This book can perhaps be usefully perceived as an invitation to reflect on aspects of the principles of the government of God through the ages. In this present time, when authority has been compromised - partly because of the misuse of power and partly because of rebellion - there is an urgent need to reclaim sound biblical principles of authority and leadership. As the idiom says, we cannot throw out the baby with the bathwater. God has always had principles of governance for the people of His covenant. Each epoch or dispensation had a specific set of divine edicts drawn up between God and His people. The content varied but the principles always reflected the holy and moral nature of God. We can ascertain from the pages of the Bible that there has never been a time when God operated without principles of governance.