When men banded together in cities, they found it necessary to have an increasingly formal social structure. Before there were nations, there were city states, with each city having its own king. Some strongmen, like Nimrod in Genesis 10, came to rule over several such cities, but the original organization in the ancient world was the city. Later nations like Egypt were formed, groups of cities and their outlying areas that joined together for mutual protection and cultural advancement. Abraham and his family lived apart from such kings (Lot being the exception, choosing to live in Sodom). They had dealings with kings like the Pharaoh, Abimelech, etc., but God’s people were organized by families and clans. It wasn’t until they were led to Egypt for their 400 years of slavery that God’s people came under the authority of a human king.
In a discussion on another blog, someone commented that God invented government. I disagreed then and still do. I think that human government grew up out of man’s rebelliousness, his desire to rely on men instead of God. God would eventually permit his people to have a king, but that wasn’t his desire nor his plan. God has used human governments for his ends, but his plan for mankind was other. God wanted to be king and will be king; he sent his Son to usher his kingdom into this world. The rebellious sinful kingdoms of this world will eventually be absorbed into this kingdom, as announced in Revelation: “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”” (Revelation 11:15) Satan has been at work in the nations, deceiving them (Rev. 12:9; 20:3, 8, 10). But God’s kingdom has erupted in this world and is displacing those nations and their deceiver.