For hundreds of years scholars have debated the meaning of Jesus' central theological term
the 'kingdom of God'. Most of the argument has focused on its assumed eschatological
connotations and Jesus' adherence or deviation from these ideas. Within the North American
context the debate is dominated by the work of Norman Perrin whose classification of the
kingdom of God as a myth-evoking symbol remains one of the fundamental assumptions of
scholarship. According to Perrin Jesus' understanding of the kingdom of God is founded upon
the myth of God acting as king on behalf of Israel as described in the Hebrew Bible. Moving
Beyond Symbol and Myth challenges Perrin's classification and advocates the reclassification
of the kingdom of God as metaphor. Drawing upon insights from the cognitive theory of metaphor
this study examines all the occurrences of the 'God is king' metaphor within the literary
context of the Hebrew Bible. Based on this review it is proposed that the 'God is king'
metaphor functions as a true metaphor with a range of expressions and meanings. It is employed
within a variety of texts and conveys images of God as the covenantal sovereign of Israel God
as the eternal suzerain of the world and God as the king of the disadvantaged. The interaction
of the semantic fields of divinity and human kingship evoke a range of metaphoric expressions
that are utilized throughout the history of the Hebrew Bible in response to differing
socio-historical contexts and within a range of rhetorical strategies. It is this diversity
inherent in the 'God is king' metaphor that is the foundation for the diversified expressions
of the kingdom of God associated with the historical Jesus and early Christianity.
