Kings & Prophets – God Brings the Covenant to the World
The wish of the Hebrew people to have a king actually constituted an act of defiance and a lack of trust. God was supposed to be their king. However, the people did not trust that God would protect them. They wanted to be like all of the other peoples around them who had kings and powerful armies. God warned them that a king would abuse his power, force the people into labor, and weaken the Hebrew nation by drawing them away from God. Despite a few good kings, such as King David, the Hebrew kings did exactly as God foretold (would you expect anything different?). However, God was still able to work His plan of salvation through them. In fact, the one king who did more than any other to fulfill God’s dire prophecy was King Solomon. Yet, he was also the one king who did more than any other to advance God’s plan of salvation. Through King Solomon, the God was able to bring peoples of all nations
into the Covenant – by conquest, by treaty, and by spreading word of God’s power and goodness.
At the same time, under the kings the Hebrew people encountered their greatest temptations to turn away from God and embrace secularism or the pagan gods of their neighbors. King Solomon’s many wives brought their gods with them into Israel. Altars to foreign gods were erected and under subsequent kings to Solomon treaties were made with foreign nations that included the acceptance of their religions. The Hebrew people were weak detached from the Covenant, and they were eventually conquered and scattered.
Throughout this time the prophets spread the word of God and called people back to the Covenant. When most people think of “prophet,” they think of a fortune teller or a doomsayer. However, a Biblical prophet was actually a spokesperson of God. The usual message was, “Return to the Covenant or suffer the consequences.” When a prophet told the future, it was to reveal what God had shared about the consequences of following or forsaking the Covenant. The other important role the prophets played was to reveal God’s eventual plan for the fulfillment of Salvation History. The prophecies of Christ are not just prophecies of a baby born of a virgin. They are also prophecies of a worldwide salvation and a universal Covenant – of the undoing of Original Sin and a complete return to the Original Covenant. Jesus Christ will eventually bring all of these prophecies to fruition. Moreover, all of Salvation History supported the words of God spoken through the prophets. As Scott Hahn and Jeff Cavins point out, Salvation History grew into its fulfillment as universal salvation through Christ.
With Adam and Eve, the Covenant was meant for all of humanity, but it was specifically formed with one holy couple. Through Noah, the Covenant expanded to one holy family. Through Abraham the Covenant expanded from a single family to an entire tribe, which included extended family and descendents. Through Moses the Covenant embraced one holy nation – the entire Hebrew people. Through the kings, the Covenant expanded beyond the Hebrew nation to create one holy kingdom. That kingdom first expanded and was then dispersed, to be completed by the heir of King David and the Son of God to make the Covenant universal under one holy Catholic (universal) Church. Throughout salvation history, God reveals His desire for an intimate, loving relationship with humanity in the form of the Covenant. He also reveals His love for us in the form of mercy – love in the midst of our sin and suffering.