Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations.”
1 Samuel 8:4-5
A King for Israel
The Israelites were God’s chosen people, and after Moses led them out of slavery and Joshua led their children into the Promised Land, God raised up a series of Judges. These Judges didn’t administer justice, but were military and spiritual governors to whom the people looked in times of crisis. Samuel the prophet was the last of these judges. When Samuel grew old the people asked him to appoint for them a king. “And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.'” (1 Samuel 8:7). Thus we see that in asking for a king, the Israelites were unwittingly rejecting God as their King.
An Eternal Kingdom
Saul was anointed king (1 Samuel 10:1), but when he lost God’s favor following acts of jealousy, paranoia, and disobedience, God raised up David, “a man after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14) and not only anointed him king but promised “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12-16)
Three times in that short passage God promises the throne of David’s kingdom will endure forever. He will be your own flesh and blood. I will be his father and he will be my son. He will be flogged with human hands. Clearly this is Messianic prophecy, written perhaps 1000 years before the Incarnation.
At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:10-11
Jesus Christ is LORD
The previous scripture clearly echoes Isaiah 45:23 where God tells the prophet, “To me every knee shall bend; by me every tongue shall swear.” When we say “Jesus Christ is Lord,” what are we saying? Jesus (Iesus) is the Greek rendering of Yeshua, Hebrew for “God Saves.” Christ (Christos) is the Greek equivalent of Messiah, Hebrew for “Anointed (or chosen) One.” A Lord is one that has power or authority. Jesus is the long-promised Savior and Anointed One, but what is the deeper meaning of Lord?
Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’
Exodus 3:13-14
Jesus’ Lordship is kingly. But though Jesus is of the rightful heir to the throne of David (Matthew 1:1), he is not merely an earthly lord and king. In the Old Testament, the word Lord, when rendered LORD (with a large capital “L” and smaller capital O-R-D) stands in for the Divine Name “I Am Who Am” (Y-H-W-H, also known as the Tetragrammaton). Thus when we say “Jesus Christ is LORD,” we are not only saying Jesus is Savior and Messiah, but also that Jesus is GOD, the true King whose “kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). We thus have to choose: Is Jesus our King, or will we (wittingly or unwittingly) proclaim “We do not want this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14)?
The Queen Mother
In the ancient Near East, nations were ruled by Kings. Most kings were polygamists – including Israel’s earthly kings, despite God’s explicit prohibition in Deuteronomy 17:17. So which wife was to be his queen? Upon the death of King David, his son Solomon is installed on the throne. Solomon’s half-brother approaches the new king’s mother and asks her to intercede for him with her son. “So Bathsheba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.” And the king said to her, “Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you’ ” (1 Kings 2:19-20). The mother of the King was enthroned as Queen, and even though the king had unquestioned authority over her, he rose to meet her, bowed before her, and humbly acceded to her request.
The Queen Mother was a recognized political post in the post-Davidic kingdom, implicit in the fact that when the inspired Biblical author tells us the name of a king, the name of his mother will usually follow (See 1 Kings 11:26, 15:2, 15:10, and 22:42, and 2 Kings 8:26, 12:1, 14:2, 15:2, 18:2, 22:1, and 24:18). The evil Queen Athaliah (the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel) is explicitly called the Queen Mother in 2 Kings 10:13, and reigns over the Northern Kingdom for seven years, the only female regent the Bible mentions. Finally, on the eve of the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah prophesies, “My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive. Say to the king and the queen mother: ‘Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.’ “ (Jeremiah 13:17-18) King Zedekiah and Queen Hamutal ignore Jeremiah’s warnings, and the throne of David appears to die out. Five hundred years later the next, the rightful, and the final Heir to the Throne is living relatively anonymously in Galilee when the equally anonymous Queen Mother outs him to the world.
Do Whatever He Tells You
On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
John 2:1-5
I imagine Mary with a kind and welcoming countenance, inviting friends and even strangers to approach her for counsel or a sympathetic ear. The headwaiter at Cana apparently approached Jesus’ mother with his problem, and Mary interceded for him by speaking to her son, the King. “Do whatever he tells you,” she advised. These are the last words Mary speaks in scripture, and they remain words to live by. If only the kings of Judah and Israel had heeded them.
Behold Your Mother
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
John 19:26-27
You, the disciple Jesus loves, are the child of the Queen – and consequently the sibling of the King – because at the Cross Jesus made His mother your mother. Is there anything a mother won’t do for her child? You are a part of her. Everything she has is yours. Your needs are her needs. Behold, your mother!
Embrace Her. Honor Her. Love Her.
Your divine throne endures for ever and ever. Your royal scepter is a scepter of equity; at your right hand stands the Queen in gold of Ophir.
Psalm 45:6,9
Your mother Queen Mary stands at the right hand of the King, “Clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars“ (Revelation 12:1). Don’t reject her but instead embrace her. Take her into your home. Honor her. “We never give more honor to Jesus than when we honor His mother” (St. Louis de Monfort). Love her. “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did” (St. Maximilian Kolbe). Approach her in prayer, confident that she’ll intercede for your needs.
Hail, Holy Queen (Salve Regina)
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy,
hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve;
to thee we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn, then, most gracious advocate,
thine eyes of mercy toward us;
and after this, our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus:
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us O holy Mother of God
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.
Feature image: The Coronation of the Virgin by Fra Angelico (detail) via Wikimedia commons
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