Chizuk Emunah Under the Microscope: Chapter 3

In the third chapter of Faith Strengthened, Troki discusses the concept of the king of Israel. He mentions that Israel once had a king, but has not had a king for a very long time. One Eastern Orthodox churchman challenged Troki with the assertion that the lack of an Israelite king is evidence that God has rejected the Jewish people.

Troki acknowledges that Israel has been in bad shape since the exile. However, this took place almost 400 years before the birth of Jesus. Israel has suffered under the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks, all before the birth of Jesus. How then can one argue that Israel's suffering is the result of rejecting Jesus?

Troki further argues that the Jewish crowds rejected the idea of a king in the period after the exile. They said "we have no king but Caesar." Christians also appear to be at a loss regarding who made Jesus king and from what throne he ruled over Israel. Even in the land of Israel, Christians are viciously persecuted. Areas that once belonged to the church, such as north Africa, are now under the power of Islamic rule. How can you say that Jesus is the Messiah and king if the church could lose the holy land?

Troki, of course, forgets the reign of the Hasmonaean kings, including Herod the Great, who ruled until shortly after the birth of Jesus. They were recognized as kings by the Jewish people of that day. Shortly afterward, the area came under Roman rule as the province of Iudaea. The Jewish authorities lost the right to enact capital punishment. They did perform occasional illegal executions, such as the stoning of Stephen, but these were risky if they attracted Roman attention.

Troki also asks the question "Where was Jesus formally anointed, crowned, and enthroned as king?" This can be answered with the simple question "Where in the Tanakh was it promised that Messiah would be formally anointed, crowned and enthroned as king?" The answer is "nowhere." God's inauguration of the Messianic kingdom need not be with blare of trumpets and human processions, but in a purely spiritual manner. 

As to the question "Where does Jesus rule?" The simple answer is "everywhere that his people can be found." Even highly secular publications like Time magazine recognize Jesus as the most influential person who has ever lived. No human being has ever received the level of homage and worship that Jesus is receiving right now. Despite the invasion of Islam over Christendom, the latter has expanded much faster than the former. Islam is also expanding primarily through birth, while Christianity is primarily expanding through conversions. A. Lukyn Williams concludes: "One who is King over men's hearts and consciences, and has His subjects, as even R. Isaac will confess, in all parts of the inhabited world, is far more truly a King than ever was David or even Solomon."

I would also take issue with Troki regarding the role of a king. Nowhere was it promised that the church would have a king ruling over it. However, Israel has been promised a king forever. As 1 Kings 9:5 states "I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’"

God promised that Israel would always have a king, so where is Israel's king? The problem is not that Israel lacks a king, but that the unbelieving Jews refuse to acknowledge their true king.

Another objection which Troki does not raise, but which anti-missionaries love to bring up, is the idea that God promised that Messiah would descend through Solomon. This is only partially true. The promise to David was unconditional. The promise to Solomon was conditional.

     And of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. He said to me, ‘It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules, as he is today.’
(1 Chronicles 28:5-7)

    For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’
(2 Chronicles 7:16-18 ESV)

And Solomon did not fulfill those conditions.

        For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

    And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”(1 Kings 11:4-13 ESV)

The Rabbis will argue that 2 Samuel gives an unconditional promise to Solomon. This is the verse in question:

    I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
(2 Samuel 7:14-17 ESV)

This is a promise to David that the throne will be established forever and unconditionally. God promised that he would not remove his love from Solomon the way he removed it from Saul. How did God remove it from Saul?

    And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
(1 Samuel 15:26-28 ESV)

God then anointed David as king while Saul was still alive. This is how God tore the kingdom from Saul, which he did not do with Solomon. David later had the opportunity to kill Saul, but refused to lay a hand on God's anointed. This does not mean that Saul was still a king in God's eyes, but only that David believed that it was up to God to kill Saul.

    May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.
(1 Samuel 24:12 ESV)