Israel’s First King Was God God was Israel’s only King! Israel was both church and state. In Acts 7:38 we are told that the Israelites formed the church in the wilderness. The word “congregation” of Israel used throughout the Old Testament has the same meaning exactly as the word “church” in the New. Israel, consequently, had more than one set of laws. God gave Israel a twofold form of government. The congregation, or church, was given ritualistic laws—animal sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, carnal or fleshly ordinances. But Israel also was a civil government; thus for it God established civil officers and civil laws—statutes and judgments. The one great central code of law, basis for both church and civil government—the overall SPIRITUAL CODE—was the TEN COMMANDMENTS, spoken by God directly to all the congregation, written with the very finger of God in tables of stone. For several generations after leaving Egypt, God was their King! (This history is found through the books of Moses, Joshua and Judges.) Each tribe kept separate by itself, but together they formed one nation in much the same manner as the United States is one nation composed of individual states. Each tribe occupied its own land, or district. The Levites became the priestly tribe, mingling throughout the other tribes, having no inheritance in the land and no separate territory (except for cities) of their own. To offset this, however, the children of Joseph were divided into two tribes—Ephraim and Manasseh—thus leaving 12 distinct and separate tribes, each occupying its own territory or province, in addition to the Levites who were sprinkled among the tribes. All these years the birthright and the scepter remained within the one nation—the birthright, of course, being handed down through the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the scepter with Judah.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 07:47:10 +0000
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