Articles
No Exceptions
The nation of Israel was led by judges for the first several hundred years of its existence. These men (and one woman) valiantly delivered the nation from its foes, unquestionably doing so only by the hand of God.
By the end of Samuel’s tenure, Israel had become dissatisfied with their government. They appealed to Samuel, “Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5). Samuel felt rejected and was distraught, and so he prayed about the matter. God answered, “. . . they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).
Long before, as far back as Moses’ day, God had envisioned the time when Israel would want a king. Deuteronomy 17 records several God-given restrictions on Israel’s royalty. It also includes this requirement: “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. 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, 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” (vv. 18-20).
A king in Israel needed to understand and remember that he was not above the law. What God said about one’s attitude, speech, and conduct applied just as much to him as it did to everyone else.
All of us could use that reminder. It’s easy to think, “I’m different,” somehow that doesn’t apply in my case. Yes, it does. Truth is objective. It is definitive. What it says to one, it says to all. No one is exempt.
“There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil . . . but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good. . . . For there is no partiality with God” (Romans 2:9-11).
