Chapter X.

The Reign of Saul.

I Sam. 8-31; I Chron. 10

The Demand for a King.  The last period saw one tribe after another come to the front and assert itself through some leading man as an emergency arose, but now the tribes are to be united into a monarchy and this, too, at their own request made in the form of a desire for a king.  Several things no doubt influenced them to make this request. (1) From the days of Joshua there had been no strong national bond.  They were only held together by the law of Moses and the annual assemblages at Shiloh.  But the wise reign of Samuel had given an enlarged national consciousness and led to a desire for a stable government with the largest possible national unity. (2) The failure of the sons of Samuel, who had been entrusted with some power and who would naturally succeed him, led them to feel that provision for the welfare of the nation must be made before the death of Samuel or ruin would come. (3) The attitude of the nations around Israel suggested the need of a strong government headed by a leader of authority.  The Philistines and Ammonites had already made incursions into their land and threatened at any time to further oppress them.  The new organization, therefore, seemed necessary as a national protection. (4) The faith of Jehovah was threatened.  The victories of the Philistines would be interpreted to mean that Jehovah was powerless or else did not care for his people.  This would lead them to turn to other gods.  Then too they were greatly tempted by the religion of the Canaanite to turn from Jehovah.  It was, therefore, a religious crisis that made it essential that the Hebrews unite and in the name of Jehovah over throw the Philistines and establish a nation that would rightly represent to all nations Jehovah as the God of their race. (5) The nations around them such as Egypt and Assyria with their seats of royalty had excited their pride and they were moved with a desire to be like their heathen neighbors-a desire which involved disrespect for their divine king and want of faith in him.

The Principle of the Kingdom.  The folly of the people did not lie in their asking for a king to rule over them, but in the spirit of forgetfulness of God with which they made the request.  Indeed Moses had provided for a kingdom and given the law upon which the king was to rule (Dt 17:14-20).  He was to be unlike other kings.  He was not to rule according to his own will or that of the people but according to the will of Jehovah.  He was to be subject to God as was the humblest Israelite, and, under his immediate direction, was to rule for the good of the people.  This was a new principle that showed it self in all the future history of Israel.  Saul attempted to be like others-to assert his own will-and disobeyed God and was deposed while David identified himself with God and his purposes and was successful.  One represent the ideal of the people, the other that of the Scripture.