Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

-
* I Peter, 2. 9
-
Again, the title of a holy nation confirms the same: for holy
signifies that which is God's by special, not by general, right. All
the earth, as is said in the text, is God's; but all the earth is
not called holy, but that only which is set apart for his especial
service, as was the nation of the Jews. It is therefore manifest
enough by this one place that by the kingdom of God is properly
meant a Commonwealth, instituted (by the consent of those which were
to be subject thereto) for their civil government and the regulating
of their behaviour, not only towards God their king, but also
towards one another in point of justice, and towards other nations
both in peace and war; which properly was a kingdom wherein God was
king, and the high priest was to be, after the death of Moses, his
sole viceroy, or lieutenant.
But there be many other places that clearly prove the same. As first
when the elders of Israel, grieved with the corruption of the sons
of Samuel, demanded a king, Samuel, displeased therewith, prayed
unto the Lord; and the Lord answering said unto him, "Hearken unto the
voice of the people, for they have not rejected thee, but they have
rejected me, that I should not reign over them."* Out of which it is
evident that God Himself was then their king; and Samuel did not
command the people, but only delivered to them that which God from
time to time appointed him.
-
* I Samuel, 8. 7
-
Again, where Samuel saith to the people, "When ye saw that Nahash,
king of the children of Ammon, came against you, ye said unto me, Nay,
but a king shall reign over us; when the Lord your God was your
king":* it is manifest that God was their king, and governed the civil
state of their Commonwealth.
-
* I Samuel, 12. 12
-
And after the Israelites had rejected God, the prophets did foretell
His restitution; as, "Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun
ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in
Jerusalem";* where he speaketh expressly of His reign in Zion and
Jerusalem; that is, on earth. And, "And the Lord shall reign over them
in Mount Zion":*(2) this Mount Zion is in Jerusalem upon the earth.
And, "As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and
a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over
you";*(3) and, "I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will
bring you into the bond of the covenant";*(4) that is, I will reign
over you, and make you to stand to that covenant which you made with
me by Moses, and broke in your rebellion against me in the days of
Samuel, and in your election of another king.
-
* Isaiah, 24. 23
*(2) Micah, 4. 7
*(3) Ezekiel, 20. 33
*(4) Ibid., 20. 37
-
And in the New the New Testament the angel Gabriel saith of our
Saviour, "He shall be great, and be called the Son of the most High,