Kings and Kingdoms

i'm teaching through the old testament right now. and god's act of freedom for the hebrews (the exodus) was not complete in and of itself. it was only completed in the set up of a new society - a contrast-society as Bruggemann puts it. a society that does not enslave, does not separate the rich from the poor. instead, the new society is to have only liturgical leaders, and everyone is suppose to be equal, receive an equal plot of land and be able to provide for their families. this is, of course, why god is against them having a king "like all the other nations" in 1 Sam 8. god lists there the reasons they should not have a king, reasons that basically come down to the fact that the king will inevitably enslave them. that's what kings do. that's what power does.

god allowed for the possibility of a king in the laws. in deut. god talks about when they get into the land and are settled and want a king like all the other nations that it is ok for them to have a king - BUT, and it's a big but, the king needs to act in certain ways. one of which is to not raise himself above the other people (deut 17:14-20). another is not to gather up horses or gold.
now is this really possible? can you have a king without him raising himself above the other people? Saul couldn't do it. but perhaps david achieved it at times. in the same spirit in which he did not use saul's spear to kill saul when saul was hunting david down in the wilderness. perhaps in this spirit of humility, david at times reached this ideal. though he was living in the now, where all kings ruled completely, he reached for the not-yet, where all people are equal before god. this humility often comes across in his psalms as well.
he of course was not able to reside in that place. he ended up not going out to war and finding bathsheeba left behind, and then placed himself and his office much higher than uziah by commanding his murder.

anyway - all that to say. god's plan from the beginning was that we would live as a contrast-society, living out of a different mind set - a mindset that has to do with equality and justice. it's taking us a long time to get it