One of the very first things taught about in Sunday school is the lives of the first three kings of Israel: Saul, David, and Solomon. The majority of commentaries seem to view the reign of Saul mostly bad, and the reigns of David and Saul to be mostly good. One thing that always seemed perplexing was the decline of the reign of Saul. He started out like a pretty okay guy. In order to get to the root of what happened, it is important to dig deep into the story, beginning with why Israel wanted a king, how Saul was chosen, then rejected, how David was selected to replace him. One final thing that deserves to be looked into is how the sturdy kingdom of Israel crumpled into two, due to the sin of Solomon.
What would bring God’s people to reject God himself for a human king? According to 1 Samuel 8:7, that is exactly what happened: “And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.”
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Though God desired to be the only ruler of Israel, He, once again, exercised His desire for humans to have free-will. According to Ed Hindson in his book, The Essence of the Old Testament: A Survey, “The events surrounding the selection of Saul for king (9:1-10:16) demonstrate that he was the people’s choice, more than God’s choice for a king. Hindson explains how Israel rallied around Saul due his physical appearance, despite Samuel’s warnings. It was not long until Saul’s reign that Samuel’s premonitions came to pass. While king, Saul rejected the instruction God gave Him to kill all of the Amalekites and their possessions, by saving the king, and the best livestock. God rejected Saul, and in his place chose David to be King. According to Hindson, David was bold, while Saul was filled with fear. David was a good king, despite a few bumps. Through David, Israel prospered greatly. While David’s legacy lasted, his kingdom did not, mostly due to his son
The Star of David, also known as The Rosa Winkel is a 6 pointed star used today, by Jews and even a handful of Christians as a symbol of their religion. Today it is being used by many of Jewish organizations, schools, and etc. It is also Israel’s official state symbol, located on money and government correspondence. The Star of David today has great meaning and symbolism, but in 1933-1945 Hitler forced Jews to wear The Star of David as badges of shame.
One huge difference between Saul and Creon is Saul is obviously more easily convinced of holding a poor opinion than Creon. When Saul declares that his son Jonathan is going to die because he didn’t follow Saul’s command of not eating until they defeated the Philistines, but the Israelites quickly come to Saul’s defense, calling him the hero of Israel. The people argued that since Jonathan has delivered the people from the Philistines on that day, Jonathan was surely working by God’s side, regardless of breaking his father's command, as the Scripture says “But the men said to Saul, ‘Should Jonathan die—he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.’ So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was n...
The book of 2 Samuel tells the story of King David and his rise to power, as well as reign- the good and the bad. The focus here will be on 2 Samuel, chapters eleven through thirteen, which depict some of the darker times in David’s rule.
This continued conflict would take off between Amnon (David’s firstborn and primary heir) and Absalom (David’s third son). 2 Samuel 13 tells the grisly tale that reads almost like a disturbed soap opera. Amnon raped Absalom’s sister, Tamar and, in revenge, Absalom kills Amnon. Once Absalom returned to Jerusalem, the ticking time bomb was set. Everything exploded when Absalom formed a coalition and turned it into a coup against King David. The Bible says, “And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy with the king for judgement, then Absalom called unto him… and Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee.” Eventually, Absalom’s coalitions (forces) reached Jerusalem causing David to
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own sight” (Judg. 21:25). This quote at the end of Judges sets up an optimistic view of kings for the rest of the Deuteronomistic History. King David is considered perhaps the greatest king over all of Israel, whereas King Hezekiah is praised for never turning away from God and being the greatest king among all the kings of Judah (2 Kgs. 5). However, despite the high need for a praise of kings throughout the Deuteronomistic history, Solomon is viewed with a skeptical eye and is the cause of the demise of Israel. Unlike the positive view of kings portrayed throughout the Deuteronomistic history, King Solomon is framed in a negative light in 1 Kings 11: 1-13, which
The book of 1 Samuel, a part of the Old Testament, sparks the dawn of the United Kingdom of Israel by telling of its first king, Saul. Samuel is one of the first talked about pre-literary prophets in the bible perhaps because he anointed the first king of the United Kingdom. He is a prophet by definition because he possessed the ability to converse with the almighty Yahweh. Samuel and Saul are key players to the rise of the kingdom but Saul runs into trouble and disobeys God, which leads him to his own inevitable demise.
According to the prophetical king David “Kings are called Gods because they sit upon God at his throne in the earth”(2). In other words James I believed that a king is a lieutenant that god placed on the earth, in his place, to guide and rule the people of the land. Because God chose the king as his earthly manifestation, the king has the power over the people and expected his subjects to respect, honor as well as obey him. Anyone that disobeyed the word of the king was symbolically and, thought as, literally disobeying the word of God. Thus, any action by the king is thought of as being justified, since the king is thought of as God on Earth. James I expected his people to “fear him as a judge, love him as a father, and pray for him as their protector. Being a representation of God, the king is given
1. Throughout Judges, the recurring, downward spiral-like theme reappears with each Judge that is raised up by YHWH. While it begins with the depiction of the general people of Israel being disobedient, you begin to see that even the Judges, appointed by YHWH, were fallible. Whether it was Gideon’s lack of faith and continued distrust in YHWH, or Samson’s indiscretions and immense pride, the Judges proved that no leader was blameless in breaking the covenant with YHWH, it was not just the people, but those YHWH called Himself. So as Israel moves towards a monarch, how will these patterns continue? Will the fallibility of man, even in the ones that God calls to reign be a continued issue in the covenant with Israel? 1 Samuel uses fewer characters with a more in-depth look at each and the fallibility of man and the relationship with God.
The pro-kingship and anti-kingship debate as discussed in 1 Samuel is about the request to Samuel from his people for a king. They feel a king is needed because Samuel's sons don't follow his example and are bad leaders. Samuel follows through with their request by asking God for a king. Samuel was hesitant to do so, but asked God anyway and He followed through with their request.
Jonathan looked out the palace room window as he recognized the spot that he had left his friend behind just a couple of weeks ago. It was not fair, Jonathan reasoned, that David would be the knew king of Israel. Jonathan had heard that Samuel had anointed David the new king of Israel, but what could be done? Jonathan knew he was the rightful heir of the kingdom of Israel, but he also knew that God would do His will as was right. Jonathan did not want to pout about it, so he decided to serve David in certain ways that he could find. He had already done many things so serve God's chosen heir, but why was he having these doubts that God would not come through. Jonathan reminisced of times before the tragic event of his father's rejection
Both are blessed by God and receive his spirit (Judg 13:24-25, 1 Sam 10:9, 11:6). Both eventually lose focus on their role in God’s plan. Samson’s holy vengeance in wanting to deliver the Israelites from the rule of the Philistines turns personal when he finds out his wife had been given away (Judg 15:7, 15) and Saul took it upon himself to offer the burnt offering in place of Samuel which all but ended his reign (1 Sam 13:8-14). They both also reach the point where they turn away from God, thereby losing the spirit of God. Samson traded God’s spirit for love when he gave Delilah the secret of his strength which eventually led to his death (Judg 16:20-30). Saul’s rejection of God started when he didn’t allow the priest to consult God before entering the battle with Jonathan (1 Sam 14:19-20). After this, we see that Saul has lost favor with God when God doesn’t answer him, not once but twice (1 Sam 14:37, 28:6). He then denies God three while speaking with Samuel when he refers to God as “the Lord your God” (1 Sam 15:15, 21, 30). After this, the spirit of God left Saul and was replaced by an evil one (1 Sam 16:14). But it was Saul’s disobedience to God that led to the anointing of David (1 Sam 13:14) and Israel’s deliverance from the
They count their flock and provide them with safe pastures where they can lay their heads in rest. Number 27:17 Israel was in need of a king someone to guide the people of God. Instead of the Israelites waiting for the Lord to send them someone responsible they chose Saul to be a ruler. Saul was not a good ruler in the sense that he did not rely fully on the Lord to be his shepherd. He did not fully follow the words of the prophet Samuel when asked by God to commit certain tasks. It was not until David, God’s chosen king, did Israel really have a true leader dedicated to the treatment and care of God’s flock. He led and guided the Israelites with leadership through many battles and troubles. God was always the frontrunner and
I see a similarity between Solomon and Saul. They both did not take the written laws as seriously as Samuel would expect, however they were both more concerned about keeping their power and status as king. Solomon also had forbidden relationships with many women. This was viewed as Solomon being diplomatic verses being extremely sexual. It wasn’t uncommon for leaders to establish diplomatic relations by giving up their daughters. Even though Solomon was viewed as a king who had wisdom and the vision for education and growth, it was his persistence of having forced labor that divided the
People were in disbelief that Saul had become a disciple of Jesus. There were groups that even tried to murder Saul. Even the disciples were leery at first. However when they realized that Saul was truly evangelizing for Jesus they accepted him, but because of all of the threats on his life they sent Saul away to Tarsus. (Acts
The bible recounts the story of the great King Solomon, the son of the notable King David. By following God and his commandments, David had built his empire into a legacy, which was then passed on to Solomon. Soon after Solomon’s reign began, the Lord appeared to him in a dream, offering him anything he desired. Solomon’s request was wisdom and knowledge, so that he may govern his people fairly, and know the difference between good and the bad.