History of ancient Israel and Judah Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Administrative and judicial structure == [[File:LMLK,_Ezekiah_seals.jpg|thumb|"To [[Hezekiah]], son of [[Ahaz]], king of Judah" – royal [[Seal (emblem)|seal]] found at the [[Ophel]] excavations in Jerusalem]] As was customary in the [[ancient Near East]], a king ({{Lang-he|מלך|translit=melekh}}) ruled over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The national god Yahweh, who selects those to rule his realm and his people, is depicted in the Hebrew Bible as having a hand in the establishment of the royal institution. In this sense, the true king is God, and the king serves as his earthly envoy and is tasked with ruling his realm. In some [[Psalms]] that appear to be related to the coronation of kings, they are referred to as "sons of Yahweh". The kings actually had to succeed one another according to a dynastic principle, even though the succession was occasionally decided through [[Coup d'état|coups d'état]]. The coronation seemed to take place in a sacred place, and was marked by the [[Holy anointing oil|anointing]] of the king who then becomes the "anointed one (māšîaḥ ,the origin of the word [[Messiah]]) of Yahweh"; the end of the ritual seems marked by an acclamation by the people (or at least their representatives, the Elders), followed by a banquet.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Ahlström |first=G.W. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/213021257 |title=Civilizations of the Ancient Near East |date=1995 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |isbn=978-1-56563-607-1 |editor-last=Sasson, Jack |editor-first=M. |pages=590–595 |chapter=Administration of the State in Canaan and Ancient Israel |oclc=213021257}}</ref> The Bible's descriptions of the lists of dignitaries from the reigns of David and Solomon show that the king is supported by a group of high dignitaries. Those include the chief of the army ({{Lang-he|שר הצבא|translit=śar haṣṣābā|link=no}}), the great scribe ({{Lang-he|שר הצבא|translit=śar haṣṣābā|link=no}}) who was in charge of the management of the royal chancellery, the herald ({{Lang-he|מזכיר|translit=mazkîr|link=no}}), as well as the high priest ({{Lang-he|כהן הגדול|translit=kōhēn hāggādôl|link=no}}) and the master of the palace ({{Lang-he|על הבית, סוכן|translit=ʿal-habbayit, sōkēn|link=no}}), who has a function of stewardship of the household of the king at the beginning and seems to become a real prime minister of Judah during the later periods. The attributions of most of these dignitaries remain debated, as illustrated in particular by the much-discussed case of the “king's friend” mentioned under Solomon.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Eph’al Jaruzelska, I. (2010). "Officialdom and Society in the Book of Kings: The Social Relevance of the State." In ''The Books of Kings'' (pp. 471–480). Brill.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page