What It Means to Be Noble: Lessons from the Lives of Reuben and Judah

An Essay by Wesley Strackbein

The year was 1689 B.C. It had been six centuries since all of mankind, save eight souls, had perished in the Global Flood. Since that time, new nations had arisen as God dispersed man by confusing his language at the Tower of Babel. Among the greatest was Egypt, whose might was raised by the sons of Ham.¹

It was there, in the Egyptian province of Goshen, a fertile land east of the Nile, that a 147-year-old patriarch gathered his twelve sons for a parting blessing.²

His grandfather Abraham — who himself had sojourned in Egypt — had been promised the land of Canaan, even as he had been chosen by God to be the “father of all them that believe” (Rom. 4:11).³ Abraham’s descendants were to be the carriers of the covenant of grace, the promised blessing of redemption, throughout their generations. As such, they were to be ever mindful of their undeserved pedigree and to keep God’s ways as faithful stewards.

Neither Abraham nor his son Isaac had inherited Canaan or been perfect in their duties, yet both had clung tenaciously to God’s promise, as did their heir, Jacob. This third-generation patriarch, later renamed Israel, had a checkered testimony himself. Yet in the grand scheme of things, Jacob had followed the God of his fathers through seasons of both marked blessing and painful loss.⁴

Now nearing death — his sadness assuaged by the joy of being reunited with his beloved son Joseph, whom he long thought was dead — Jacob called his twelve sons to his bedside so he might share his final words with them.

All twelve sons would receive a blessing as part of Jacob’s prophetic utterance, yet his pronouncements to Reuben and Judah in particular point to vital lessons on what it means to be noble as God’s chosen people, as well as to the regrettable legacy that comes when we fail to live up to this high calling before the Lord.

This essay will explore the Christian’s duty to be noble in light of Reuben and Judah’s example, as well as the Scriptures’ broader teaching on this crucial ideal.

The Meaning of Nobility: A Brief Overview

Before examining Reuben and Judah’s legacies as it pertains to nobility, we must first explain how the term “noble” has been defined and used over time.

When we hear the word “noble,” it tends to evoke images of a baron with landed estates, whose ancestry is rich with brave exploits that have been forged into a unique family heraldry — a knight of high birth who has a realm to defend and who has inherited the means to do so.

This picture has an element of truth to it, but we must dig much deeper to understand the full import of the term.

The English word “noble” is derived from the Latin term “nobilis” (or “gnobilis”) which finds its root in “gno-,” which means “to know.”⁵ In its original, ancient usage, it meant someone whose name and reputation was well known due to their distinguished feats — a celebrated man of renown.⁶

By the time of the Roman Republic, the term had taken on a new connotation, which made less of the person’s accomplishments and referred more directly to their status. A “nobilis” was someone of high rank or birth, which in the Roman context, denoted that they “belonged to the patrician families,” though “plebeians whose ancestors were consuls were also considered ‘nobiles.’”⁷

Yet, even as the term became more widely used as a noun, meaning a man of rank due to high birth, it was still regularly used, in adjective form, to convey exemplary virtues and exploits on the part of the persons so designated.⁸

Looking at God’s Word, we see both usages employed in the term’s Greek parallel, the word “eugenees.”

In the “Parable of the Talents” recorded in Luke 19:12-27, we read of a “certain nobleman [who] went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return” (v. 12). The nobleman Jesus spoke of divvied up various pounds to his servants and charged them to “Occupy till I come” (v. 13). Contextually, the Greek word eugenees, translated “nobleman” in English here, means “well-born, of [a] noble race” and refers to Jesus Christ Himself.⁹

The term eugenees has a similar meaning as used by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians: “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called . . .” (1 Cor. 1:26). The word “noble” here again denotes someone of well-born pedigree — not many of whom, asserts Paul, come to true faith in Jesus Christ.

Yet its more original meaning is used in the Book of Acts, when Luke contrasts two groups of Macedonian Christians:

[The Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)

The word eugenees is invoked here to mean that the Bereans were “more noble-minded” than their counterparts in Thessalonica in seeking to properly understand the truths of God’s Word.¹⁰

Of this passage, commentator Albert Barnes observes:

[H]ere the word is used to denote a quality of mind and heart; they were more generous . . . and noble in their [disposition]; more disposed to inquire candidly into the truth of the doctrines advanced by Paul and Silas.¹¹

What’s clear is that, in this context, the word conveys a sterling virtue worthy of emulation that transcends one’s physical parentage.

The word’s use continued to mirror these two permutations throughout the centuries. The term was employed in both adjective and noun form in Old French and later in English. Its adjective form used in Middle English (c. 1300) meant “having admirable qualities,” even as its noun form continued to denote a “man of rank.”¹²

While throughout the feudal period in Europe, a man of estates was termed a “nobleman” due to the title granted to him at birth,¹³ historian Maurice Keen explains in his landmark book, Chivalry, that the concept of nobility always stood for something far greater: “a scale of virtues . . . connected with the function of knighthood.”¹⁴

According to Keen, a man could be knighted and enter the Lesser Nobility based on his merit and Christian character — apart from having any wealth in lands or an existing family pedigree. He was deemed “noble” based on his virtue and qualities as a leader. To enter the Order of Chivalry and receive a Knighthood, he must demonstrate nobility by his conduct; he must be “noble.”

When Noah Webster compiled his highly-regarded American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828, he included both the adjective and noun variations of the word:

Noble (adj.): Great; elevated; dignified; being above everything that can dishonor reputation; as a noble mind; noble courage; noble deeds of valor.

Noble (n.): A person of rank above a commoner; a nobleman, a peer; as a duke, marquis, earl, viscount, or baron.¹⁵

The two definitions arguably best culminate in the French term, “noblesse oblige,” which is defined as “the obligation to act honorably, generously, and responsibly in keeping with one’s birth or high station.”¹⁶ Put succinctly, noblesse oblige means that “privilege entails responsibility.”¹⁷ To state it in biblical terms, this phrase conveys the verity that those blessed with a high calling in Christ are expected to “walk worthy” of it in all that they say and do (Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:12).

Reuben’s Rank: Preeminent in Dignity and Power

We now return to Jacob’s bedside.

As his twelve sons surrounded the ailing patriarch, one of the most poignant scenes found in the Old Testament took place. The Book of Genesis records:

Jacob called unto his sons, and said, ‘Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.’ (Gen. 49:1-2)

He then gave a lengthy address of blessing, beginning with his eldest son: “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power” (Gen. 49:3).

This first sentence spoken of Reuben powerfully illustrates the august and noble rank he held within the family as Jacob’s oldest male heir.

The Hebrew word translated “might” is “koach,” which means one who has the “vigor” and “hardiness” of a large creature.¹⁸ This same word is used repeatedly in the Book of Judges to describe Samson’s amazing strength (Judg. 16:6, 9, 15, 17, 30), and Job employs the term to emphasize God’s “great power” (Job 23:6). From Jacob’s word choice here, it can be surmised that there was an element of Reuben’s persona that projected might — that he was not a man to be trifled with.

The next phrase the patriarch invoked is “the beginning of my strength,” which can be more fully translated to mean “the first, in place, time, order, or rank” of my “strength, power, and wealth.”¹⁹ This language clearly communicates the special position Reuben held as the firstborn son, as do the next two phrases Jacob voiced: “the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.”

The word “excellency” is the Hebrew word “yether” which means “superiority” or “preeminent.”²⁰ The Hebrew word for “dignity” used here denotes “exaltation in rank or character.”²¹ What Jacob was, therefore, saying of Reuben is that — as the oldest son — he was superior and preeminent in rank and power.

Unstable as Water: Reuben’s Character Flaw

Reuben’s status was unmistakably that of a nobleman by birth, and yet — in the very next sentence — Jacob hastened to declare that Reuben’s character and conduct did not befit his station as the firstborn son. Rather than discharging his duties with noblesse oblige, he had proven to be ignoble of heart and action:

Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. (Gen. 49:4)

In pronouncing this indictment, Jacob was hearkening back to an event that took place many years before when Reuben contemptuously slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, who had previously bore Jacob two sons (Gen. 35:21-22; 30:1-8).

This gross, incestuous act was not only dishonorable in the extreme, but it typified a life-long character flaw Reuben had — being “unstable as water” (Gen. 49:4). The meaning of the word “unstable” is that of “recklessness, wantonness, and unbridled license.” It implies a frothy substance that’s out of control; a volatile passion, especially lust, that boils over and causes harm.²²

Regrettably, while Reuben had sought to project a noble posture in his dealings, he was prone to rashness and was chronically unstable. When it came to leadership, he failed test after test. At his best, he fell short of what was required of him.

Cowardly Compromise: Reuben’s Cover-up of Evil

One of Reuben’s biggest leadership tests came as the heat of jealousy burned against Joseph, Jacob’s younger son by Rachel. Joseph’s brothers were outraged by his dreams of prominence over them and resented the special “coat of many colours” (Gen. 37:3) Jacob had made for the lad.

Real fireworks exploded when Joseph, on a mission by his father, met his older brothers in the fields near Dothan to check on their affairs with the family’s flock.

“Behold, this dreamer cometh,” they said. “Come now therefore, let us slay him” (Gen. 37:19-20).

In what appears at first blush to be a noble act of leadership, Reuben intervened, stating, “Let us not kill him. . . . Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness” (vs. 21, 22).

Yet an important point must not be missed: In coming to Joseph’s aid, Reuben sought to partially appease his malicious brothers. Rather than face the full brunt of their ire head on, he facilitated a temporary compromise by suggesting Joseph be thrown in a pit, hoping to come to his rescue later on “to deliver him to his father again” (vs. 22). To put it plainly: Reuben lacked the courage to stand alone and completely denounce his brothers’ wrong attitudes and treatment of Joseph.

Worse yet, when Reuben learned that his spiteful brothers had sold Joseph into slavery while he was away, he was complicit in the cover-up. Though this outburst by Reuben revealed his personal burden of responsibility — “The child is not; whither shall I go?” (v. 30) — he nonetheless took part in the scheme of dipping Joseph’s coat in goat’s blood and then lying to his father about what had truly happened to Jacob’s beloved son.

What Reuben should have done was to promptly lead an effort to chase down the Midianite merchantmen and buy Joseph back from them. And, if this rescue attempt had failed, he should have exposed his vengeful brothers’ knavery to their father, rather than going along with their conniving ruse. This would have portrayed real noble leadership on Reuben’s part.

Yet when this critical test came, the eldest son of Jacob failed it.

An Intemperate Blame-shifter: Reuben’s Foolish Rants

Two other key episodes illustrate Reuben’s erratic behavior when sound leadership was called for.

The first came when he and nine of his brothers journeyed to Egypt to buy grain during the seven-year famine God had declared on the region.

Joseph accused them of being spies and had Simeon bound until they met the Vizier’s demands. When Joseph commanded that, if they wanted to buy more grain and free Simeon from prison, they must bring their youngest brother Benjamin down to Egypt, Reuben let forth this telling cry: “Spake I not unto you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the child [Joseph]; and ye would not hear?’ Therefore, behold, also his blood is required” (Gen. 42:22).

Rather than acknowledge his own responsibility in the cover-up of Joseph’s purported death, Reuben rashly ranted against his brothers’ actions in the plot, blaming them for the predicament they now faced — a terrible example of leadership on his part.

When the brothers (minus Simeon) returned to Canaan and told their father of the mysterious man’s ultimatum — that they must bring Jacob’s cherished son Benjamin to Egypt in order to purchase more food — Reuben made another rash pronouncement. Addressing Jacob, he blurted out this imprudent line: “Slay my two sons, if I bring [Benjamin] not [back] to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again” (Gen. 42:37).

As before, Reuben proved that he lacked control over his thoughts and emotions. His attempt at “leadership” was marked yet again by volatile bluster. Jacob wisely rejected Reuben’s absurd proposal, which in Matthew Poole’s apt words, was “neither fit for [Reuben] to make, nor for Jacob to accept.”²³

Dr. Henry Morris offers this punctuating remark on the scene: “[Reuben] perhaps was trying to appear noble to his father, who had long since been badly disappointed in this eldest son of his; but he only succeeded in looking still more foolish.”²⁴

A Denial of Blessing: Reuben’s Forgettable Legacy

Reuben’s squandering of his sacred duties as his father’s eldest male heir led Jacob to declare that he would “not excel”; that the privileges normally conferred to the firstborn would be denied him and given to his brothers.

Albert Barnes gives this summary as to the noble titles and roles that Reuben forfeited:

By the boiling over of his unhallowed passions Reuben lost all the excellence that primogeniture confers. By the dispensation of Providence the double portion went to Joseph, the firstborn of Rachel; the chieftainship to Judah; and the priesthood to Levi.²⁵

Reuben was not disinherited, but he and his descendants were given a marginal role in God’s unfolding redemptive work that was to come through Jacob’s seed.

When it came time to enter the Promised Land, Reuben’s offspring — not unlike Lot many centuries before them — made fertile fields their first priority in where they settled as a tribe. In order to raise their cattle on what they deemed as superior foraging ground, they appealed to Moses to “bring us not over Jordan” (Num. 32:5). God granted the Reubenites their request, and theirs was the southernmost and smallest allotment on the east of the Jordan River, outside the formal boundaries of the Promised Land.

While they kept their pledge to help the other tribes conquer Canaan under Joshua’s leadership (Josh. 1:12-18), the Reubenites’ conduct thereafter proved to be as unreliable as their namesake’s. During the period of the Judges, the men of Reuben went “missing in action” during a critical war with King Jabin of Hazor, earning them the vocal scorn of the prophetess Deborah.²⁶

After this pathetic episode, the Reubenites all but disappear from the annals of history. Their lack of distinguishment is well summarized by A.W. Pink: “From this tribe came no judge, no king, and no prophet.”²⁷

Due to Reuben falling short of his noble calling, a forgettable legacy sadly followed.

Instruments of Cruelty: The Anger of Simeon & Levi

Jacob’s sobering words regarding Reuben’s future were followed by a scathing rebuke of the next oldest brothers, Simeon and Levi.

Jacob described these two cohorts as “instruments of cruelty” (Gen. 49:5), and though he granted them an inheritance, it was limited and framed with this withering condemnation: “Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel” (v. 7).

What’s beyond dispute is that these partners in crime dishonorably conspired in anger to slay the men of Shechem after their sister Dinah was defiled (Gen. 34:25), but they were also, quite possibly, the chief ringleaders in calling for Joseph’s murder later on.

Of the two, Simeon’s future would be the least auspicious, as his small land inheritance was sprinkled throughout Judah’s possession in Canaan (Josh. 19:1-8). The Levites’ forty-eight cities were, in similar fashion, “scattered throughout the inheritance of the other tribes” (Num. 35:8; Josh. 14:4; Josh. 21),²⁸ though Levi’s heirs, beginning with Aaron, were given the distinction to serve as God’s holy priests — a role denied to Reuben’s line.

Judah Introduced: A Counterpoint to Reuben

Jacob then addressed his fourth-born son, Judah. Though he would grant Joseph the double inheritance Reuben had forfeited, it’s in the patriarch’s blessing of Judah that we find the greatest counterpoint to Israel’s untrustworthy eldest son. To Judah was granted the royal scepter, the right of kingly rule.

So what was Judah’s testimony? How did he conduct himself as a covenant heir?

Judah’s life — not unlike that of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — was marked by both good and bad behavior. Yet, unlike Reuben, Judah exhibited profound character growth over time. He  progressed from immature selfishness to sacrificial nobility, becoming a type of Christ.

A Father Betrayed: Judah’s Sinister Scheme

Following the record of his birth, we first encounter Judah in the midst of the tussle over Joseph. By this point in the narrative, Reuben had denounced the cries to murder the despised upstart and convinced his jealous brothers to throw Joseph into a pit instead, after which Reuben left the scene.

Judah then echoed Reuben’s call to spare Joseph’s life, but his solution was sinister. Judah advised his blood-thirsty brothers to sell the lad to the passing merchants from Midian and be rid of him. Content with this recommendation, a deal was struck, and Joseph was sold as a slave bound for Egypt for twenty pieces of silver.

Judah’s shrewd act may have saved Joseph’s life, but it utterly betrayed his father. When he and his nine guilty brothers presented Jacob with Joseph’s blood-spattered coat, the aging man was inconsolable. Genesis 37 records:

And [Jacob] knew it, and said, “It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.” And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, “For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. (Gen. 37:33-35)

Judah’s Departure: A Season of Bad Choices  

It appears that Judah was struck with guilt over the soul-wrenching grief he had caused his father, for it was it was “at that time,” Scripture relates, that Judah left the family and took up residence with Hirah the Adullamite (Gen. 38:1).²⁹

This season away from Jacob’s orbit did not bring improved decision-making on Judah’s part, however. He not only married a Canaanite woman, but after his wife’s death, he displayed a penchant for sinful lust. This is evidenced by the success that Judah’s then-widowed daughter-in-law Tamar had in slyly seducing him after he had failed to keep his word to give his younger son Shelah to her as a husband.

On the way to Timnath, Judah found Tamar clandestinely attired as a prostitute, and — unaware of her true identity — he fell for the trap. When he later learned that she was with child by whoredom, Judah called for his daughter-in-law’s execution until he was confronted with the pledges for payment he’d given to her as a presumed harlot. In an amazing turn of events, Tamar had twins in her womb by Judah, the older of whom would become part of Christ’s human lineage (Gen. 38:27-30).

Judah Takes Charge: A Poignant Picture of Noble Leadership

When we next encounter Judah, he is a changed man.

The context is a sobering one. The great seven-year famine recorded in Genesis was far from over, and the grain Jacob’s sons had acquired from Joseph during their first trip to the land of the Pharaohs had run out. Time was of the essence — unless they made haste to Egypt to buy more food, the family would starve to death.

Yet Joseph had declared in no uncertain terms that they were not to come back for more corn unless Benjamin was with them — a matter of no great pain to Jacob, who feared to lose his youngest son to some violent tragedy.

In the midst of this crisis, Judah stepped forward with a plan. Rather than rashly offer his sons to be slain if Benjamin failed to return, as Reuben had done in a crazy rant, Judah personally assumed full responsibility for this beloved son of Jacob:

And Judah said unto Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for [Benjamin]; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever.” (Gen. 43:8-9)

Though he would have preferred the situation to be otherwise, Jacob expressed confidence in Judah and gave his consent:

Take . . . your brother, and arise, go again unto the man: And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother [Simeon], and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. (Gen. 43:13-14)

Upon reaching Egypt, Simeon was released, and the eleven brothers enjoyed an unexpected meal with Joseph before heading back to Canaan with their newly-bought corn. But unbeknownst to them, Joseph had directed his steward to place his personal silver chalice in the mouth of Benjamin’s grain sack and then sent the servant in hot pursuit to recover it.

When the silver cup was found in Benjamin’s grain, the men were forced to retrace their steps and stand before Egypt’s mighty Vizier.

At this pivotal juncture, Judah “came near unto” Joseph and gave one of the most noble and poignant appeals recorded in all of history:

Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh. . . .

[T]hy servant my father said unto us, “Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”

Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father . . .  seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life; It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, “If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.”

Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father. (Gen. 44:18, 27-34)

The turnabout seen in Judah’s plea is striking. As a younger man, he had wickedly sold Joseph into slavery and broken his father’s heart. Yet he was now willing to become Joseph’s slave to preserve the joy his aging father had in his youngest son Benjamin. Having a sense of the moment, Judah rose to the occasion and led. He who had once betrayed his father was now willing to give his very life to protect that which was most precious to him.

Judah’s words were too much for Joseph. They pierced his heart and brought an end to his cloaked harassment of his brothers.

Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, “Cause every man to go out from me.” And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, “I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?” (Gen. 45:1-3)

By the Holy Spirit’s aid, Judah’s earnest and tender appeal was the catalyst that reunited a fractured family. It began a process of healing between brothers whose vicious enmity toward one another had nearly brought their father to an early grave.

It set hope in motion, as “the spirit of Jacob their father revived” when he beheld, with utter astonishment, a massive wagon train of goods from a son he long thought was dead.

“It is enough,” said Jacob. “Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die” (Gen. 45:25-28).

From Judah to Christ: A Regal Legacy of Noble Sacrifice

As Jacob prepared to pass into eternity, he spoke candidly to his sons about their past record and future legacy.

Each would receive an inheritance in Canaan when the family’s sojourn in Egypt ended — yet no blessing was more distinguished and world-changing than Judah’s. Though the early years of Jacob’s fourth-born son had been marked by selfish immaturity, he had risen beyond his early failings to become a trustworthy and sacrificial leader. He had proven himself to be a noble man who could be relied upon to fulfill great responsibilities, representing his father’s interests with regal purpose and level-headed resolve. As such, he became a type of Christ.

To Judah was granted the royal scepter. No more noble a rank could be received than what he was given: for from Judah’s distinguished line, the King of Kings — the promised Messiah — would come:

Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Gen. 49:8-10)

The prophecy concerning Judah’s future is filled with rich imagery, including that of the majestic lion, the king of beasts. The lion is described “under three distinct stages,” explains A.W. Pink, “according to the growth or age of the lion. First, we have ‘a lion’s whelp,’ then ‘a lion,’ lastly ‘an old lion’—the gradual growth in power of this tribe being here set forth.”³⁰

Judah, as a “young lion,” formed the vanguard of Israel’s army during their wilderness journey and “took the first place in the camp and on the march” (Num. 2:3-9; 10:14 ) — an early “symbol and pledge of its destination to be the champion and ruler over the tribes.”³¹

Yet 640 years after Jacob’s prophecy, King David would take the throne as Judah’s direct heir and raise the “scepter,” which Jesus Christ — “the Lion of the tribe of Juda[h]” (Rev. 5:5) — would definitively embrace a millennium later (Eph. 1:19-22; Matt. 28:18; Heb. 1:1-3). Even as David acknowledged how God had given him “the necks of [his] enemies” (Ps. 13:39) during his storied reign, the son of Jesse prophesied of Christ’s ultimate fulfillment of this truth:

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. (Ps. 110:1-2)

Significantly, David also prophesied in this psalm of the role Jesus would perform as the Great High Priest, which would not be traced through Aaron and the Levitical line, but through the “order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 5-7). God would wrest this privilege from Levi—but the praise and distinction afforded Judah would remain forever.

Looking at the big picture, it’s important to recognize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Second Person of the Trinity, has held the offices of Sovereign King and Great High Priest from eternity past (1 Tim. 1:17; Col 1:16-17, Ps. 145:10-13; Ps. 110:4; Heb. 7:17), yet His Father ordained that he should carry out these roles in history as Divine Mediator (Matt. 28:18-20; Phil. 2:6-11; Heb. 12:1-3; Eph. 1:19-22; Phil. 2:5-11).³²

The prophet Micah beautifully expressed how Christ’s eternal kingship would be meted out on earth through Judah’s tribe:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Mic. 5:2).

Both Joseph and Mary were from Judah’s line (Matt. 1:1-16; Luke 3:23-38), and the angel Gabriel emphasized to Mary the throne her son would inherit through this family lineage:

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke 1:31-33)

Being wholly God, Jesus became wholly man to carry out His destiny as the King of Kings and Great High Priest. And He was the most noble man ever to live, perfectly fulfilling the duties required of Him by His Heavenly Father.

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38)

Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42) 

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (John 17:4)

This parting blessing of a dying father would, indeed, come to pass: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:10).

Our Noble Calling as Believers: Kings and Priests unto God

So how does being “noble” relate to the people of God today?

Is “noblesse oblige” merely part of some archaic construct that Jacob spoke to Reuben about when he emphasized the prestige of his rank as his firstborn son (Gen. 49:3), or should we be evaluating our goals and conduct based on a higher calling?

In considering this question, we must first acknowledge that all men in all nations and times are required to obey God’s holy standards as earthly subjects created in His image. This is non-negotiable.

Yet we must move beyond this basic point in determining our sacred duties before the King of Kings. What Scripture plainly teaches is this: Those called to be God’s people have a heightened level of accountability and expectation of dutiful service. The redeemed of the Lord must understand the noble stations they’ve been granted in Christ and what their corresponding duties are, or they will fall short of what’s required of them.

The Apostle Peter paints the picture well: “. . . ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9-10).

What’s immediately striking about Peter’s statement are the high and undeserved positions God confers to the redeemed.³³ Yet with these privileged roles come sacred duties, comments John Calvin, as “the faithful [are told] to what great honor they had been raised, and also to what purpose they had been called.”³⁴ The aim of God’s people should be to proclaim and exemplify Christ’s “excellencies” and “perfections” (the Greek meaning of the word “praises”) to the world.³⁵

Numerous commentators note that the term “royal priesthood” used by Peter speaks of both regal and priestly functions we are to undertake on Christ’s behalf as the King of Kings and Great High Priest.³⁶ R.C. Sproul notes that we are to serve as His vice-regents in these posts:

The conjunction of kingship and priesthood does not finish with Jesus. Peter gives the astonishing affirmation that . . . By virtue of our being in Christ, we participate in His kingdom. We participate in His priesthood as those who make intercession for the lost as well as the people of God.³⁷

Peter is not alone in highlighting the regal and priestly status given to God’s elect. After proclaiming Jesus Christ to be “the prince of the kings of the earth,” the Apostle John declares that Christ has “made us kings and priests unto God and his Father” (Rev. 1:6).

Albert Barnes observes that these titles are not mere word-play, but that they denote real and tangible roles God’s people are to carry out under His sovereign governance:

Christians are exalted to the dignity, and are invested with the office, implied in these words. The word kings, as applied to them, refers . . . to the fact that they, in common with their Saviour, will reign triumphant over all enemies; . . . The word priests refers to the fact that they are engaged in the holy service of God.³⁸

In view of the lofty stations granted to God’s people, we must take our responsibilities seriously. As undeserving sinners who have been entrusted with much, we must act with noblesse oblige — “the obligation of honorable, generous, and responsible behavior associated with high rank or birth.”³⁹ Ours is a noble calling which we must faithfully discharge.

This point is echoed by the Apostle Paul throughout his New Testament letters. He implores the Ephesian church to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Eph. 4:1), and gives a like admonition to the saints of Colossae and Thessalonica: “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory” (Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:11-12).

Paul notes what Christ’s redeeming grace should result in: “that he might . . . purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:4), even as he sets forth his own example of service to the Philippians: “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

Matthew Henry puts the blessed privileges and duties Paul describes in helpful perspective:

What is our great gospel privilege — that God has called us to his kingdom and glory. . . . What is our great gospel duty—that we walk worthy of God, that the temper of our minds and tenor of our lives be answerable to this call and suitable to this privilege. We should accommodate ourselves to the intention and design of the gospel, and live suitably to our profession and privileges, our hopes and expectations, as becomes those who are called with such a high and holy calling.⁴⁰

Our Duties as Vice-Regents: A Call to Faithful Stewardship

What, then, are our duties as “kings and priests unto God and his Father” (Rev. 1:6)?

In turning to this question, we must first recognize that Christ’s offices as King of Kings and Great High Priest are singular, unique, and supreme; no man outside Christ in His resurrected glory will ever possess these roles. Our posts as “kings and priests” are subservient to His. Yet it’s critical for us to identify how our roles are to complement Christ’s Divine functions, for in so doing, we will come to grasp our high calling and be able to rightly evaluate our conduct as His vice-regents. We will thus examine His Kingship and Priesthood in this order.

All Must Bow the Knee: Our Role as Kings

We begin our look at Christ’s kingship by returning to David’s prophecy in Psalm 110, which opens with this declaration: “The LORD said unto my Lord, ‘Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool’” (Ps. 110:1).

To grasp the meaning of this statement, we must understand who is speaking to whom. Dr. Henry Morris explains: “This verse literally means ‘Jehovah said to Adonai.’ This is a remarkable conversation between the Godhead. This psalm is a Messianic psalm quoted as such twelve times in the New Testament.”⁴¹

The opening three verses of the Book of Hebrews summarize how “Adonai” came to assume His Messianic role in history:

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:1-3)

The sacrificial obedience Christ displayed in coming to earth as a man compelled God the Father to exalt His Son to an unmatched and all-powerful kingship:

[Christ], being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:6-11)⁴²

Just prior to His ascension into heaven, Jesus proclaimed the unrivaled authority conferred to Him by His Father, even as He commissioned His disciples to represent His kingly interests throughout the world. As His regal representatives, they were to disciple the nations to accept His governance at every point:

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

The Great Commission is comprehensive in scope. It presupposes Christ’s all-encompassing rule over the entire universe. Our role as His royal agents is thus not only to call the ungodly to saving faith, but to exhort every man and nation to embrace Christ’s lordship over every area of life. We are to teach “them to observe all things” God has commanded — from Genesis 1 to Revelation 20.

There is no arena of study or aspect of culture that is outside Christ’s dominion (Ps. 24:1). Abraham Kuyper said it well: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”⁴³ In light of this fact, every area of life and thought is to be taken captive “to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). This includes art, science, architecture, education, philosophy, and the three key spheres of family, church, and state, just to name a few. All are to bow the knee to God’s righteous order and sovereign decrees.

Our role as Christ’s vice-regents requires our all. We must therefore “seek . . . first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33) even as we pray: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

Compassion toward the Needy: Our Role as Priests

To properly understand Christ’s role as the Great High Priest, we must look again to Psalm 110. In David’s prophecy, we learn that God the Father bestowed a second defining office to His Son: “The LORD [Jehovah] hath sworn, and will not repent, ‘Thou [Adonai] art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek’” (Ps. 110:4).

At the time of David’s writing, the operative priesthood in Israel was the Levitical order carried out solely by Aaron’s offspring. So who was this mysterious Melchizedek who David referenced in his prophecy? Genesis 14:18-20 shows him to be a king and priest to whom Abraham paid tithes after the patriarch had defeated four kings from the east and rescued his nephew Lot. While there is much debate about Melchizedek’s origin and identity, what’s clear is that Christ would in time come to represent this ancient priest’s order in contrast to Levi’s (Heb. 7:14-17).

Here’s what we must understand. The Levitical priests regularly made sacrifice for the sins of the children of Israel, but they were merely a precursor and type of the Melchizedekian Great High Priest who would one day come and make an efficacious, once-and-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the elect (Heb. 7:27: 9:28). Due to Jesus’s sinless life, there would be no more need for the daily slaying of animals by the Levites; this old order was abolished through Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross:

For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those [Levitical] high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. (Heb. 7:26-27)

In addition to Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice for sin, He maintains an ongoing function as intercessor to His Father on behalf of His people. He “ever liveth to make intercession for” them (Heb. 7:25):

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb. 4:15-16)

To become the Great High Priest, Jesus had to become fully human. Though He was fully God, he had to come to earth in the flesh so that he could experience the struggles of humanity. The writer of Hebrews explains this prerequisite of a priest:

For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God . . . Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. (Heb. 5:1-2)

Turning to our role as “priests unto God” (Rev. 1:6), it’s important to emphasize that there’s nothing we can accomplish in an ultimate salvific sense in carrying out this station — for redemption was accomplished alone by Christ’s blameless sacrifice on Calvary. At its root, being a priest requires an “others” orientation that is selfless and service-oriented. As royal priests (1 Pet. 2:9), we’re to have compassion for others and lift their needs up to Jesus in earnest prayer. Even as we are to proclaim Christ’s regal interests as King of Kings to the world, we are to represent the interests of hurting and needy people to Him as Great High Priest.

Thus, at their most basic level, the two noble ranks granted to the redeemed directly reflect the two greatest commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself” (Luke 10:27).

Conclusion: Now’s the Time to Rise to our Noble Calling

On January 28, 1855, Charles Spurgeon preached a message on God’s people as “kings and priests.” He titled the sermon, “The Kingly Priesthood of the Saints,” and pithily declared:  “we enjoy divine honors [and] . . . have a divine service to perform.”⁴⁴

Jesus was even more to the point: to whom “much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48).

So where do you stand as a blessed steward of God’s regal interests? Do you act in a way befitting your station? Or are you slack in doing your duties?

Regrettably, we live in a day where selfish and short-sighted behavior is the norm. Pepsi’s recent “live for now” campaign is more than just a soft-drink slogan; it’s a way of life for people of all ages whose lives are awash in chronic irresponsibility.

Self-sacrifice and noble service have given way to the sins of the flesh. A disregard for our calling and duties before God has led to ill choices and societal chaos.

It’s high time for us to embrace our roles as “kings and priests” in all that they entail.

What this doesn’t mean is flaunting an air of entitlement or an inflated sense of self-importance, as the Jews did in boastful unrepentance, only to be cursed and cut off: “Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee” (Rom. 11:18-22).

Even as we’re commanded to take our high calling in Christ seriously (Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:11-12), we’re likewise exhorted to “condescend to men of low estate” and “not [be] wise in [our] own conceits” (Rom. 12:16). We’re “not to think of [ourselves] more highly than [we] ought . . .” (Rom. 12:3), for all that we have to offer was given to us: “And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Cor. 4:7).

What this does mean is that we’re to solemnly discharge our duties — to act with noblesse oblige. “Privilege” indeed “entails responsibility,” and so we must get rid of besetting sins and do what is required of us.⁴⁵ We’ve been “bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:18-20), and we must act like it.

As we carry out our roles as “kings and priests” (Rev. 1:6), we must rise to the occasion and not squander our inheritance through sinful lusts. Now’s the day and now’s the hour for us to chart a new course. Though our past may be marked by failures, may we resolve this very day to live worthy of our noble calling. May our legacy be that of Judah — not Reuben — who could be relied upon when others fell short.