What Can the Royal Psalms Teach Us about the Judean Monarchy - Essay Example

What can the royal psalms teach us about the Judean Monarchy? Your name Subject Date INTRODUCTION The biblical book of Psalms is greatly attributed to King David, ruler of Israel from 1003 B.C to 970 B.C and ruler of Judah between 1010 and 1003 B.C. With his title of kingship, the psalms of David are therefore referred to as the royal psalms since they were written by him, a king. Judah kingdom was an ancient monarchy that included the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. It comprised of regions that showed loyalty to king Rehoboam. Northern tribes revolted against king Rehoboam and named Jeroboam I as their king. The northern kingdom rebelled against Yahweh and worshipped various pagan gods (Harris, 2000, p47). Northern kingdom disobeyed the divine commandments God had given the Israelites. Despite the Northern Kingdom’s rebellion and disobedience, Judah Kingdom (Southern Kingdom) continued to worship and obey Yahweh. What can the royal psalms teach us about the Judean monarchy? The promise of kingship from the line of Judah had a long tradition, retracing back to the prophecy of Jacob. Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob, had sinned against his father and lost the birthright. Simeon and Levi had also disqualified themselves from leadership. This promise of leadership had come to Judah. Judah was the tribe from which David had come. Subject to this, when the other tribes split off and went their own way, Judah remained faithful to the lineage of David. Even though Jerusalem was thought of as a neutral city, it still lay within the boundaries of the lands of Judah (Bright, 2000). Furthermore, Judah had been exempted from the forced labor which Solomon demanded of the rest of Israel. Therefore the account of Judean Monarchy as outlined by the royal psalms had pillars in the regard of God law and the belief in his commandments. Disregarding of Gods law led to the fall of several Kingdoms after King David. Rebellious nations: Judean Victories and King David Judeans were a rebellious nation and a people together with their leaders rejecting and plotting against God and the chosen King. It also depicts an unpleased God who warns against not sincerely repenting from the Kings and his subjects while declaring victory and blessings to those who revere him. David attributed the power of his Kingdom to the favor of God. The psalmist poetically exemplified the magnanimity of Gods protection on him and the land if Israel. David cited God as “The Lord is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer. My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, and my refuge. I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies. The waves of death engulfed me; the currents of chaos overwhelmed me. The ropes of Sheol tightened around me; the snares of death trapped me. In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried out to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help (Harris, 2000, p.59).” Further buttresses King David’s believed in the Might of God. In this courage of Gods companion, King David declared he can charge against any army by Gods power because his promise is sure and reliable. Most important David acknowledges that the lord made gave him authority over people whom he had no power over and are now under his command. The Kingdom’s Anchor David in psalms displays God solid hope and belief in the heavenly God for all the people and their endeavors (Haney, 2002). This is a God able to grant victory and intervene in all tribulations are the words of the psalmist. “Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we depend on the Lord our God. They will fall down, but we will stand firm. The Lord will deliver the king; he will answer us when we call to him for help”. The power of God dominates over his enemies and in their conspiracies; they fail because the lord makes them retreat. He devours the enemies of his people and they shiver at his power. The psalmist demystifies God as a lover of justice and hater of evil Kind David posits in his poetic illustration of a Judean royal wedding ceremony; the master is the Lord whom David describes as very honorably dressed with glamour, purity and honor-laced with showering of gold, myrrh and ivory. He invites and advices the daughters to forget their people and their fathers houses to attract the attention of the King who will make them his princess across the land. A prayer for the King This prayer outlines the inherent needs and gifts that a King in Judea would desire to lead his people in a just and fair manner, as a defender of the feeble and an upholder of Gods rules and commandments. Of King Solomon, he prays for ability to make just decisions. He also beseeches for the mountains to yield their bounty for the people who mainly depended on the products of the soil to sustain livelihood. The King also pleads for humility, strength and honor across the lands acknowledging God’s blessings for whom he invites all to see his wonders and blessings (Haney, 2002). He understands that most Kings fall due to pride and disregard of Gods rules and commandments. According to Haney (20020, He seeks Gods help in adhering with his holy ways. “May the tribes of the earth give blessings with his name; may all the nations regard him as favored. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful deeds. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with the Lord's glory. Norm of Life for Rulers This section underlines the profane lifestyle that defined kinghood and his company. This state of unregard to the laws of God and injustices to the subjects by the rulers precipitated protests and fall of many kingdoms. The psalmist understands this and so he seeks to be distinguished in leadership and Holiness demonstrating good examples to his people. He sets to sing praises to God, walk in the way of integrity, conduct his business with righteousness in the midst of his palace, avoid doing evil, not have anything to do with a perverse person; not permit arrogance and do favor to the honest people of the land. Each morning he would destroy all the wicked people in the land and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord. God Appoints the king According to Weiser, (2002), the Lord selects the kings and priests from birth. He is gives the thrones to the leaders of Judea and not humans making them leaders while at the same time making their enemies footstools and extending their territories. The lord declares that from the day of birth he had accorded the princely power to them. It is made clearer when the psalmist connotes the Lord swearing that he will not waver. The Covenant between David and God King David and the Lord make a solemn covenant to each other. David gives examples in other Kingdoms where the lord has been built temples and so sets to make a holy promise in supplication to God. David declares that he will not sleep neither will he get rest until the lord has a resting place within his Kingdom then he invites God to come and reside with them. But then God responds by lifting that role off David arm: he pledges in solemnity that it is an offspring of David set upon the throne by God that will set up a home for God. He promises David that if his descendants remain in him and observe his covenant, they will sit on the throne forever. "This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I desire it. I will bless Zion with meat; its poor I will fill with bread. I will clothe its priests with blessing; its faithful shall shout for joy. There I will make a horn sprout for David's line…."Psalms132. A Prayer for Victory and Prosperity The psalmist again captures the role of God in the land of Judea. The history of victories accorded and the mighty hand of the Lord is invoked as they pray for victory and prosperity. The land of Israel was a chosen land of God with lots of blessing from war victories to blessings of food. At this point in time, King David in his psalms raises his voice to God to incline the heavens and come, by a flash of lightening-scatter to scatter their foes. He recognizes God as the deliverer and giver of victory and declares there be no breach in the walls of their city. “Happy the people so blessed; happy the people whose God is the Lord (Weiser, 2002) Messiah or the Everlasting King came from the Judean monarchy. Nations had rebelled against Him by worshipping various pagan gods. The everlasting king that would rule the world under the Judean monarchy would make all nations his inheritance and possession. According to (McCann, 1993, p36), God established His everlasting kingdom through the Judean monarchy. He established an everlasting kingdom through Jesus Christ who was from the “tribe of Judah”. The kings that ruled under the Judean monarchy were just. They relied on God’s commandments and laws to rule the kingdom. According to McCann, the concept of nations and kings of the earth is an indication that the people of Israel, together with the rest of the world had a power structure centered on a king and therefore David was the earthly monarch of Judah as far as that scripture is concerned (37). The fact that the rulers of the nation’s earth have been distinctively identified, we get a perspective that there is another ruler or other rulers and that is why we are introduced to the almighty LORD. According to (Arend n.d), Psalms chapter two is one of the songs written by David who was the king of Judah, the picture we get of God is a ruler with so much power that He laughs off the earthly rulers plotting against . This shows ultimate power and authority. Therefore from this section we get to understand that the ultimate powers of Judah were not bestowed on David, the earthly king of Judah but on God, the almighty ruler of Judah. From this, we learn that Judah had two main centers of power namely the earthly monarch ruled by King David and the heavenly monarch ruled by God. Responsibilities of the earthly monarchy The earthly monarchy was represented by a king. According to Albertz (1994), as the holder of the Judah monarchy, King David was responsible for these among other activities; Represent virtues; the king was to ride on behalf of truth, humility and righteousness. This means that the king was charged with the responsibility of being the image of a virtuous individual.   Command loyalty: anybody who was the king’s enemy was supposed face the punishment of his heart getting pierced. This means that there was no room for rebellion or divided loyalty. Every individual in Judah was supposed to pledge allegiance to the king and not make enemies with him. Appointing princes; the king was responsible for appointing the prices all over the land of Judah. This is insinuated as David is told that he will make his ‘sons’ like his fathers. The word son here is used to show a close relationship between two individuals rather than an actual blood offspring.  Eliminate social evils and vices: a major part of this chapter represents the king’s solemn words swearing to eliminate a number of evils from the society. This starts with faithless people, perverts, people who deceive, and wicked people. This can be seen as a Judah community which is so centered on virtues and promotion of good deeds to individuals. The king was responsible for implementation and maintenance of virtues amongst the people of Judah. In addition, endurance during hard times was also a responsibility of the earthly king. David being a king, Ascents say a prayer for him due to the hardships he had endured. Literally, this means that David had experienced hard times in kingship. The fact that it is a second individual who says a prayer on behalf of the king shows that the king was supposed to be humbled by hard times and portray leadership rather than despair and that is why despair is seen to be portrayed by Ascent rather that David. Representing the heavenly monarch was also the responsibility of the king (Albertz, 1994).  Ascent requests God not to reject His anointed one for the sake of David. This is a prayer done with David as a channel to God. We can argue that David was a link or a representative of God to the people of Judah. As much as these psalms speak so much of King David as an individual, he is also seen as the king in the monarchy of Judah and therefore his traits and responsibilities are also he traits and responsibilities of the monarchy of Judah. The heavenly monarchy In chapter two of the book of Psalms, we are introduced to yet another king aside from David, the King of Judah. There is a king who is enthroned in heaven. Since all men and women live on earth, then this suggests a king who is not human in nature but one who is heavenly. The LORD also says that He has His king installed on Zion which is a holy mountain of Israel. Holy in this case suggests an extremely perfect and flawless king put by God Himself. Verse seven addresses the king as God’s son. Alberto (1993) argues that the name son is used to refer to the son of God rather than a king’s son since in Judah; kings did not have metaphysical and mythical powers as described in the chapter. This leads us to know that the son being talked about is not David’s son, but an ultimately powerful son given kingship status by God. This status is described in verse nine where the son will rule with an iron scepter. In ancient Jewish belief, iron was a symbol of extreme power and authority. The son is then given a chance and authority to sit at God’s right hand side, therefore showing heavenly status and Godly status as well. Conclusion In conclusion, the ancient people of Judah had a belief of existence of two centers of power namely an earthly king and a heavenly king. The earthly kingship was held by King David while the heavenly kingship was held by God together with His Son. These two monarchies had no conflict of ideas as it is not sited anywhere in the book of Psalms. The two monarchies can be said to be a representation of the people of Judah in the political perspective, due to the wars that were involved and also as nonpartisan monarchies due to the justice and fairness exhibited by both in terms of awarding merit. List of references Alberto Soggin (1993). A introduction to the history of Israel and Judah. New York: SAGE Albertz, Rainer (1994). A history of Israelites religion. Westminster: John Knox Press. Bright, John (2000). A history of Israel and monarchy. Westminster: John Knox Press. Haney, R. (2002). Text and concept analysis in royal psalms. New York: P.Lang, pp 69-80 Harris, R. (2000). Theological handbook of the Old Testament. New York: SAGE, pp 47-73 McCann, C. (1993). A theological introduction to the book of psalms: the psalms as Torah. New York: Blackwell publishing, pp 36-102 Weiser, A. (2002). The Psalms: A commentary. Old Testament library. London: Herbert Hartwell, pp 89-98 Read More