Forty years the Lord led and fed His people in the wilderness.
All this time He was teaching them the way of allegiance to Himself -- the way of faith.
This He did in order that His purpose might be fulfilled through them in the land whither they were going to possess it.
At the end of the forty years they were encamped in the plain of Moab, opposite Jericho, preparatory to entering the land of their possession.
While there encamped, the will of God concerning them was declared by an irresistible inspiration upon the prophet Balaam, and in words of instruction to His people for all time.
And the words are these: "Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations" (Num. 23:9).
At that time the Lord's people composed "the church in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38); and in thus declaring that they should dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations, He plainly declared His will that His church should be forever separated from every State and nation on the earth.
God never intended that His people should be formed into a kingdom, or State, or government, like the people of this world; or that they should in any way be connected with any kingdom, or State, or government, of this world.
They were not to be like the nations or the people around them. They were to be separated unto God "from all the people that are upon the face of the earth" (Ex. 33:16). The people were to dwell alone, and were not to be reckoned among the nations.
Their government was to be a theocracy pure and simple --God their only King, their only Ruler, their only Lawgiver. It was indeed to be a church organization, beginning with the organization of "the church in the wilderness," and was to be separated from every idea of a State. The system formed in the wilderness through Moses, was to continue in Canaan; and was intended to be perpetual.
"The government of Israel was administered in the name and by the authority of Jehovah. The work of Moses, of the seventy elders, of the rulers and judges, was simply to enforce the laws that God had given. They had no authority to legislate for the nation." For God had declared plainly, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it" (Deut. 4:2).
Thus the principles of their government were solely those of a pure theocracy. And such "was and continued to be the condition of Israel's existence as a nation." In any government it is only loyalty to the principles of the government, on the part of its citizens, that can make it a success. Consequently, on the part of Israel, it was only loyalty to the principles of a pure theocracy -- God their only King, their only Ruler, their only Lawgiver -- that could possibly make that government a success.