“The people said to Sh’mu’el, ‘Who are the men who said, ‘Is Sha’ul to rule over us?’ Hand them over to us, so we can put them to death.’ But Sha’ul said, “No one will be put to death today because today Adonai has rescued Israel.‘”-1 Samuel 11:12-13
Saul’s victory over Nachash and his men accomplished two things.
The first and obvious thing is that he rescued the people of Jabesh-Gilead from the hands of a gentile power.
The second thing is he achieved the victory he needed to finally begin reigning as king.
The people were so overjoyed they called for the death of those who had scorned Saul.
No doubt these dissenters were mainly members of the tribe of Judah.
However, Judah did send a sizeable amount of troops to fight together with the northern tribes.
So we can see from this action that Judah wasn’t so hellbent on separating from their brothers in the north just yet.
Or maybe another way to put it is to say they had enough political commonsense to not openly defy Saul, especially in light of the stunning military victory he had just achieved.
Now I want you to notice something interesting here.
The people asked Samuel if the rebels should be executed.
But look who stepped in to answer.
It was Saul who rose up and announced…
“No one will be put to death today
because today YHWH has rescued Israel”
This is significant folks.
Samuel was asked but Saul answered.
The torch of leadership had passed.
Samuel will now diminish and Saul will increase.
From this point onward, Samuel would no longer be Judge over Israel.
However, he would continue to serve as a prophet and mediate between the people.
He will also bring God’s oracles to the King.
This was indeed a defining moment in Israel’s history.
The era of the Judges had closed…
And right here in 1st Samuel Chapter 11, the era of the Kings had just begun.
We’ve got some exciting stuff ahead of us folks…
But before I close, I wanna point out something really quick.
Note in previous articles how I said the word “Israel” has to be defined within the context of time.
I pointed out that Israel was politically divided into three factions: The Northern Tribes, the Southern Tribes, and the Tribes in the Trans-Jordan.
And I said that out of these three divisions, the term “Israel” referred to only the Northern Tribes.
Well, that’s NOT the case here in verses 12 and 13.
Here the word Israel is meant to be taken in the general way, in other words referring to ALL the 12 tribes including Levi.
Again, you really gotta pay attention to what Israel means in its given context.
See you all next time.
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