The Nephites must have been quite numerous at this time, since they felt the need of a "king." They proposed to confer that title upon Nephi, but he declined the honor. Undoubtedly, Nephi was well informed on the history of the Orient, the cradle of his forefathers (1 Sam. 8:10-18)
At first the king was merely the chief, the father and counselor, of his tribe or community. In Assyria he held the priesthood. He was anointed in the temple, and the officiating priest said, in part: "May thy foot in the temple and thy hands at the altar of Ashur, thy god, be pleasing. May thy priestship and the priestship of thy sons be pleasing before Ashur, thy god." Later the rulers of Assyria became commanders of armies and great conquerors. But that was the beginning of the end, which came about 25 years before Lehi left Jerusalem, when the government was overthrown by a Scythian invasion and the revolt of Media and Babylonia. The Assyrian monarch perished in the flames of his palace, and the invaders divided the country between them.
In Babylonia the king, from being the first of his tribe, the head and leader, because of physical strength, mental superiority, or wealth, in time became the owner of his subjects and disposed of them as he saw fit. Nebuchadnezzar was such a despot.
The famous Hammurabi called himself "the god of kings."
In Egypt, the ruler, from being the father and counselor of the people, became the absolute master. As his title, pharaoh, indicates, he was regarded as the scion, or son, of one of their many gods, and therefore divine. He was supposed to be the son of the god Horus. 1
In Peru, where government and social institutions, judging from the accounts, may have taken form under Lamanite influence, the kings, or ruling Incas, finally became autocrats, exalted in pride, who, even if in some instances benevolent, by forging chains of serfdom around the necks of their humble subjects, rendered them practically helpless, because deprived of self-reliance and initiative, when these qualities were highly needed, in the face of aggressive, arrogant enemies. In the fate of all these empires we see the results of kingly despotism, under various names.