There are four principal offices in Israel:

 

1. The King (i.e., the military leader);

2. The Priest;

3. The Prophet; and

4. The Anointed Judge.

 

There are many other offices within Israel, but all of them fall under the jurisdiction of one of these four main (principal) offices. 

 

The Anointed Judge is often not included in the count because his duties span all of the first three roles. For example, Moshe (Moses) served both as the king (military leader), and as Israel’s main prophet. He was also a judge who presided over legal matters. And, even though his brother Aharon (Aaron) was the High Priest, Moshe also served in the Set-apart Place, as the future Nasi of Ezekiel 45 will also do. 

 

 

Add to that the fact that the Anointed Judge’s anointing does not transfer to his children, and we have a very unique office within Israel.

 

But is the office of the Anointed Judge still with us? Isaiah tells us that once Yeshua was glorified, the Replacement Theology teaches that the office of the Anointed Judge is no longer with us, since once Yeshua was glorified, the heavenly government was to continue on His shoulder forever.

 

 

However, just for the purposes of discussion, if we accept the idea that there is no more earthly government (seeing as the heavenly government is now on Yeshua’s shoulder), then we should reject all forms of earthly government, and live in total anarchy. However, if we do that we will be unable to fulfill the Torah, which commands us to be orderly, and to appoint judges and officers in all of our gates.

 

 

Some Replacement Theologians teach that that the four main offices were replaced by the offices spoken of by the Apostle Shaul in First Corinthians Twelve.

 

 

However, as this study progresses we will see that an apostle is essentially an Anointed Judge, albeit minus the military (since those in the Dispersion do not have a military of their own).

 

In order to see this, first let us take a look at the role of the Anointed Judge, of which Moshe (Moses) is a type.

 

 

The Hebrew man asked Moshe who had made him a prince (שַׂר, Sar) and a judge (שֹׁפֵט, Shophet) over them.  This was an interesting question, seeing as Moshe would later become an anointed judge, which contains both of those duties.

 

The word Sar (שַׂר) is usually translated as ‘prince’, in the sense of a field marshal. It means more literally a ‘head-person-in-charge’.

 

 

The word Shophet (שֹׁפֵט) means a judge, but we need to distinguish between anointed and appointed judges. Both can preside over legal matters, but an appointed judge is given his position by men (either by the king, or by the priesthood). In contrast, an anointed judge is called to the position by YHWH Himself; and while his power does not transfer to his children, his range of authority is quite similar to that of a king.

 

In Scripture, YHWH gave the Ten Commandments to Moshe. The reason the Ten Commands had authority was because they came from YHWH Elohim.

 

 

Later, YHWH wrote on two tablets of stone that Moshe had cut; and they had the same authority as the first.

 

 

The reason both of these tablets had authority was that no matter who chiseled the tablets, it was YHWH’s words that were inscribed upon them; and that is the key point. No matter who we are, the only way our words can have YHWH’s authority is when we speak YHWH’s words. Presumably, the reason YHWH did not let any of Shemuel’s (Samuel’s) words fall to the ground was that he spoke only YHWH’s words.

 

 

Moshe also did not make up his own mind with regards to legal matters; but rather he waited and listened for what YHWH to render the verdict.

 

 

Moshe was of the House of Levi, and as such he was not technically a Jew. However, he was technically a member of the House of Judah, which may explain why he held the Portion of the Lawgiver that Genesis 49:10 tells us was given to Judah.

 

 

The word for Lawgiver is ‘me-khokek’ (מְחֹקֵק), with a root word of ‘khokek’ (חֹקֵק). This word ‘khokek’ (חֹקֵק) is the word from which the English verb ‘to hack’ comes. The idea is that the Lawgiver (in this case an anointed judge) will first listen for YHWH’s will, and then will ‘hack’ or ‘chisel’ YHWH’s words into stone.

 

Whether YHWH inscribes them or we inscribe them, the main point is that they be YHWH’s words.

 

Heads of state (such as kings and anointed judges) make laws, enact rulings, and bind ordinances. This was the House of Judah’s function up until ‘Shiloh’ (Yeshua) came; and then this portion was ‘hidden’ in the tribe of Gad (which is in the House of Ephraim).

 

 

When Yeshua came the first time, the Portion of the Lawgiver was taken from the House of Judah, because they did not believe. In turn, it was given to the House of Ephraim (i.e., the people of Gad/‘G-d’). Because the Ephraimites heard the truth of YHWH’s Son, and because they accepted the indwelling of His Spirit, YHWH gave them the Portion of the Lawgiver.

 

[This is also a proof that Yeshua has already come. The Portion of the Lawgiver was ‘hidden’ in Gad because our Jewish brethren rejected Yeshua, and chose to believe that the Portion of the Lawgiver was still with them. Then on Ephraim’s part, he did not even realize that he was an Israelite, and had no idea what the Portion of the Lawgiver was, with relation to the Nation of Israel; and so this knowledge was ‘hidden’ from the Ephraimites as well.]

 

In the Nazarene Israel study I explain how the British Commonwealth represents Menasheh (Manasseh). For many centuries, the British held the Portion of the Lawgiver, until the United States (representative of Ephraim) surpassed them. The Portion of the Lawgiver will soon return to Israel; but let us take a look at the centuries-old English quarrel about whether or not kings have to obey the rule of law, because it will prove instructive. 

 

In 1100, the English King Henry I voluntarily proclaimed that he and his throne were subject to the rule of law. However, in 1215 CE, his successor King John did not agree, and so the idea was forced upon him by his barons (under threat of revolt). King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, or the ‘Great Charter’, which guaranteed that the English Crown would henceforth be subject to the rule of law. The Magna Carta had a powerful impact on English politics, and it eventually led to the concept of Constitutional Law, upon which the United States Constitution is based.

 

If we are willing to accept it, this ages-old question of English-based law is all about whether kings should be subject to the judiciary, or vice-versa; and the farther we drift from YHWH our Righteousness as a people, the more the secular judiciary wins out.

 

And yet this entire question of English law completely misses the point. Democracy holds that all government derives its just powers only from the consent of the governed: but Scripture does not agree. In Scripture, governments derive their powers only by the anointing of YHWH. It is YHWH who raises up, and it is YHWH who casts down. If we understand Predestination Theory then we can understand how our present-day leaders got there: but are they giving glory to YHWH?

 

 

Whether He has called them as an anointed king or as an anointed judge, only YHWH’s anointing gives men the authority to establish law: and while it may serve YHWH’s ultimate purposes to allow it, all other government is ultimately false.

 

Apostles are a type of anointed judge, and their authority also comes from Elohim. Just as with kings and anointed judges, they also must put aside their words, and speak the words of Elohim.

 

 

Yeshua is not telling Kepha (Peter) that he can now ask for whatever he wants, and YHWH will give it to him: Elohim forbid! Rather, the real message is that, like Moshe and Shemuel who went before, anointed judges (such as apostles) are to be totally submitted to YHWH, even down to the very words they speak. They are not to do anything by their own will, but must take special care only to do YHWH’s will. They are to stay in prayer, seek YHWH’s face, wait on Him, and abide continually in the Vine (Yeshua), or else their words will fall to the ground, and they will be able to do nothing.

 

 

Do we as His people know how to put ourselves aside so much that we hear His words, rather than our own? And do our leaders?

 

And do we as a people know how to discern when our leaders are truthful men of true integrity, and when they just pretend to be so?

 

Like the apostles, the role of an anointed judge is simply to speak YHWH’s truths: and then whosoever wishes to get with what YHWH is saying is free to do so. In this, the anointed judge differs significantly from the king, whose powers not only pass to his children, but who has a duty to enforce YHWH’s righteousness.