«　WEEK 11　DAY 4　»

　　Deut. 17:18-19 And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write out for himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, in order that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them.

　　Deuteronomy 17:14-20 speaks regarding the setting of a king over the people….[God] Himself is the King; therefore, for His people to want a king means that they want someone to replace God. But God as our King should not be replaced and cannot be replaced….The people wanted a king, even though this was offensive to God (1 Sam. 8:4-22). Because of their insistence, God gave them a king—Saul. Saul was not a good king, for he was not a king who was according to God’s heart. Later God exercised His own choice and raised up David to replace Saul. David was a king not according to God’s preference but according to God’s heart (1 Sam. 13:14). In the sight of God David was the most pleasant king.

　　The king was to write out for himself a copy of the law in a book, out of that which was before the Levitical priests (Deut. 17:18). The law here refers to the Pentateuch. The king was then to read in this copy of the law all the days of his life in order that he might learn to fear Jehovah his God by keeping all the words of the law (v. 19). This indicates that in ruling over the people, he first had to be ruled himself by the word of God. A proper king among the children of Israel was one who was instructed, governed, ruled, and controlled by the word of God. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 120-121)

　　The principle should be the same with the elders in the churches today. If the elders do not read the Bible and are not controlled by the word of God, they cannot administrate the church. In order to administrate, to manage, the church, the elders must be reconstituted with the holy word of God. As a result, they will be under God’s government, under God’s rule and control. Then spontaneously God will be in their decisions, and the elders will represent God to manage the affairs of the church. This kind of management is theocracy. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, p. 121)

　　In the place God had chosen, the children of Israel were to eat before the Lord and rejoice (Deut. 12:7). Nowhere in the book of Deuteronomy were God’s people told that they should go to the unique place to engage in mere “worship.” Of course, they were expected to worship the Lord in the place He had chosen but not to worship according to their concept of what worship is. Instead, they were to worship according to God’s thought, concept, of worship. According to the natural, human concept, to worship is to kneel, to bow down, or to prostrate ourselves before God. Even Muslims worship in such a way in their mosques. Once I visited a Muslim mosque at the time of worship. I noticed that among the worshippers there was no sense of enjoyment. On the contrary, due to the lack of enjoyment, many of those worshippers looked older than their years. The worship indicated in Deuteronomy 12 is not a matter of kneeling, bowing, or prostrating ourselves. According to this chapter, to worship is to eat before the Lord. When they came to the place God had chosen, God’s people were to eat the top portion of the offerings and sacrifices before God.

　　Have you ever thought that this is the kind of worship God desires? In Deuteronomy 12 there is no mention of singing or even of praying. According to this portion of the Word, proper worship is a matter of eating before God the rich produce of the good land. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” pp. 275-276)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msg. 29; CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” ch. 5; CWWL, 1975-1976, vol. 3, “Young People’s Training,” chs. 12-13