And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” – I Kings 19:15-18
There was a question last week about this verse. Something like “what gives a prophet of Israel the right to anoint kings from other nations?”. I believe that most of Christendom would have been surprised that anyone would ask this question. It’s no wonder the commentators are silent, modern comentators don’t pay this much attention to the Old Testament and those from the past would have instantly understood it.
Whether you acknowledge the one true God or not, doesn’t really matter, he is in heaven ruling. Romans 13 makes it clear God appoints ruler, over all nations. They are his ministers to stop evil. In our fragmented age, we like to divide everything into neat little categories. There are the church things and the state things. There is this nation and that nation. You have your god and I have mine, who are you to tell me anything? Well that’s just buying into the world’s philosophy of humanism. We like to think we are in control of most of our lives and that we give God some time here and there. But in reality it is all his. Setting aside a day for him, is like a firsfruits offering, just a statement that it is all his. God set up his kingly line in David, it was established under Solomon. The kings of the nations came to Solomon to pay homage to him. One notable example was the queen of Sheba, I Kings 10. They submitted to him. This was a picture of what is really going on. Every knee shall bow.
The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, Edward John Poynter
There are many instances of God’s prophets speaking to other nations. Often predicting destruction if there was no repentance. The story of Jonah is the most obvious. After refusing Jonah was finally sent and the people of that nation were saved. Just as saved as those who believe by faith today. Just as saved as those faithful Jews. Isaiah 13-23 contains oracles to many nations. I think part of the confusion has to do with authority, we can get a picture from Daniel in Babylon or Joseph in Egypt. A problem would arise and the ‘authorities’ were consulted. They had the positions as counsel to the king, they were ‘sorcerers’ or ‘wise men’ but when it came down to it they had no authority. They couldn’t get the job done, they were impotent. Authority comes from God, it was given to Joseph and to Daniel. And so they were really efficacious. They really could interpret the dreams, or explain strange phoenomena. Now the world is in darkness, it is difficult for them to tell the difference between real God-given authority and those just parading. But we as the Church have the Light of the World, we should be able to sort it out.
I think there is also some confusion about the role of God’s people in the Old Testament. Their job was not to have an elite club in the middle of the world showing off a God that no one else could have. Their purpose was to minister to the world. This is why Jesus was so angry as he overturned the tables set up in the court of the Gentiles. The people had failed at their mission to take the grace of God to all the nations. They often had to be forced as with Jonah. Though, as usual, he did use them to accomplish this purpose anyway. They preserved the scriptures for us. Jesus was a Jew who saved his people in this by saving the whole world. The verses are countless here are a few; “And in thy [Abraham] seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;” Genesis 22:18 “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” Deuteronomy 4:6 “That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” Psalm 67:2 “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and allthe ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isaiah 52:10 and on and on it goes.
In addition there is a literary reason in these verses. Things in the Old Testament are often grouped in threes. These are understood as definitive or ultimate. Here you have a group of three appointed instrument of God’s wrath; Hazael, Jehu and Elisha. At the beginning it mentions the word ‘wilderness’. This is an image very common the the people of Israel. They were taken to Egypt, passed through the water of the Red Sea, wandered in the wilderness 40 years, and then conquered the land. This image was repeated with Christ, he fled to egypt, was baptized by John, went to the wilderness of Judea and then came back and started turning over tables. Here you have the same idea. The prophet was to go to the wilderness, then the prophets of Baal in the land would all be conquered. But, as always there would be a remnant, a complete remnant, as the number 7 reminds us. It is generally used as a symbol of completeness.
Further Study: N.T. Wright Lectures