3.1 Israel, Nationhood and the State in the Old Testament

The evidence to the Commission dealing most fully with the biblical material accurately described the relation of the people of God to wider society as ‘historically contingent’ (Davie, M: 2). In the Old Testament (OT) there is a wide range of patterns of relationship, with Israel knowing in turn existence as a landless and then a favoured minority; as an oppressed and then a liberated people; as a distinct and prosperous nation-state and then a dispossessed and exiled group; as a nation in reconstruction and then a conquered and occupied land, before becoming finally a scattered Diaspora. The modern abstract concept of the ‘state’ is unknown in the Old Testament, and political power is always encountered in the form of specific and identifiable rulers who may be in turn favourable or hostile but are always understood to be under the sovereign rule of God. Rise and fall in the fortunes of Israel is intimately connected with Israel’s obedience or lack of it to the covenant with God. If it is hard to discover any one of Israel’s changing relationships that may be taken as normative, the diversity in the OT sheds light on the historical contingencies faced by the church across the world today. Particular OT accounts are illuminating: for instance, there is an internal OT debate about kingship with Israel’s request for a king ‘like the nations’ being seen as a rejection of God and accompanied by a devastating critique of what kings do: they ‘take’ (1 Samuel 8). In the event kingship, despite the luminous reign of King David, proves to be a failure and provokes longing for the coming of the Messiah, the righteous king. Likewise, Jeremiah’s advice to the exiles in Babylon has had particular resonance: ‘But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare’ (Jer. 29.7). If there is an aspect of Israel’s existence that may be taken as normative throughout its varying history it is the call to live as a distinct people under God’s rule. This is true of the period of her nationhood, when the king, far from being an arbitrary agent, is called to live under God’s lordship and to sustain the covenant with God. It is also true of the times before Israel had a king and once the kingship had come to an end. In preserving this distinctness, the law of God governing Israel’s life and the given practices of circumcision and Sabbath were primary agents. The practice of these enabled the people of Israel to endure the loss of land, temple and nationhood and to survive, even to prosper, in exile and Diaspora. Along with this, the sense of God’s providence first protecting the nation and then preserving Israel in exile has been paramount, even finding expression in the advancement of faithful Jews to prominence within pagan contexts (Joseph, Daniel, Esther). Enduring principles may therefore be derived from the OT, which are widely applicable (Davie, M: 3).