Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
OK. I had the wrong city in mind. But I am correct that it was in rebellion, because God told Cain that he would wander the Earth, and Cain rebelled by building himself a city.
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.(Genesis 4:16-17)
After leaving God's presence, Cain proceeded to create a life independently of God and the city was for new found protection and strength independent of God.
On the biblical principle of "first mention", we can conclude that from this time forward, cities built by men are symbols of independence and rebellion from God.
We should not confuse God's permissive will with His perfect will. In his perfect will, Israel would never have had a king, or a temple. Kings and temples was the habit of the surrounding pagan nations. God wanted his people to be different, as not realized until the New Testament and today.
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When Abraham established Israel, was that also considered rebellion against God or was it considered righteousness by faith? Was David's establishment of Jerusalem also rebellion against God?
If the concept of kings is a pagan thing and not of God, why then is Jesus called the "king of kings" in scripture?
God didn't want to give Israel a king because there was no one fit to be it's king before Jesus.