Bible Dictionary
ROYAL
Royal means belonging to a king or possessing kingly dignity, authority, or power. Scripture speaks of royal cities, apparel, commands, and the Christian people as a royal priesthood.
Definition
Royal means belonging to a king or possessing kingly power, dignity, authority, or status. It may describe a kingdom, city, family, statute, bounty, majesty, apparel, throne, command, or priesthood. In the New Testament it can also identify what belongs to a king or what bears kingly honor.
Biblical Usage
Scripture speaks of royal cities, royal descendants, royal commands and apparel, and royal majesty. Believers are called a royal priesthood, emphasizing their access to God’s grace and the privileges of His kingdom.
Historical Background
Hebrew commonly expresses the idea through nouns related to king, kingdom, or kingly power, often in the construct state. The New Testament uses terms meaning belonging to a king or vested with kingly power and honor.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>roi'-al: Either belonging to a king (kingdom) or having kingly power, dignity, authority, etc. In Hebrew, the word is expressed by using different nouns in the gen. case (the "construct state"). They are:</p><p>(1) melekh, "king": "Asher .... shall yield royal dainties," literally, choice morsels of the king, meaning fit for a king (Ge 49:20); "besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty," literally, which he gave her according to the hand (the wealth) of King Solomon (1Ki 10:13; compare the Revised Version margin); "a royal statute," literally, statute of a malka', which is the emphatic Aramaic term for melekh, "king" (Da 6:7);</p><p>(2) mamlakhah, "the power and dignity of a king," "Gibeon .... one of the royal cities," i.e. a capital city with a king of her own (Jos 10:2; compare 1Sa 27:5); "all the seed royal," literally, the seed of the kingdom (2Ki 11:1; compare 2Ch 22:10);</p><p>(3) malkhuth, "kinghood," "kingdom": "royal majesty," literally, majesty of kinghood (1Ch 29:25); quite frequently in the Book of Esther; royal wine (1:7); crown (1:11; compare 2:17; 6:8); commandment (1:19); "her royal estate," literally, her kinghood (1:19); house royal (2:16; compare 5:1); royal apparel (5:1; compare 6:8,15); throne (5:1);</p><p>(4) melukhah, "kingdom," "kingly power and dignity": "royal city," literally, the city of the kingdom, meaning here that part of the city (Rabbah) in which the royal palace was situated (2Sa 12:26); "royal diadem," literally, turban of kinghood (Isa 62:3);</p><p>(5) in Jer 43:10 we find the word shaphrir; its meaning is uncertain: "royal pavilion" (the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version), "glittering" (Revised Version, margin), "scepter," "a carpet covering a throne."</p><p>The New Testament uses the word for basilikos, "belonging to king": "royal apparel" (Ac 12:21); "the royal law," something like "the golden rule," being foremost because including all others (Jas 2:8), and for basileios (being vested with kingly power and honor), "royal priesthood," the Hebrew rendering would be mamlekheth kohanim, "a kingdom of priests," i.e. a kingdom whose citizens are priests, emphasizing the two facts that the true Christians have free access to the grace of God and that they enjoy the liberties and privileges of His kingdom (1Pe 2:9).</p><p>William Baur</p>