Chapter 2 - The First Rejection of the King (Part 6 of 6)

What Makes a Godly Human King?

Over the last two weeks, we have examined the request—or maybe “demand” is a better word—made by the elders of the Israelites in 1 Samuel 8 for an earthly king. We learned how they not only said, in so many word, that they no longer wished to be set apart as God’s Chosen People, they also rejected God as their king. They wanted to replace His Law with “the ways of the nations around them,” and more importantly, they wanted to replace Him with a king “like the other nations have.”

As God predicted they would.

He did so in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. In these verses, God instructed the Israelites on how they were to set up such an office. He predicted they would say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us (v. 14).” When they reached this decision, according to verse 15, they were supposed to appoint over them a king of God’s own choosing. This king was to be from among their fellow Israelites. No foreigners were allowed to sit on the throne. This king was not supposed to acquire great wealth, never make God’s people return to Egypt, nor marry multiple wives so that his heart would not be led astray (vv. 16-17). He was also supposed to copy down the Law, with the help of the priests. He was to read it and meditate on it all the days of his life so that “he may learn to revere the LORD his God” and follow all the law and decrees (vv.18-19). He was not to think of himself more highly than his fellow Israelites. He was not to deviate from the Law one wit. If he was this kind of obedient, godly king, then the promise from God was that he and his descendants would reign over Israel for a long time (v. 20).¹

The kind of king referenced in Deuteronomy 17 was very foreign to the concept of earthly kings. No earthly king up until that moment had lived like this. Yet, this “type of king” referenced in Deuteronomy 17 was to be qadosh (holy). He was not to be a foreigner, i.e., something other than an Israelite. He was not to get rich off the backs of his people. He was to meditate on the torah all the days of his life. He was to revere God. He was to be humble. He was to lead as God directed and do God’s will in the process. He was to be content. He was to be the man of but one bride (i.e., not marry multiple wives). And most importantly, he was to be appointed by God to be the king.

Does this sound like anyone in the Bible?

Yes. Our Lord Jesus.

How Ungodly Desires Poison a Nation

However, in 1 Samuel 8, a subtle but profound shift in how these Israelite leaders asked for a king takes place. Instead of asking for a king to lead them as they all learn to revere the Lord their God, they said this to Samuel: “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead (i.e., judge) us, such as all the other nations have.” On the surface, it sounds kosher. They had had judges for many years up to this point. Samuel served as both a judge and a prophet (1 Samuel 3:20; 7:15).

As we mentioned over the last two weeks, Samuel’s sons were not godly leaders. Therefore, the elders had every right to ask for replacements.

They should have asked for two new judges to replace them. However, that’s not what they did. First, they asked Samuel to appoint a king over them. Only God could do that. They also wanted a “king,” and they wanted that king to “lead” them, or it could be translated “judge them,” such as all the other nations have.

Notice how they did not say, “such as God described for us in Deuteronomy 17.” They were not after a king who would seek God’s will, teach God’s Law, and demand that they all follow its instructions and teachings, including the king himself. These elders were after a king who would judge them like the other nations have kings who would judge them.

Not by God’s Law, but by the laws of men.

Big difference.

And if we happen to miss the heart of the request by these elders when reading this eighth chapter in 1 Samuel, God sure didn’t. A displeased Samuel comes to Him and shares what is going on (v. 6). What was God’s response? 

“Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods…” (vv. 7-8; emphasis added; NASB 1995).

Like Samuel, a judge was to lead Israel. Judges in those days were similar to the judges today in one way: They were part of the legal system of the Theocracy. The judges helped to mediate the Law of God when disputes arose, but God served as the King over both the judges, the prophets, and the nation. But in these verses, God pinpoints the issue. They no longer wished to be God’s chosen people. They wanted to be their own people, with their own laws, and have their own kings.

We see God’s subsequent warnings in 1 Samuel 8:9-18 about a human king (or emperor, president, prime minister…pick a title, doesn’t matter) coming to light every day in the news. We’ve recorded it in our history books. The story may change continents. The people’s faces and skin color may look different. Their language may sound different, too, but the storyline is just how God described it through the prophet Samuel. Our sons go to war for our “kings.” Our daughters are employed as slaves for our “kings.” The “kings” take our land when it suits them. They tax our land. They tax the profits made by the fruit of our labor. They give those monies to their supporters. The kings grow fat while the people suffer and struggle to make ends meet.

Sound familiar at all? If it doesn’t, reread 1 Samuel 8:10-14.

However, the biggest point of this entire debate is that they rejected God as their leader. As their King.

God wasn’t good enough anymore.

We see glimpses of this dynamic all the time. They are microcosmic examples of the larger issue. For example, our children get upset as they grow up. They don’t like our parental rules. They break them often. Suffer the consequences. Ask for forgiveness and pledge to do what is right in the future. Then, they turn around and break the same rules again. Sometimes, they even get themselves into serious trouble and plead for us to come and save them from their folly. We do, of course, and usually, consequences for their actions follow. As parents, we expect it. We did it when we were kids. Our parents did it when they were kids. Every relative down through our family tree did it when they were kids. Theologically speaking, it’s called “a sinful nature.”

I had a professor in college, Dr. John Tyson, who said that (and I’m paraphrasing here) “children are living proof of the Doctrine of Original Sin. You never have to teach them how to do wrong. They come by that naturally. As a parent, what are you always teaching your children to do as they grow up? To do the right thing, correct? But you never have to teach them how to do wrong. It doesn’t take them long to learn that after they are born. They learn how to do wrong naturally.”

So, as parents, we understand that truth. Just as God dealt with Israel’s rebellion time and time again, we too deal with our children’s rebellion in a similar fashion.  

The truth we, as parents, have a hard time accepting is when our children want to divorce us from their lives. When they yell something like this: “I hate you! I don’t want to be your son anymore! Get out of my life! I’m moving out! I’m going to live at Johnny’s house. I want parents like his. His parents let me do whatever I want!”                         

Those are the words that cut deep when you are a parent. Especially when your son or daughter actually acts on his or her words and physically moves out. Why? Because you are being rejected as the parent and being replaced with another “parent” so your child can live “like the other kids,” or we could say, “like the other nations.” At this stage, it’s not about your house rules any longer. Your child has now rejected you as his/her parent.

As his father. As her father.

As her mother. As his mother.

It is in these moments when we begin to get a glimpse of the pain Israel caused God in 1 Samuel 8.

God’s people liked being citizens in a fallen, human kingdom better than being members of God’s kingdom and following His teachings and instructions, even though they were being persuaded and influenced behind the scenes by Satan himself.

Mark this, dear reader, for this concept will come into play later as well.

And mark this: It happened at Ramah (v. 4).

 

Thought For The Week:

It is amazing how we are always looking for something new, something fresh, something improved, just like the elders in 1 Samuel 8. We, too, want things that prop up our sinful nature and make us feel good about ourselves. Simply watch modern commercials, and you get inundated with same, tired rhetoric. If we’re not “Eating Fresh” at Subway, we “deserve a break today” at McDonald’s. If a product isn’t “New and Improved,” then we question its worth. We’re never content because we believe we deserve better.

Take some time and listen to people talk around you. It seems everybody believes “you deserve it” or “I deserve it.” Whatever “it” may be. We deserve to be treated better by others. We deserve a raise. We deserve more for our money. We deserve more time off. We deserve a vacation. We deserve better seats at a sporting event. We deserve a better table at a restaurant. We deserve a better automobile, better schools, better homes, better appliances, and better countertops in our kitchens. Everything must be better because that’s what we deserve. And we want things to be better for our offspring than “what we had growing up.”

However, the Bible is very clear. The only thing we “deserve” is death (Romans 3:9-18; 23; 6:23). We were separated from God when we sought Him and found Him the very first time. Yet, it was His gracious hand that sprinkled the Blood of the Lamb on the altar of our hearts and cleansed us from all unrighteousness. It was His loving hand that touched our infirmities and made us whole. It was His merciful hand that reached out and helped us escape the grasp of death and the grave.

When a Christian comes to this monumental epiphany, then contentment in His sovereign will gets easier and easier, for His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Demands for better things and situations start to die and bow their will to His will, as the Christian understands that the eternal life he now enjoys is all because of the Kingdom of Heaven that is at hand. Blind, deaf, and mute beggars who all of a sudden can see, hear, and speak want nothing more than to be in the presence of the One who saved them from their weaknesses, for they appreciate the gifts they have received, undeserved as they were. It is a “transforming of the mind” (Romans 12:1-2), from one centered on sin and self to one centered on God alone.

So I ask you, what do you deserve? And what more can a Christian need than God?

 

NEXT WEEK:

We take a look at the second rejection of the king found in scripture as we jump into Chapter 3.

 

Endnotes 

 

1. Israel had forty-two rulers in all (forty-one kings, and one queen for a brief time). Three of the kings served the nation before it became divided: Saul, David, and Solomon. After it divided, the nation Israel, first ruled by Jeroboam, had nineteen kings and one queen before being exiled to Assyria because of sin (cf. 2 Kings 17:7ff). The nation Judah, first ruled by Rehoboam, had twenty-two kings before being handed over to King Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 36:15ff; 2 Kings 25).

Of the thirty-nine rulers after Solomon, Israel did not have one king who did “right in the eyes of the Lord.” One king (Jehu) was used to kill off the house of Ahab because of how wicked Ahab’s house had become. Another king, Shallum, only reigned for one month and was assassinated, so there is no record of his standing with God.

Judah had several kings who did “right in the eyes of the Lord,” but they didn’t remove the high places, which were locations where people worshipped foreign gods like in the days of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel (These kings were Asa, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham). Two others, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah did remove the high places as well as all the other idolatrous things infecting the Israelites. However, the top prize goes to Josiah (see 2 Kings 22:1 - 23:30). Josiah was the only king who took God’s Word to heart, besides David, and lived it before the people, like Deuteronomy 17 requires. The nation Judah existed longer because they had kings who tried to do what was right from time to time, but in the end, both they and Israel gave in to the pressures and lived like all the other nations around them. As a result, God gave them over to their desires, and they paid dearly by being invaded and taken captive.

And let me add that this was why God referred to David as a “man after His own heart” (Acts 13:22). David followed the pattern in Deuteronomy 17. Was he perfect? No. Did he sin? Yes. Yet, even in his sin, he lamented and repented, while paying a heavy price for it. He sought after God’s precepts. David was the first king who wanted to be qadosh, and that made him different from every other ruler God’s chosen people ever had. As a result, God followed through on His word in Deuteronomy 17 by establishing that king’s throne forever (See 2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17; Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38).

Pictures courtesy of  Pixabay and the following photographers/artists:

"King Jesus" by Couleur

"NO Hand" by Luisella Planeta Leoni LOVE PEACE

"Child Shouting" by Lee Murray

"Jesus Hand" by Treharris