1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Theocracy

THEOCRACY (Gr. θεοκρατία, the rule of God, from θεός, god, and -κρατια, κρατείν, to rule), a term applied to a form of government or to a state ruled by such a form of government, in which God or the divine power is looked to as the source of all civil power, and the divine commandments regarded as the laws of the community. The typical example of such a state is that of the Jews till the establishment of the kingship under Saul (see Jews).