KINGSHIP 119marked by the complete political rout of all other peoples under the in
spired leadership of a Man who will lead the armies and put the ax to
the root of the false growth of the Gentiles. And in that Age the dream
of the ideal kingship, whether in the person of the Man or in the race,
will be realized. That dream of a rulership which can make all society,
even the animal and vegetable kingdoms, perfect, can bring universal
"salvation," is not vain. Some day the true splendor (OZ[\V 6 TV\C) will
bring in humility (aiSwc), impressiveness (SeivoT/jc:) will bring fear
(4>o(36c), benefaction (euepyeoia) will bring good will (euvoia).Philo's political philosophy, in theory and practice, has appeared
sufficiently clearly. He thought of rulership in hellenistic fashion as be
ing ideally a representation of God's rule to men, and of the ruler, if he
were truly fit for his task, as being in a special relation with God. But in
practical political situations his Judaism kept him from going all the
way with this theory. No gentile ruler, however godlike, could be recog
nized as being of divine "nature." Philo's notions are interesting as his
own, but much more so as there can be little doubt that he represented
the thinking of Hellenistic Jews on the subject. Philo's acceptance of the
theory of the king's divine right and prerogative, together with his re
jection of the king's divine person, is precisely the distinction drawn by
early Christian Apologists. It is the political philosophy which, far from
being of no practical importance, had the power ultimately to check the
tendencies manifest in Aurelian and Diocletian, become the official phi
losophy of the Christian Empire, write itself into the laws of Justinian,
and so set the pattern of royalty down into the Twentieth Century.
Most interesting it is to see that with this political philosophy went
also the Jewish hope of the Messiah who was to come and bring in the
truly divine rulership. For the dream of a fully divine king, whom the
Greeks tried to see in such characters as Alexander and Demetrius
Poliorcetes, and the Persians in Cyrus, was the dream of the Jew none
the less because he scorned the claims of Roman emperors to divinity.
To the Jew as to the Greek, the only true government was the rule of
God; but for the Jew the rule of God could never be accomplished until
a miracle should happen and the Messiah come. Similarly the Chris
tians, however loyal they might be to their divinely accoutered James,
Louis, Friedrich, or Nicholas, knew that the governments of this world
were but expedients of God, sooner or later to be replaced by the ideal