The King · The Symbolism of Scripture
The King
Three restrictions were written for a king before Israel had one. The prophet predicted all three would be broken, and the history records the breach in the law’s own words.
What It Stands For
an office Israel was given rules for before it was given
Every nation around Israel had a king, and in most of them the king was either a god or the son of one. Israel’s law makes room for the office and then spends the rest of the paragraph limiting it , the king is to come from among his brothers, is bound by the same law as they are, and is not to let his heart be lifted up above them.
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”The reason the people will one day give is already in the sentence, generations before they give it.
It is in striking consistency with the dignity which everywhere throughout the Mosaic legislation surrounds the chosen people of God, that even if they will be like as all the nations about Deu 17:14, and be governed by a king, care should nevertheless be taken that he shall be no Oriental despot. He is to be of no royal caste, but one from among thy brethren Deu 17:15; he is to bear himself as a kind of primus inter pares, his heart not being lifted up above his brethren Deu 17:20; he is, like his subjects, to be bound by the fundamental laws and institutions of the nation
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1851Presbyterian
Deuteronomy 17:18
Primus inter pares — first among equals. That is a constitutional idea, written into the founding law of a bronze-age nation, and it is the thing the rest of the story keeps failing to hold.
Forbidden, Predicted, Recorded
three restrictions, followed across four hundred years
| What the law forbade | What Samuel predicted | What was recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Horses“He shall not multiply horses to himself”Deuteronomy 17:16 | “he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen”1 Samuel 8:11 | “a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen”1 Kings 10:26 |
| Wives“Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away”Deuteronomy 17:17 | “he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers”1 Samuel 8:13 | “seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart”1 Kings 11:3 |
| Silver and gold“neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold”Deuteronomy 17:17 | “he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards”1 Samuel 8:15 | “he will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants”1 Samuel 8:17 |
But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’And note the second half: the reason horses are dangerous is where they come from.
He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.Two prohibitions and one reason clause , the clause that 1 Kings 11:3 will hand back.
The horse was not anciently used in the East for purposes of agriculture or traveling, but ordinarily for war only. He appears constantly in Scripture as the symbol and embodiment of fleshly strength and the might of the creature (compare Psa 20:7; Psa 33:16-17; Psa 147:10; Job 39:19 ff), and is sometimes significantly spoken of simply as the strong one (compare Jer 8:16). The spirit of the prohibition therefore is that the king of Israel must not, like other earthly potentates, put his trust in costly and formidable preparations for war
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1851Presbyterian
Deuteronomy 17:16
Tho' he might have horses for his own use, yet he was not to have many horses for his officers and guard, much less for war, lest he should trust in them. The multiplying horses is also forbidden, lest it should raise too great a correspondence with Egypt which furnished Canaan with them.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Methodist
Deuteronomy 17:16
The horse rule is not about animals. A horse in that world was a weapons platform, and Egypt was where you bought them — so a king who builds a cavalry is a king who has opened a supply line back to the country his people were brought out of. The prohibition is a direction of travel, not a livestock regulation.
Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.Counted, and reported without comment. The comment comes one chapter later.
He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.Read the last clause against Deuteronomy 17:17. The historian is not summarising; he is quoting.
The one requirement nobody predicted him breakingDeuteronomy 17:18-20, and what a king was actually asked to do
Alongside the three prohibitions there is one positive command, and it is the strangest thing in the paragraph. The king is to write out a copy of the law , from the master kept by the priests , and read it every day of his life.
With his own hand, as the Jews say. Out of that - Out of the original, which was carefully kept by the priests in the sanctuary, that it might be a perfect copy, and that it might have the greater influence upon him, coming to him as from the hand and presence of God.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765Methodist
Deuteronomy 17:18
When he begins to apply himself to business, he must apply himself to this in the first place. He that sits upon the throne of a kingdom cannot but have his hands full. The affairs of his kingdom both at home and abroad call for a large share of his time and thoughts, and yet he must write himself a copy of the law.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Nonconformist
Deuteronomy 17:18
Matthew Henry has seen what is odd about it. This is the busiest man in the country, and the first thing his job description asks of him is a copying task that takes months. The reason is given in the next two verses: so that he learns to fear God, and so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers.
Each monarch, on his accession, was to be furnished with a true and faithful copy, which he was to keep constantly beside him, and daily peruse it, that his character and sentiments being cast into its sanctifying mould, he might discharge his royal functions in the spirit of faith and piety, of humility and a love or righteousness.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Scottish, nineteenth century
Deuteronomy 17:18-20
The Day They Asked
1 Samuel 8, and where God puts the offence
“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”The stated grievance is Samuel's sons. The stated remedy is a king like the nations.
And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.God moves the injury off His prophet and onto Himself, and names what is being replaced: His reign.
Hitherto, from the time in which they were a people, the Israelites were under a theocracy, they had no other king but God. Now they desire to have a king like the other nations around them, who may be their general in battle; for this is the point at which they principally aim.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
1 Samuel 8:5
They wish to put that government in the hands of a mortal, which was always in the hands of their God. But hearken unto their voice - grant them what they request. So we find God grants that in his displeasure which he withholds in his mercy.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
1 Samuel 8:7
Clarke’s second sentence is the hardest line on the page: God grants that in his displeasure which he withholds in his mercy. The request is granted. That is the judgment.
Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.”And the reason repeated after the warning has been delivered in full. They had heard the list and wanted it anyway.
They sneered at Samuel's description as a bugbear to frighten them. Determined, at all hazards, to gain their object, they insisted on being made like all the other nations, though it was their glory and happiness to be unlike other nations in having the Lord for their King and Lawgiver
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Scottish, nineteenth century
1 Samuel 8:19-22
The offence is not the office. The law had made room for the office. The offence is in the comparison , the one nation whose distinction was that God ruled it asking to be indistinguishable. Matthew Henry hears it in what they did not ask for: “They do not say, "Give us a king that is wise and good, and will judge better than thy sons do," but, "Give us a king," any body that will but make a figure.”
The following is a very just and graphic picture of the despotic governments which anciently and still are found in the East, and into conformity with which the Hebrew monarchy, notwithstanding the restrictions prescribed by the law, gradually slid.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Scottish, nineteenth century
1 Samuel 8:11
Not in which he ought to proceed, but what he will do: and this not the manner of one king, or of the first only, but of all of them, more or less; of kings in general, who are commonly inclined to arbitrary power.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament, 1763Particular Baptist
1 Samuel 8:11
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the thing the whole figure above is built on: the Hebrew monarchy slid into the shape of the despotisms around it notwithstanding the restrictions prescribed by the law. The restrictions were the point, and they did not hold.
Where It Points
a king who keeps the law written for him
“I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”Not requested, not elected, not seized. Set.
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem!See, your King comes to you,righteous and victorious,humble and riding on a donkey,on a colt, the foal of a donkey.Four titles and one animal , and the animal is the argument.
He is just - The righteous One, and the Fountain of righteousness. Having salvation - He alone can save from sin, Satan, death, and hell. Lowly - Without worldly pomp or splendor; for neither his kingdom, nor that of his followers, is of this world. Riding upon an ass - God had commanded the kings of Israel not to multiply horses. The kings who broke this command were miserable themselves, and scourgers to their people. Jesus came to fulfill the law. Had he in his title of king rode upon a horse, it would have been a breach of a positive command of God; therefore, he rode upon an ass, and thus fulfilled the prophecy, and kept the precept unbroken.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
Zechariah 9:9
Clarke closes the loop the page opened. A king on a horse would have broken Deuteronomy 17:16 on the way into his own capital. The donkey is not only humility; it is obedience to the one command about transport that Israel’s kings had spent four centuries ignoring.
Because all their kings had for the most part been an unjust and covetous kind of men, and had given them over to their enemies, and had perverted the people, and made them subject to their foes; "Be of good courage," It saith, "this is not such an one, but meek and gentle"; as is shown by the ass, for He entered not with an army in His train, but having an ass alone.
John Chrysostom· Homilies on John 66, 407Greek, fourth century
Zechariah 9:9
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”The charge is sedition, and the evidence He offers against it is that nobody drew a sword for Him.
“Then You are a king!” Pilate said. “You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”And then He does not deny the title. He accepts it and redefines the means.
In reply to this, Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world - that is, it is not of the same nature as earthly kingdoms. It was not originated for the same purpose, or conducted on the same plan. He immediately adds a circumstance in which they differ. The kingdoms of the world are defended by arms; they maintain armies and engage in wars. If the kingdom of Jesus had been of this kind, he would have excited the multitudes that followed him to prepare for battle.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1851Presbyterian
John 18:36
'Not of this world' , what is being denied, and what is nota distinction Augustine and Chrysostom both insist on
In the same way, here He does not say, My kingdom is not in this world; but, is not of this world.
Augustine of Hippo· Catena Aurea (Aquinas), on John 18:36, 430Latin, fifth century
John 18:36
He does not say, Not here, for His kingdom is here unto the end of the world, having within it the tares mixed with the wheat until the harvest. But yet it is not from hence, since it is a stranger in the world.
Augustine of Hippo· Catena Aurea (Aquinas), on John 18:36, 430Latin, fifth century
John 18:36
Not because He doth not rule here, but because He hath His empire from above, and because it is not human, but far greater than this and more splendid.
John Chrysostom· Homily on the Gospel of John 83, 407Greek, fourth century
John 18:36
Both are refusing the same misreading. Jesus is not saying His kingdom has no jurisdiction here; He is saying it does not come from here , its authority is not granted by the arrangement Pilate represents. Chrysostom puts it as plainly as it can be put: not that He does not rule here, but that He has His empire from above.
This does not mean simply that Pilate affirmed that he was a king; it does not appear that he had done this; but it means, Thou affirmest the truth; thou declarest what is correct, for I am a king. I am a king in a certain sense, and do not deny it.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1851Presbyterian
John 18:37
I was born into the world that I might set up and maintain a spiritual government: but this government is established in and by truth. All that love truth, hear my voice and attend to the spiritual doctrines I preach. It is by truth alone that I influence the minds and govern the manners of my subjects.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
John 18:37
And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.The last king in Scripture, and the only one whose title is written where a rider's leg shows.
The robe or military cloak may be conceived of as open and flowing, so as to expose the limbs of the rider; and the idea is, that the name was conspicuously written not only on the flowing robe, but on the other parts of his dress, so that it must be conspicuous whether his military cloak were wrapped closely around him, or whether it was open to the breeze.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1851Presbyterian
Revelation 19:16
The story that began with a nation wanting a king it could point at ends with a King nobody could miss , and He is on a horse, at last, in the one place where a horse is not a substitute for God.
What Scripture says outright
- 1 Samuel 8:7
“They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.” The offence is named by God, not inferred by a reader.
- Deuteronomy 17:17
The law gives its own reason for the restriction — that his heart turn not away — and 1 Kings 11:3 reports the outcome in that clause.
- 1 Samuel 8:20
The people state their motive twice, and both times it is the comparison: that we also may be like all the nations.
- John 18:37
Asked directly whether He is a king, He says Pilate has said it correctly, and gives the means: truth, and a voice that is heard.
What readers have heard in it
Readings of long standing, named as readings.
- 1 Samuel 8:11
That Samuel’s warning is a prophecy specifically about Saul. John Gill reads it as a description of kingship in general, and the chapter’s own wording , this is the manner of the king — supports him.
- Zechariah 9:9
That the two animals in the verse stand for two peoples. An old allegory; the verse is using a Hebrew figure in which the second line restates the first.
- John 18:36
That “not of this world” means the kingdom is not present here. Augustine and Chrysostom both refuse that reading , the denial is about origin, not territory.
Its Presentation Through Scripture
the office, in the order the Bible tells it
When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”
The law anticipates the request centuries early, and quotes the reason the people will give for it before they give it.
But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’
The first restriction, and it is about where a king puts his confidence. Horses in that world meant one thing: war.
When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
And the one positive requirement: he writes out the law himself, by hand, from the copy the priests keep.
“Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”
The request, at last , and the reason given is the one the law had already quoted: like all the nations.
And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.
God's answer moves the offence off Samuel and onto Himself. The thing being replaced is not a judge.
He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
The end of Samuel's warning, and the word he finishes on. The people who came out of Egypt will be servants again.
He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.
The record, in the law's own words , the clause Deuteronomy gave as a reason comes back as a verdict.
“I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”
And a King installed rather than requested , set by God, on a named hill.
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem!See, your King comes to you,righteous and victorious,humble and riding on a donkey,on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
A king coming in on the one animal that keeps Deuteronomy 17:16 rather than breaking it.
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”
The answer to the charge, and the evidence He offers for it is the absence of an army.
And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
And the last king in Scripture wears His title where it cannot be missed.
The Voices
with the work named
Adam Clarke supplies the two sentences this page turns on: that Israel had been under a theocracy and was asking to leave it, and , four hundred pages later, on Zechariah , that a king on a horse would have broken the law on his way into Jerusalem. Albert Barnes explains what a horse was for in that world and why Deuteronomy’s king was designed to be no Oriental despot. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown state the failure plainly: the monarchy slid into the shape of its neighbours, restrictions and all.
Matthew Henry hears what the people did not ask for. John Gill reads Samuel’s warning as a description of kings rather than a prediction about one. Augustine and Chrysostom, four hundred years apart, both refuse to let “not of this world” mean “not here”.
Where to Go Next
The office itself
The kingdom He describes
Nearby in the index
Its neighbours in the index
The Symbolism of Scripture gathers every picture the Bible thinks in. This one sits with: