Ep. 76 - Israel Demands a King

Last we left our story, the Israelites had finally turned back to God and were enjoying a time a peace and prosperity. For 60 years before that…all the way since the time of Samson…the Israelites had been cruelly oppressed by the Philistines and had been worshipping false gods. But after one of the longest evangelistic campaigns ever, Samuel managed to change the hearts and minds of the Israelites…to convince them to worship the one true God. And once all the Israelites had come together to celebrate it, God defeated the Philistines…big time…by sending a storm to confuse and frighten the Philistine army. And that day the Philistines were defeated so badly, that for all the time that Samuel was judge over Israel (which would have been at least 20 years), the Philistines never bothered the Israelites. And not only that, but Israel had peace on all sides. While the world around them was in shambles from the Ancient Ancient Greek invasions, Israel prospered. But how long were the good times going to last? Had the Israelites finally decided to stick with the one true to God? Had the Israelites finally managed to get off the never-ending merry-go-round of doom? Well, let’s find out.

So unfortunately, the Israelites were still on the never-ending merry-go-round of doom…but it seems they managed to slow it down for a while. For at least the next 140 years, the Israelites would by-and-large stay faithful to the one true God. But, spoiler alert, after this slowing down, the merry-go-round of doom would really kick into high gear…mainly because of a huge mistake that the Israelites were just about to make. So, while Samuel was judge of Israel, all was well. As you kidzos already know, Samuel never stopped his evangelistic campaigns…he kept on travelling all over Israel constantly telling the Israelites about God…doing his best to make sure that the hearts of the Israelites stayed in the right place…and this seemed to make all the difference. (BTW kidzos…maybe there’s a lesson here for us. When Samuel wanted Israel to do well, he didn’t focus on making sure they had all the right laws, or making sure they had the best military, or making sure that everyone had jobs…like what our leaders do these days. Samuel just made sure that the hearts of the people were focused on God…and everything else just fell into place. Maybe something to think about.). And all of Israel continued to have huge respect and admiration for Samuel. He was an amazing judge. He always did the right thing…he never took bribes…he never took advantage of people. And because of God’s blessing through Samuel’s leadership, Israel prospered.

But as happens with all of us, Samuel eventually got old and couldn’t handle all the work anymore. The wear and tear of constantly travelling all over Israel was getting to be just a bit too much for the aging prophet. And so, Samuel started giving his two sons (Joel and Alijah) some of his responsibilities. He sent them to Beersheba…which was one of the southern-most cities in Israel…probably with the idea that Samuel would handle things in the north and his sons would handle things in the south. But all did not go to plan. And as the Bible says, “His sons (that is…Samuel’s sons) did not walk in his ways; but they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.” (8:3) (It’s funny you know…even though Samuel was an amazing leader, and even though he’d seen firsthand what had happened with Eli’s sons…Samuel still wasn’t able to set his own sons on the right path. Maybe there’s a lesson in there too, eh kidzos?)

But while frustration was building with Samuel’s sons, there was something else happening in Israel at the same time. For the entire time that Samuel had judged Israel, the surrounding nations had been quite weak (probably because of all the invasions from the ancient ancient Greeks). But since then, these nations had slowly but surely gained strength. The nations surrounding Israel were organizing armies, making lots of weapons, building forts and garrisons, practicing military formations…all things that the Israelites were not doing. And why not? Why weren’t the Israelites doing all these things? I mean, if the nation next to you is building up a huge army, it only makes sense to prepare…just in case…right? So, what was stopping the Israelites from preparing? Well, the Bible doesn’t exactly say what the real reason was, but what the Israelites told themselves was…that they needed a king.

Now as we talked about way back when Israel first started having judges…Israel did not have a king…Israel was not a monarchy. Israel was a group of 12 tribes. And while the Israelite tribes had their own leaders, the Israelite nation was led by God. God was the king of Israel. And while God would sometimes send judges to lead Israel in times of emergency, these judges couldn’t make huge, long-lasting changes to Israel…that was up to the tribes. But the tribes didn’t always get along with each other…sometimes they even fought each other. And with the surrounding nations getting stronger and stronger, and knowing that when Samuel died that that they might be in big trouble, they started thinking about what to do. And instead of turning to God and asking God what they should do, they did the thing that got had gotten them into trouble so many times in the past – they looked at the surrounding pagan nations to see what they were doing. And when they looked, what they saw was that the kings of these nations were making the countries prepare for war. It was the kings that were organizing armies, it was the kings that were getting the weapons, it was the kings that were building the fortresses and the garrisons. And that’s when the Israelites had this not-so-bright idea…you know what we need? We need what they have…we need a king! A king will be able to push us do the things that we need to do…a king will make the tribes along…a king will force us to prepare for war and lead the Israelite armies in battle.

So, with more and more of the Israelites thinking like this, and with Samuel getting older and older, one day all the tribal elders went to Ramah to talk to Samuel. And the elders said to Samuel, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” (8:5) Now of course, Samuel was a bit upset about this. I mean, however flawed his sons were, hadn’t Samuel been a good judge to Israel? Through his leadership (and God’s blessing), hadn’t Israel enjoyed 20 years of peace and prosperity? And after all that work and all that hardship, now you guys want to throw off the whole judge thing…to get a king? So, Samuel walked away from this meeting feeling more than a little frustrated. And so, what did Samuel do? Well, Samuel did what he always did in these situations (and what the Israelites should have done)…he brought it to God. And God spoke to Samuel with a surprising message. And God said, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” (8:7) God was kinda setting Samuel straight…and was basically saying, ‘Listen Samuel, it’s not about you…it’s about me. They’re not rejecting you…they’re rejecting Me!’ And it was true. Even if they didn’t realize it, the Israelites were basically saying…yah we know that God put our government in place…yah know with twelve tribes and no big national army or big national government…but…look at what the Ammonites are doing? The Israelites thought they knew better than God what kind of government they needed. And how did God response to this? Well, it was very interesting. Because God continued, and said to Samuel, “Heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behaviour of the king who shall rule over them.” (8:9) Basically what God is saying is, ‘Well, if they want to change their type of government…if they want a king…if they want a monarchy…well so be it. But let’s at least warn the Israelites about what they are getting themselves into.’

Now, it wasn’t just the elders who had gathered at Ramah to talk to Samuel, but apparently many other people were there too. And so, Samuel went to the crowd of Israelites who had gathered at Ramah to give them God’s warning about how “amazing” it would be to have a king. And Samuel said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” (8:11-18) Ok so this is not a rosy picture that God is painting here. Living life under a king was not going to be fun. The king would basically take their stuff whenever he wanted…and that meant livestock, land, and even people. The king would make them all pay at least a tenth of everything they had every year. And the worst part was that the king would treat all the Israelites like servants…they would all serve him whether they liked it or not. Well that doesn’t sound fun! I mean, who would want to live life in a country like that? Who would choose that when they had other options?

Well, apparently the Israelites would choose that. Because after Samuel laid it all out for them, they still chose to have a king. And the people said to Samuel, “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (8:19-20) It was the age-old trade off that has happened over and over again throughout history…the people wanted feel safe more than they wanted to be free. They wanted someone to fight their enemies…and if that meant living in a country where one man could take take and do whatever he wanted to the people…well so be it. And after all this…after doing his best to convince the people not to go down this path…a sad Samuel went back to God. And God said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” (8:21)

And the die was cast. Israel would have a king. But who would it be? And how would he be chosen? Well, we will find out all about it…next time.