D
Dave_Noonan
Guest
When Yahweh established the Mosaic covenant, there was a certain “separation of Church and State” where Moses and his non-hereditary successors (chosen by God) would judge the people and wherein the sons of Aaron would exercise priestly duties.
The Israelites, to the ultimate downfall of the monarchy and the demise of their temple, rejected the covenant and instead clamored for a king like the other nations around them (1 Samuel 8). In the Ancient Near East, kings also exercised administration over worship and performed sacrifice, but this was never God’s intent for the Israelites; they were to be a people set apart. Sadly, all of the dire predictions of Samuel come true for the Israelites in the unfolding of the Books of Kings.
Bit by bit, the kings wrest control of worship away from their prophetic leaders: Saul being the first example, who tries to take the right of administering the sacrifice away from God’s appointed prophet/judge, Samuel.
David continues this decline, taking on more and more the role of a priest and establishing a dynasty, which was never Yahweh’s intent. By the time we get to Solomon, the king seems completely in control of Israelite worship.
So you could say that David assumed a variety of priestly roles. While his actions seem perfectly legitimate in terms of the surrounding culture, they were illegitimate in Yahweh’s eyes. As the story plays out, the system of kingship causes Judah’s destruction.
The Israelites, to the ultimate downfall of the monarchy and the demise of their temple, rejected the covenant and instead clamored for a king like the other nations around them (1 Samuel 8). In the Ancient Near East, kings also exercised administration over worship and performed sacrifice, but this was never God’s intent for the Israelites; they were to be a people set apart. Sadly, all of the dire predictions of Samuel come true for the Israelites in the unfolding of the Books of Kings.
Bit by bit, the kings wrest control of worship away from their prophetic leaders: Saul being the first example, who tries to take the right of administering the sacrifice away from God’s appointed prophet/judge, Samuel.
David continues this decline, taking on more and more the role of a priest and establishing a dynasty, which was never Yahweh’s intent. By the time we get to Solomon, the king seems completely in control of Israelite worship.
So you could say that David assumed a variety of priestly roles. While his actions seem perfectly legitimate in terms of the surrounding culture, they were illegitimate in Yahweh’s eyes. As the story plays out, the system of kingship causes Judah’s destruction.