Hand Copying the Bible Is the Rich Meditation of a King

In Israel, God held kings to a higher standard than everyone else. For them to rule justly in the fear of the Lord, God commanded the king to do something unusual by today’s standards. His assignment was hand copying the Bible and reading from it every day!

“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.” —Deuteronomy 17:18-20

Meditating Like a King

God required the king to:

1. Hand copy the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, for himself. (He could not hire a scribe to do it for him but had to put his own hand to the Word of God.)
2. Keep the Word with him, near him. (According to the Chumash, he had to keep another copy in his treasury so that he would not forget God when he was looking at his wealth.)
3. Read from the Law all the days of his life, meditating in God's Word day and night. (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2-3) He was to read it through, then begin again, and again, and again.
4. Learn to fear the Lord his God.
5. Be careful to observe all the words of the Law and statutes.
6. Not let his heart be lifted up in pride in his royal position.
7. Not turn aside from the commandment to the left or to the right. He was not to deviate because of the culture or circumstances.

All this was to be done so that the king might prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children also. Hand copying the Bible benefited him with a long reign, punctuated by wisdom and obedience. The blessing extended as well to his children also.

Evidently, not all kings obeyed. In the recorded history of the kings of Judah, there were good kings who obeyed God and bad kings who disobeyed. Hand copying the Bible was so beneficial to King Hezekiah, one of the good kings who led a revival in Israel (see 2 Chronicles, chapters 29-32), that he ordered his men to hand copy Solomon’s proverbs.

These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied:

• It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
  But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. —Proverbs 25:1-2

Why would God subject busy kings to this painstaking task? Why not let them buy a scroll and read it? Or just get it on Kindle? God knew there at least seven rarely discovered benefits of hand copying Scripture.

In Christ, we are called to be a "royal priesthood." We are royal in the sense that we have regal authority in the spirit realm by using the authority found in the name of Jesus. We are a priesthood in that we can facilitate people coming to know Christ and becoming born again. 

These royal and priestly responsibilities are for every disciple and follower of Jesus, not the clergy class only. As we pursue hand copying the Bible, the Holy Spirit trains us to "reign as kings in life" (Romans 5:17, AMP) through Christ.

Just as earthly kings had to rearrange their royal schedules to hand copy the Bible, we may have to lay aside some special things or sleep to serve God in this unique way. But it's key to renewing our minds and preparing our hearts to be royal children of the ultimate King, God Most High.

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