Editing Justification for the state (section)

== Transcendent sovereignty ==
In feudal [[Europe]] the most widespread justification of the state was the emerging idea of the [[divine right of kings]], which stated that kings derived their authority from God and could not therefore be held accountable for their actions by any earthly authority such as a parliament.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Divine right of kings {{!}} Definition, History, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/divine-right-of-kings |access-date=2022-12-18 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=2021-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125140014/https://www.britannica.com/topic/divine-right-of-kings |url-status=live }}</ref> The legitimacy of the state's lands derived from the lands being the personal possession of the monarch. The divine-right theory, combined with [[primogeniture]], became a theory of [[hereditary monarchy]] in the [[nation state]]s of the [[early modern]] period.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} The [[Holy Roman Empire]] was not a state in that{{which|date=November 2017}} sense, and was not a true [[theocracy]], but rather a federal entity.

The political ideas current in [[China]] at that time involved the idea of the [[mandate of heaven]]. It resembled the theory of divine right in that it placed the ruler in a divine position, as the link between Heaven and Earth, but it differed from the divine right of kings in that it did not assume a permanent connection between a [[dynasty]] and the state. Inherent in the concept was that a ruler held the mandate of heaven only as long as he provided good government. If he did not, heaven would withdraw its mandate and whoever restored order would hold the new mandate. This is true theocracy;{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} the power and wisdom to govern is granted by a higher power, not by human political schemes, and can be equally removed by [[tian|heaven]]. This has similarities to the idea presented in the Judeo-Christian [[Bible]] from the time when Israel requests "a king like the nations"<ref>{{bibleverse| 1 Samuel | 8:5 | KJV}}</ref> through to Christ himself telling his contemporary [[leader]]s that they only had power because God gave it to them.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} The classic Biblical example comes in the story of King [[Nebuchadnezzar II|Nebuchadnezzar]], who according to the [[Daniel 4|Book of Daniel]] ruled the Babylonian empire because God ordained his power, but who later ate grass like an ox for seven years because he deified himself{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} instead of acknowledging God. Nebuchadnezzar is restored when he again acknowledges God as the true sovereign.