And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding, Daniel 2:21.
Our King James Bible is rightly named. Just as the men of Hezekiah copied out long hidden proverbs to add to the canon of scripture, James I of England commissioned men to collate all existing texts of scripture in the Greek and Hebrew tongues along with multiple translations in other tongues to reveal the word of God in the English tongue.
These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out, Proverbs 25:1. Where were those proverbs for the few centuries between Solomon and Hezekiah? They were hidden. They were unavailable for the average man to access. They were scattered in amongst other lesser writings.
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter, Proverbs 25:2. It took the direction and guidance of a king to set the record straight and to give the people the scriptures as God had intended. What did the men of Israel have to read before Hezekiah's great work was finished? They had an inferior bible which lacked certain of Solomon's proverbs. What did the people of England have before the King James Bible? They had an inferior bible.
This is not a contradiction to God's promise in Isaiah 59:21, As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. Just as the men of Hezekiah labored to fulfill that promise by using their great education, wisdom and talents to sort out the great body of writings that existed, so did the men of King James labor to give us one more translation, but as they said in the dedicatory to the king; "one more perfect translation", and perfect it was and perfect it is.
Why then in their dedicatory to King James did the translators call him the King of France?
TO THE
Most High and Mighty Prince JAMES,
By the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.
The Translators of the Bible wish Grace, Mercy, and Peace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It would be reasonable to assume that a team of translators working under a king to reveal the word of God to the people in a perfect format would be historically accurate. They were accurate in the eyes of the English people and I believe in the eyes of God. Under the treaty of Troyes in 1420, King Henry V of England and his heirs were recognized as the rightful heirs to the French throne. English monarchs retained the title of King of France until 1801.
Remember, Nebuchadnezzar was told that the kingdoms to rise up after him would rule the whole world. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth, Daniel 2:39. They never crossed the oceans and physically ruled the Americas. They never established their throne in China, but nevertheless God recognized them as the rightful rulers of those places.
There will be twelve Gentile nations on the new earth. When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel, Deuteronomy 32:8. Just as there are twelve tribes in Israel with a 13th tribe as a tribe of priests, so will there be twelve nations on that new earth with a 13th nation (Israel) as a holy people unto God.
Nations will be destroyed or preserved based on how they treated the brethren of Jesus Christ. And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, Matthew 25:32. Every nation will be judged. How they treated the Jew is the criterion for how they are judged. And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me, Matthew 25:40.
I have a hope that England will be preserved in that day. Certainly their record towards the Jew is not perfect and at times was downright shameful. But, it has been the development of liberty and just law under the English system that has wrought the greatest (not perfect by far) boon in government and individual liberty that this world has ever known. The Jew has flourished in those lands so affected. May God be praised for that.
I thank God for James I, King of France and for the labor of his men to give us a perfect bible. It is the book that changed the world. The French depend on a miserable academy to keep their language pure. The English have the King James Bible as a standard held high for all of their far flung descendants and those who have adopted their tongue to be a standard to which all can rally and to share a common tongue engraved forever in gold.
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