In the last blog I called ancient Israel a THEOCRACY. That is another ‘used and abused’ term in Christian religion, as well as in the secular world. So what in the world is a THEOCRACY?
A THEOCRACY IS A NATION THAT HAS THE BIBLE’S GOD AT THE HEART OF IT. The God of the Bible names Himself “YHWH”. “Jehovah” is the popular modern word for the “tetragrammaton” (the 4 letter word-Name for God: YHWH). You can read how the word Jehovah came into existence by consulting with the Jews. Basically, they changed God’s name because of a SUPERSTITION. Anyways, YHWH is just one of the names for God in the Bible. But, it’s the name He gave Himself as THE COVENANT GOD. Moses was the first to hear “The Name” (Exodus 3):
13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.
So, WHAT MAKES ONE NATION A THEOCRACY AND ANOTHER NATION NOT? Simple: “The Presence” (as the Jews would say). It’s GOD’S PHYSICAL PRESENCE that makes a nation a theocracy. The ONLY earthly theocracy that I am aware of during the whole course of human history is 1st Temple Israel. Israel was a theocracy between the time of the Sinai covenant (when the nation came into existence) and the second captivity in 586 BC, when YHWH disbanded the nation Israel (due to their refusal to obey His laws: “the covenant stipulations”).
Consequently, NO OTHER NATION ON EARTH THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE SPAN OF HUMAN HISTORY HAS BEEN A THEOCRACY. In other words, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to have a theocracy without the God of the Bible BEING PHYSICALLY PRESENT AT THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT like He was for ancient Israel. A side note: Let’s remember that God is OMNIPRESENT (exists in all places at all times) because God is Spirit. But let’s leave “God’s physical presence” for another conversation.
Israel’s THEOCRACY came into existence by COVENANT. I’ll say more on COVENANT in the next blog entry.
Reality Bible 