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Your Kingdom
Did you ever read a lesser known passage from your Bible, and discover that it has such insight for your life?
Each year my husband and I read through the Bible. A while ago, we came across a section regarding the lives of kings in authority.
The danger here is to think that neither you nor I will ever be a ruler of a kingdom and then, not to pay as much attention to the words before you. That is where we are wrong. The passage I am referring to today is the last portion of Deuteronomy, chapter 17.
I will pick up around verse 15. We are to choose a ruler whom God chooses, who is not a foreigner but a “brother” (someone of the Israelites, in this case.)
Deuteronomy 17:15-20 NKJV, 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
18 “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
Each of us is in command of ourselves.
We are responsible for our morals, and decisions should be made as God ordains.
If you are a parent, you are in control of your children.
If you aren’t in control of your children, there are lots of Scripture that will tell you how to do that job of parenting.
Each Christian man should be head of his household. If there is no man in the household, God will help the woman to lead her children.
My husband has a 2 room apartment-kingdom. He leads the two of us well in our tiny apartment, as our many children are long grown.
The passage we are reading says that the king should not multipy horses for himself. We don’t have horses, but we do have an old car we share. It is 24 years old at this writing.
My point being that rulers should live simply without eyes for wealth, as should we all.
The Biblical king is also told not to return to Egypt. While we had no thought to ever go to Egypt, we realize we should not return to the lives we lived before we were saved by our Lord Jesus. There is no going back to our sin and sorrow, our enslavement to old ways of living. The Israelites are headed into the Promised Land and we are living in “new land” as Christians too.
There should be no turning back for either of us.
The king of the passage should not multiply wives for himself, so his heart is not turned away from God. We live in our tiny kingdom today, looking at the lives that surround us, that have been ruined by multiply marriages and divorce.
The king is told not to “greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.” Our world is ever grabbing at getting more and more of this earth’s things. Yes, we all need to eat and be clothed. However, in 1 Timothy 6:8 we are told to be content with simply that. “And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”
Therefore, stop always reaching to get more.
Be satisfied with daily needs being met and thank God for His provision.
We are greatly blessed with an abundance of Bibles in the United States. A copy can be found in any second hand store for under a dollar many times. We are blessed.
The king of our passage was told to write down the laws of God from the one that the priests and Levites had, so he could read them ALL the days of his life.
Are we doing this too? We should be. The king was told doing so would help him learn to fear the Lord His God and to observe all the words so that his heart was not lifted above his brothers. In other words, God’s law would keep him humble, as we should be. He would also learn from them not to turn aside from God’s commandments to the right or left. It would give him long life. We live in a world where turning away from the commands of God, leads us into sin. Along with sin comes sickness, drugs, alcohol, gluttony, and many unhealthy livestyles.
It seems to us, that this little read passage had a great deal to say to all of us today.
Many live in true poverty around this world, but many also live with enough, or plenty.
In many ways, we live like kings.
Thus, it is more than time to govern your tiny kingdom, following the God Who blessed you to be there.