A word first used by Josephus to denote that the Jews were under the direct government of God himself. The nation was in all things subject to the will of their invisible King. All the people were the servants of Jehovah, who ruled over their public and private affairs, communicating to them his will through the medium of the prophets. They were the subjects of a heavenly, not of an earthly, king. They were Jehovah's own subjects, ruled directly by him (Comp. 1 Samuel 8:6-9).

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) Government by the immediate direction or administration of God or by priests as representing the Deity.

2. (n.) The state thus governed, as the Hebrew commonwealth before it became a kingdom.