They didn’t misunderstand the nature of the kingdom, nor were they wrong to look forward to it with great anticipation. Their mistake was in expecting it to dawn immediately upon Jesus’ arrival at Jerusalem.
It is entirely possible that Joseph, while he was living in Egypt and elevated to a place of nobility, adopted the practice of divination. This may be attributed to the influence of his wife, Asenath, whose father was an Egyptian priest.
The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism represents Hummel’s attempt to explain how this system of theology spread through virtually all levels of society and culture and fell into relative insignificance in the span of less than two hundred years. However, his arguments are too often based on insufficient or selectively edited evidence to be compelling.
Jeremiah plainly states that the new covenant will be made with the houses of Israel and Judah, but he does not say that it is limited only to the one ethnic people to the exclusion of all others.
In his discussion of the Davidic covenant and especially the New Testament’s teaching on the kingdom, Ryrie attempts to distinguish the terms kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God.
