Knight need 1: a King to Serve

The needs for a knight. I thought it would do well to include a bit about what a knight needs, and in fact, what every man needs to be successful. These ideas come from Robert Lewis’ excellent book (The raising of the modern day knight. I highly recommend it. A friend mistakenly asked me if I was just doing what Robert Lewis suggested, just putting it in application. It took me a while to answer correctly. My original impulse would be to say “no”. These ideas pre-dated the publishing of that book. When he published that book and there was a review of it in the Father’s day edition of Focus on the Family magazine, I was intrigued. I read the book as a new father. I can’t deny, that his material (esp. what I write today) has shaped my thinking. However, from the other material I have read from Lewis and having heard his Men’s conference lectures I would think he would say (if you could ask him) that what I am doing is very different then what he proposed. Like I said, you might want to read the book. It’s not long, and worth the read.



As one progresses from the stage of the Page, to the Squire, it is necessary to focus on the key Needs for a “knight”. The first one being: a King to serve. Whether you imagine a man wearing chain mail armour carrying a shield and wielding a sword, or whether you imagine a man in riot gear, with a bobby club and plastic shield (modern attire), you still have the physical image in your mind. The key difference for this person and a villain is: The King he/she serves.

Knights were generally put in the league with a King (or local Lord of some sort). They were the great warriors. They were better armed, and far better trained then a local peasant. Remember, in a time of crisis, like a war, anyone could take up farm equipment (an axe, a shovel, a stick) and fight the attacking hoard. It was the knights, who were built to anticipate this. They were trained for this. Hopefully their life was not full of one war after another, but in the time of trouble they were the great weapon against the evils that would come their way.

In the old stories, in times where there was no war, many of the Knights went on “quests”. These were tasks worthy of their skills. They looked for someone who needed defending; a wrong to right. They sought tasks worthy.

Yet again, when you get back to the brass tacks, you find there is very little material difference between the knight and the horrible abuser. They are both physically superior. They have some advantage (the weapons, and armour, even a horse). Or to put this another way, what is the difference between a super hero and a super villain? We come back to the King they serve. A super villain, generally serves his own interests. He is big enough, and powerful enough to do as he pleases. He takes what he wants. He harms who he wants. His urges are his master. The super hero is a servant to something greater then himself. He might have an elevated sense of justice, or believe in his country, or defend the weak. This servant role does not make him less then his counterpart. In fact, this servant role makes him “good”.

Within the Celtic Church of Yahweh, this is an important item of note. These knights do not serve a King, in the classic, political sense. They serve the great King. The Meleck Olam (King of the Universe).

If you know the Roman Catholic traditions, you might remember a Saint named Saint Christopher. He is known as the Saint of travellers. As the story goes, he was a giant who wanted to serve the greatest, most powerful King. Eventually, his is a servant of Satan, because all men feared Satan. However, Christopher found that the demons feared God, and Christopher wanted to know this God because he was obvious. He was the greatest giant, and wanted only to serve the greatest king, and eventually he does meet him (as the Christ Child), and thus you see the picture usually of Saint Christopher carrying a boy on his shoulders. He found the greatest king to serve.



God is our King (Eli-Meleck). Although he does not reign from the city of Jerusalem, yet. (Blessed be the name, May he come in our time). We still have his dedicated instruction about how one should live. We have examples in Scripture of Mighty men who were among the most significant men of God. Moses, Joshua, David were all warriors, and spiritual giants. Of course, there were great men of God who were not warriors (praised be his name), but we are focussing on these warrior servants of the king. They all were at their best as they served their king. They all had moments when they chose wrong, or lost sight of who they served, but at their best, they knew who they served, and were not distracted by their own interests.

A knight, serving his king, knows what his king desires. He knows what would please his King. He knows the goals. Is now the time to defend? Or it is the time to seek a “task worthy“? In every event that comes, the knight has the chance to balance his decisions and actions and says “yes, or no” based on who he serves.

For the modern man, there are many demands. There are often needs for family, prestige, career, social needs, interests, even worthy causes. All of these make demands on our time. Any one of these could easily become the “king” in which we serve, and in fact, there are many times when they must demand our full attention. The loom large in our vision. But, if one can remember, who we serve, I think a great many of these decisions will fall into proper perspective.

It is for that reason, a king must know the king in which he serves.