Perfect Timing

Once we understand that kingship is a suboptimal form of government, we have to look for a different model. We know that democracy is contrary to God’s will. We need to find the optimal form of government.

As with most things, we find that God gets things right first time. He gave Adam the responsibility for self government. As the population of the world grew, God established family government through men like Noah and Abraham. While there was plenty of room on the earth and families were spreading out, so there was no need for civil government. However, by the time of Isaac and Jacob, people were beginning to clash with each other (Jacob and Esau, Jacob and Laban), so a better form of civil government was needed. The need was postponed when Israel went to Egypt and became slaves in the Egyptian system.

While Moses was leading the children of Israel out of Egypt towards the promised land, they had a military style government. They were under constant threat of attack, so they travelled in a military formation. However, once they entered the new land, military government was not appropriate, so they needed a system civil government. Just before the need arose, God came through with a new system of government that would enable them to live peacefully in close proximity in Canaan. God’s perfect model of government was law and judges.