THEOCRACY

the-ok'-ra-si (theokratia, from theos, "a god," and kratos, "power"; after the a
nalogy of the words "democracy," "aristocracy," and the like):
"Theocracy" is not a Biblical word. The idea, however, is Biblical, and in stric
tness of speech exclusively Biblical. The realization of the idea is not only co
nfined to Israel, but in the pre-exilic history of Israel the realization of the
idea was confined to the Southern Kingdom, and in post-exilic history to the pe
riod between the return under Ezra and the days of Malachi.
For the word "theocracy" we are, by common consent, indebted to Josephus. In his
writings it seems to occur but once (Apion, II, xvi). The passage reads as foll
ows:
"Our lawgiver had an eye to none of these," that is, these different forms of go
vernment, such as monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, and others of which Josephus
had been speaking, "but, as one might say, using a strained expression, he set
forth the national polity as a theocracy, referring the rule and might to God" (
Stanton's translation). It is generally agreed that the language here used indic
ates that Josephus knew himself to be coining a new word.
If, now, we turn from the word to the Old Testament idea to which it gives fitti
ng and apt expression, that idea cannot be better stated than it has been by Kau
tzsch--namely, "The notion of theocracy is that the constitution (of Israel) was
so arranged that all the organs of government were without any independent powe
r, and had simply to announce and execute the will of God as declared by priest
and prophets, or reduced to writing as a code of laws" (HDB, extra vol, 630, 1,
init.). The same writer is entirely correct when he says that in what is known i
n certain circles as "the PC"--though he might have said in the Old Testament ge
nerally--"everything, even civil and criminal law, is looked at from the religio
us standpoint" (ibid., ut supra).
If the foregoing be a correct account of the idea expressed by the word "theocra
cy," and particularly if the foregoing be a correct account of the Old Testament
representation of God's relation to, and rule in and over Israel, it follows as
a matter of course that the realization of such an idea was only possible withi
n the sphere of what is known as special revelation. Indeed, special revelation
of the divine will, through divinely-chosen organs, to Divinely appointed execut
ive agents, is, itself, the very essence of the idea of a theocracy.
That the foregoing is the Old Testament idea of God's relation to His people is
admitted to be a natural and necessary implication from such passages as Judges
8:23; 1 Samuel 8; compare 12:12; 2 Chronicles 13:8; 2 Samuel 7:1-17; Psalms 89:2
7; Deuteronomy 17:14-20.
Upon any other view of the origin of the Old Testament books than that which has
heretofore prevailed, it is certainly a remarkable fact that whenever the books
of the Old Testament were written, and by whomsoever they may have been written
, and whatever the kind or the number of the redactions to which they may have b
een subjected, the conception--the confessedly unique conception--of a governmen
t of God such as that described above by Kautzsch is evidenced by these writings
in all their parts. This fact is all the more impressive in view of the further
fact that we do not encounter this sharply defined idea of a rule of God among
men in any other literature, ancient or modern. For while the term "theocracy" o
ccurs in modern literature, it is evidently used in a much lower sense. It is fu
ther worth remarking that this Old Testament idea of the true nature of God's ru
le in Israel has only to be fully apprehended for it to become obvious that many
of the alleged analogies between the Old Testament prophet and the modern preac
her, reformer and statesman are wholly lacking in any really solid foundation.

W. M. McPheeters
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Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'THEOCRACY'". "International S
tandard Bible Encyclopedia". 1915.