A Psalm ascribed to Solomon prayed for this kind of king to rule:
Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to a king’s son.
May he judge your people with righteousness
and your poor with justice.
May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor. (Psalm 72:1-4)
The key points of this prayer are justice, delivering what is right to the people, defending the poor, and eliminating oppression.
The concerns of the vulnerable in society were central to the prayer’s desires for a king.
For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and precious is their blood in his sight. (Psalm 72:12-14)
Joseph and the Pharaoh
Under Joseph’s plan, the Egyptian Pharaoh became possibly the wealthiest person in the region. Genesis 47 outlines how Joseph extracted “taxes” on the surrounding nations in exchange for grain.
The process of what was essentially total taxation of the nations took this direction.
Verse 14: First money was collected.
Verse 16: When the money was gone, Joseph required livestock in exchange for grain.
Verses 18-19: The people gave their servitude and property to Joseph and the Pharaoh to obtain enough food to survive.
Verse 24: Joseph allowed people to continue to work their land. They paid a 20% tax to Pharaoh, keeping four-fifths of the produce and giving Pharaoh’s treasury one-fifth.
No one would accuse Pharaoh of fulfilling the prayer for an ideal king in Psalm 72.
However, under Joseph’s leadership, a fair exchange took place. The 20% tax on their produce gave them Egypt’s protection and security, at least to some degree.
King Jesus
Isaiah pictured a king that could only be fulfilled by Jesus.
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the humble of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11:1-4)
We live “between the times,” as the theologians say. Jesus has come and inaugurated the kingdom. However, the consummation of the kingdom hasn’t been realized.
As we live in this era, we pray “Your kingdom come,” longing for God’s rule to take place in our lives and looking toward to absolute fulfillment of God’s rule.
In the meantime, we pray for leaders to exhibit the characteristics of God’s ideal king, described in Psalm 72 and Isaiah 11.
We pray for governments around the world to give their citizens what they pay for in taxes, as in the rule of Pharaoh and Joseph.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Genesis 47 and 48 on YouTube today.
Real Voices 