of Messiah will be broken with a rod of iron, and smashed like a piece of pottery.

All in all, Ps 2:7–9 describe the universal rule of Christ; and this is the political reality that is currently being worked out in human history. The big political issue of the world today isn’t the politics of East versus West, or the politics of climate change. The biggest political issue of the world today is responding appropriately to the new political reality that stems from the fact of the enthronement of Jesus as King over the whole of the Planet Earth after his ascension into heaven.

Now if it is true that Jesus is the King of the world, how should we respond? David spells this out in vv. 10–12 of this psalm.

According to Ps 2:10 the rulers of the world are to be wise and to be warned. The truth that Jesus is Lord has implications for the leaders of every nation on earth. It applies as equally to Prime Minister of England as to the President of the United States, and even the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. Wisdom here involves sniffing the political wind, understanding who is the ascendant political power in the world today, and submitting oneself to this political power in genuine service. The rulers of the earth need to stop rebelling against the rule of God that God is exercising through Jesus.

And if this applies to the leaders of the world, it also applies to ordinary individuals. God wants all human beings to be wise. He wants us to understand the truth, and to repent of our feeble attempts at rebellion. If it is true that Jesus is the Christ, the King of the world, and that anyone who stubbornly opposes him will be crushed, then the wise response is obvious.

In fact, David spells out the proper response in Ps 2:11–12: “Serve Yahweh in fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way; for his anger burns quickly. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

God is strong and powerful. He is mighty and majestic. Realistically acknowledging the power and authority of God is to fear him. This fear leads us to submission and to service. And this is David’s strong recommendation in v. 11: “Serve Yahweh in fear”! Because God is the powerful Creator of everything, we need to submit to him, and serve him. God inspires fear in all who know him, but at the same time serving him is a wonderful privilege. Think about it: you are being invited to come before the King of creation to enter into his service. There is no higher calling! Pursuing this privilege, serving the one true God, is a joyful occupation; but one that we dare not take lightly. It is mingled with fear and trembling. God fills us with joy, but at the same time he is awesome and scary!

In Ps 2:12 David links this submission to God with submission to the Messiah. Serving God means kissing the Son. But what does it mean to kiss the Son? The kissing in view here is an act of obeisance. It’s like bowing down before the king. To kiss the Son is to acknowledge the superiority of the Son of God. It is an act of submission and a pledge of obedience to God’s chosen regent on earth.

And this is significance of Ps 2 for the world today. God calls upon everyone throughout the world to serve him by submitting to his Son, the Messiah.

In a nutshell, submission to Christ is what Christianity is all about. The central truth of Christianity is the confession that Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:9). God has decreed with a decree that cannot be altered that the world must submit to the Son of God, the anointed one, the Messiah. We cannot submit to God without submitting to the Son of God. We cannot experience true blessing without turning to Jesus as a our place of refuge and safety. As the author of Hebrews says in Heb 5:9: Jesus is “the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”

So the question for every person alive today is: Have you kissed the Son of God yet? Have you come in submission to Jesus Christ? Have you confessed that Jesus is Lord, and are you submitting today to his rule over your life?

Every single person on this planet has need of such submission, for this is the only pathway to blessing. David reminds us in Ps 2:12 that if we don’t submit to the Messiah, then we will be destroyed when God’s anger burns forth. God is slow to anger, but if we push him too far “his wrath is quickly kindled.”

In the light of the primary political reality of our world, the gospel message is a call for every single person living on Planet Earth today to confess that Jesus is Lord.

The truth is that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is King over the nations. This is a fact seen in the multi-ethnic nature of the church throughout the world. The Christian church is made up of people of different cultural backgrounds who are united under the one rule of Jesus the King. As the Apostle Paul has said: “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). From as far afield as the cathedral villages of Europe, the bustling cities of Asia, the great plains of Africa, and the sunburnt outback of Australia, there are people in every country on the face of our earth who know this truth: that Jesus is Lord. They have seen the new political paradigm, and understood that submission to Christ is the wise way forward and the key to blessing.

As Christian brothers and sisters in China and other countries know, at times confessing that Jesus is Lord is not an easy thing to do. But this is how things were even back in the beginning. To go around saying that Jesus is Lord was for the early Christians a potentially dangerous and subversive act, because it clashed with the political reality of that day, where Caesar, the Roman emperor, was ordinarily acknowledged as κύριος, i.e., as Lord. Many Christians suffered in those early days because Caesar did not like the fact that the Christians acknowledged someone apart from him as κύριος. How ironic that in the space of less than 300 years, the Roman emperor himself would come to acknowledge that Jesus indeed is Lord.

And surely history has proven Emperor Constantine right. Wherever you go on this planet, there are people who have come in obedience and submission, acknowledging that Jesus is the King.

What king in world history has had more subjects than King Jesus? What king in world history has been acknowledged as king by people of every country on this planet? History itself proves that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. To swim against the tide of history is useless. The wise thing to do is to submit to Jesus as Lord and to serve him forever.