Who should not fear you, O King of the nations, for to you it [such fear] is fitting; because among all the wise ones of the nations and among all their kingships there is in no way anyone like you.

Jer. 10:6-8.

6. What were the first two nations mentioned after the deluge of Noah’s day, and what does the Bible indicate as to whether Jehovah was their King?

⁶ In what way was Jehovah God the “King of the nations” in Jeremiah’s day? Did the non-Jewish or Gentile nations recognize him as their King? Had he set up their kingdoms or their kingships, their royalties? Did he give them their form of government and laws or enter into a covenant with them so as to put them in a binding relationship with him? Well, the first nations that the Bible mentions after the deluge of Noah’s days are Babylon (Babel) and Assyria. Are we to understand that Jehovah was their King? How could such a thing be? For Genesis 10:8-12 tells us:

“And Cush [Noah’s grandson] became father to Nimrod. He made the start in becoming a mighty one in the earth. He displayed himself a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah. That is why there is a saying: ‘Just like Nimrod a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.’ And the beginning of his kingdom came to be Babel [Babylon] and Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went forth into Assyria and set himself to building Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: this is the great city.”​—Note Genesis 2:14; 1 Chronicles 1:10.

7. What ancient background would indicate whether Jehovah was the King of the neo-Babylonian Empire of Jeremiah’s day?

⁷ When the builders of Babylon (Babel) were engaged in building their ‘tower of Babel,’ or ziggurat, for religious worship, what happened to hinder them from finishing the job? Why, Jehovah proceeded to do as he said: “Confuse their language that they may not listen [understandingly] to one another’s language.” What resulted? Nations, speaking different languages; for we read: “Accordingly Jehovah scattered them from there [Babel] over all the surface of the earth, and they gradually left off building the city. That is why its name was called Babel [Confusion], because there Jehovah had confused the language of all the earth.” (Gen. 11:7-9) Obviously, then, Jehovah was not the King of that first Babylonian Empire any more than he was the King of the neo-Babylonian Empire of Jeremiah’s day. The god of that neo-Babylonian Empire was Bel or Merodach (Marduk), whom Emperor Nebuchadnezzar worshiped. (Jer. 50:1, 2) Jehovah was no Babylonian god.

8, 9. (a) Whom did the other Gentile nations worship as their superhuman rulers? (b) How did Satan indicate to Jesus that he was what Jesus called him, “the ruler of this world”?

⁸ Other Gentile peoples had their national gods, whom they regarded as their rulers and in representation of whom they made idolatrous images. For example, the nation of Ammonites worshiped a false god whom they called Molech, a name meaning “Reigning One,” or “King.” (Lev. 15:21; 20:2-5; 1 Ki. 11:7; Acts 7:43) Such nations really worshiped spirit demons or devils. (1 Cor. 10:20) Over all these invisible demons is Satan the Devil. At 2 Corinthians 4:4 he is called “the god of this system of things.”

⁹ Claiming kingship over all the worldly nations, Satan the Devil tried to tempt Jesus Christ by saying: “I will give you all this authority and the glory of them [all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth], because it has been delivered to me, and to whomever I wish I give it. You, therefore, if you do an act of worship before me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:5-7) But Jesus refused to become a human king under God’s great adversary. Hence, shortly before his death, Jesus spoke of Satan the Devil as “the ruler of this world.” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) The Bible’s last book, written seven centuries after Jeremiah’s day, says that “all the earth” was worshiping Satan the Devil and his visible political organization, pictured as a seven-headed beast.​—Rev. 13:3, 4.

10. (a) On what basis was Jehovah the King of only the nation of Israel till it rejected the Messiah? (b) Though the “kingdom of the world” became that of Jehovah and his Christ in 1914, what do the nations refuse to do?

¹⁰ Anciently the Israelites acknowledged Jehovah God as their Lord and King. In harmony with that the inspired psalmist went on to say: “He is telling his word to Jacob, his regulations and his judicial decisions to Israel. He has not done that way to any other nation; and as for his judicial decisions, they have not known them. Praise Jah, you people [or, Hallelujah]!” (Ps. 147:5, 19, 20; 145:1, 12, 13) Consequently, the worldly Gentile nations were not the kingdoms of Jehovah God. The theocratic government that he set up over ancient Israel in the days of the prophet Moses was God’s only earthly kingdom until the nation of Israel rejected the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as the Messiah from God. (Ex. 15:18-21; Deut. 33:2-5; 1 Chron. 29:11, 12, 23; Matt. 21:43) First since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 C.E. “the kingdom of the world did become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ”; and yet the worldly nations still refuse to have Jehovah as their King.​—Rev. 11:15-18.

HOW “KING OF THE NATIONS”?

11. From what standpoint did Jeremiah address Jehovah as “King of the nations”?

¹¹ From what standpoint, then, could Jeremiah address Jehovah as “King of the nations”? From the standpoint that among all those who were kings of the nations and who thus held kingship He was the outstanding King. He ruled as King of kings, the Superlative King, the One who dominates all other kings. “For,” said Moses to Israel back in 1473 B.C.E., “Jehovah your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the God great, mighty and fear-inspiring.” (Deut. 10:17) Later, the inspired psalmist said to Jehovah’s people: “Give thanks to the God of the gods: for his loving-kindness is to time indefinite; give thanks to the Lord of the lords: . . . to the One striking down great kings: . . . and who proceeded to kill majestic kings: . . . even Sihon the king of the Amorites: . . . and Og the king of Bashan: . . . and who gave their land as an inheritance: . . . an inheritance to Israel his servant.” (Ps. 136:2, 3, 17-22) In this way he dominates “all the nations,” in spite of their having their own demon and human kingships.​—Jer. 9:25, 26.