November 6 is election day in the United States of America. So our trivia question for today is:

Which of the following forms of government did Israel NOT have in the Old Testament?

A. Anarchy

B. Democracy

C. Monarchy

D. Theocracy

The answer is “B” – Israel did not have a democratic form of government during the Old Testament. They started with a Theocracy, went through a period of Anarchy, before choosing a Monarchy.

The Israelites initially had a theocracy (ruled directly by God) beginning with God establishing His covenant with Abraham [1] through the days of Moses and Joshua. For example, God led the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the promised land using a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. [2] When the pillar moved, the people moved. God was training the people to follow Him (and for today’s believers, He does that through the Holy Spirit).

God told the people of Israel that when they entered the promised land, they were to: [3]

However, after entering the promised land, the people did not heed God’s commandments. Because of this, God did not drive out their enemies but left them in place to be a thorn and snare to Israel. [4]

As such, there was a period of anarchy. During this time “every man did what was right in his own eyes” [5] and sin and injustice was rampant throughout the land. Once in a while, the people would cry out to God and He would raise up a judge (such as Gideon and Samson), that He would use to temporarily deliver the people from their enemies. But they would return to their wicked ways. During this time, “the word of the Lord was rare and there was no widespread revelation”. [6]

The judge/prophet, Samuel, was the bridge between the period of the judges and the establishment of the monarchy. [7] In fact, Samuel anointed the first [8] and second [9] kings of Israel (Saul and David respectively). God would have established Saul and his descendants to rule Israel forever, but due to his disobedience and unlawful sacrifice, the kingdom was given to David instead. [10]