were ancient kings also gods?

In many parts of the ancient world - and still in some parts of the modern Asia, especially Cambodia and Japan - kings were revered as gods, or at the very least God's chosen representative on Earth; but, mostly, in both polytheistic and monotheistic ancient cultures there was a clear distinction between human kings and gods.

For instance, in the Jewish religion, when Joshua led the Israelites out of the wilderness and they had settled down in Canaan, the priests took care of religion and local military rulers acted as leaders. When the Philistines (Palestinians) began occupying towns such as Gaza, the Israelites demanded a warrior king to unite them and with God's advice, the high-priest, Samuel, chose Saul to be the first warrior king of the Israelites. Following him came the shepherd boy David, who established the Royal City.

None of the Israelite warrior kings - Saul, David, Solomon or Rehoboam (under whose rule the Kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms, leaving Rehoboam as the King of Judah in the south) - had any religious significance, and since David none of them had been inspiring. The Israelites - both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah - longed for a second David, a Messiah, to unite them as God's Chosen people.

The call was taken up by a succession of Prophets, mystic men from Judah such as Amos and Elijah, who headed north to the kingdom of Israel, lush with riches and good living, preaching against idolatry, loose living and lack of care for the poor.

In 721 BC the warnings of the Prophets came to pass when the northern kingdom of Israel became a vassal state of Assyria, and its people were dispersed - becoming the 10 lost tribes of Dan, Naphtali, Asher, Zebulum, Issachor, Joseph (Manasseh), Joseph (Ephraim), Gad, Reuben and Benjamin.

The remaining two tribes of the 12 original tribes were Judah and Simeon.

The fate of the northern kingdom of Israel encouraged more prophets, one of whom, Isaiah, warned the southern kingdom to mend its ways - to eschew idolatry, and be kind to the poor - and in return for his prophecy that a Prince of Peace, a new David, will be sent from God to save them he was sawn in two by King Manasseh during his reign 687-642 BC.

During the reign of King Josiah, when the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings were written, the Prophet Jeremiah arose and correctly predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 586BC by the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, and the enslavement of the remaining Israelites. Zedekiah, the last King of Judah, witnessed the execution of his sons before his eyes were put out and he was led in chains, with his people, to enslavement in Babylon - 90 km south-east of Baghdad - where they reputedly wept by the rivers of Babylon (the Tigris and Euphrates).

Before he, too, died, the Prophet Jeremiah prophesied that God would bring His people back, and this time they would be a holy nation, faithful to the Covenant of the Heart.

In 539 BC, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar, were defeated by the Persians and their king, Cyrus, allowed the Jews to leave. Only a small pious group opted to return to Jerusalem and there were no more kings.

Most of the Jews stayed as they were 'settled' and had made new fortunes, even as slaves, in the fabulous city of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar with its famed Hanging Gardens and Tower of Babel (named after the original city, Babel, meaning 'gate of the gods', and was not a tower of many tongues but a place of protection against another flood). Nebuchadnezzar, who died in 562 BC, was also famous for erecting a golden statue of himself on the plain of Shinar outside Babylon to which everyone had to bow down and worship as a god. (Saddam Hussein had similar aspirations!)

Even when the Prophet Jesus, born 4BC, claimed to be the Messiah, the 2nd King David, by virtue of being 27 generations descended from King David through his father, Joseph of Nazareth - who was not his father at all - the Israelites brushed him aside as a lunatic and a rabble-raiser.

Had the Israelites accepted Jesus as their new King, he might have become a God-like King, similar to David, but he would never have been a god or a son of one.

That Jesus became the son of God in the Christian religion is thus remarkable!

Unlike the Jews and Moslems who deal directly with God, the Christian religion developed to force adherents to receive communion and blessing from Him through Jesus. The need for an intermediary between mortals and God most certainly encouraged the later Christian popes and kings to develop very important roles for themselves.

Indeed, up until recent times all kings ruled by divine right -- a manipulative ploy to ensure they were never deposed!