Did God want Israel to have a king or not?
This is one of the biggest issues that scholars and theologians have been debating for centuries.
And it all boils down to how one interprets the books of Samuel and then later Kings.
On the one hand, Saul being made a king seems to have originated from the wicked desires of the people of Israel who insisted on having a king like their gentile neighbors (and God let them have a king even though He didn’t want to).
But on the other hand, when God replaced Saul with David, we’re told He was pleased to do it.
Not only is David described as a man after God’s own heart…
But it seems like the Lord changed His mind from not wanting Israel to have a king to strongly preferring that Israel have a royal ruler over them.
God then goes on to say that David and his descendants would rule over Israel forever.
It’s this situation that has caused modern scholars to accuse God of being double-minded and then they turn to literary and textual criticism to try and find out why God seemingly changed His mind.
Some of the questions debated are:
Did the Lord really change His mind about wanting an earthly king for His people?
Or were there maybe 2 different historical accounts written by 2 different authors about this same period put into our Bibles?
I’m gonna try and answer these questions…
But first I wanna get your opinion.
So whaddaya think?
Do you think God wanted Israel to have a king?
Or not?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Let me know in the comments.
God definitely did NOT want Israel to have any king other than God, himself. Ever.
He even told Sammy after he anointed Saul that they weren’t rejecting Sammy, they were rejecting God (1 Samuel 8).
As for being pleased that David was king, well…why not? Just because God didn’t want the people to have a king, why be upset that they now had one who was faithful and a man after God’s own heart?
And as for making David’s lineage a kingly one, since God knew the Messiah would come from David, and messiah is, and always has been, in the Jewish mindset our king, then God’s original plan to have Messiah rule would be fulfilled, with just a slight detour.
“When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose.” Deut. 17
He knew they would want one, and is willing to work in partnership with them – in fact, gives them *permission* to do it.
But is it BEST?
Nope.
He permits divorce in Torah, but it is not his preferred will. He gives animals to us for food in Genesis 9, but was that his original intent for how he designed human bodies?
Realize . . .Who does God have to work with?
US. THEM. That’s IT.
wow
Compared to Him, none of us is a great prize. But he *deigns* to work with us. He stoops to accommodate us, and sometimes we don’t like what he allows us to get 🙁
So yeah, it was allowed, AND it was also a rebellion against what is best.
BTW, the king He allowed came with strings attached (Dt. 17):
(1) God gets to choose the king
(2) No excessive horses, wives, silver, or gold
(3) King must write out his own copy of the Torah (or at least Deuteronomy), and study it
(4) Not estimate himself as being “above his brothers”
(5) Not turn aside from the instructions of Torah
So the question becomes, “Why did the LORD choose kings (Saul, David, and Solomon!) whom he foreknew would NOT act according to his stipulations?”
Well the answer to that is the same as above . . .
Who else does he have to work with? Just wayward ol’ humans.
Good points
As always very interesting and thought provoking!
I do tend to agree with Eric’s comments, even though God reminded Samuel, that Israel was not rejecting him, but they were rejecting God from ruling over them. Israel was a “Theocracy” during the period from the Exodus until Saul.
The one factor that so many seem to not fully understand about our God, is his desire for us to be free! From the garden of Eden till today, mankind has always been given a choice to make their own decisions!
Doesn’t Torah make it clear with the statement from God “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, and I urge you to “CHOOSE” life, so that you and your descendants may live!” But that choice was theirs!
God made man to be free! If we are not free to make wrong decisions, then we are not truly free!
If we are not free to suffer the consequences of those decisions, then we are not truly free! The same goes for the wrong decisions of others that can and do affect our life. All decisions have consequences, both good and bad. To really develop the character that God is looking for in all of us, requires that we are free to make our own decisions.
Yes, God did foresee the innate desire in man to be ruled, and how many times throughout history has mankind chosen security in exchange for freedom?
Yeshua is the only King we all desire, but how few have ever really understood that? Regardless of the relationship David had with God, he was still a sinning selfish human!
If humans are involved in anything, specially without the absolute guidance and direction of God, there will be problems.
My conclusion is simply “NO”…God didn’t want us to have any king other than King Messiah. Yet he did allow for us to make the choice to do so, and to suffer the consequences of that choice!