True & Beautiful Things About the Bible--Old Testamentಮಾದರಿ

1 Samuel: A Tale of Two Kings

“We want a king.” The children of Israel didn’t want God as their leader anymore, they wanted a king, like everyone else. The priest and last judge, Samuel, tried to convince them otherwise. Their request bothered God, but He said to Samuel, Go ahead and do what they want. They’re not rejecting you, they’ve rejected me as their King. (8:17)

That’s the backdrop of how Israel became a monarchy. Three men’s lives tell the story.

1.Samuel, who “judged Israel all the days of his life” (7:15), was a good guy. We shadow him from the cradle to the grave as he leads Israel in this critical transition from being a handful of fragmented tribes to a united monarchy. Samuel is the king-maker, speaking for God into the rise and fall of Saul’s reign and then anointing David as God’s choice as the better king.

2.Saul, the tall and handsome (yet emotionally unstable and volatile) king was the people’s choice. It should have been an early warning to them when they were trying to crown him king, that Saul was hiding with the luggage. For a few years under his rule, life in Israel was good. But his insecurity, paranoia, and selfish agenda led to his unraveling. He blamed it all on the young giant-slayer David, who had the beautiful faith and bravery of a king.

3.So many of the stories we love about David happen in 1 Samuel. We first meet him tending sheep, a young man with God’s heart whom God had already chosen as the next king. But for 13 years, David survived as a fugitive—running for his life from King Saul who wanted him dead. Emotionally, physically, spiritually, David fought to stay alert, stay alive, and stay connected to God, who he confessed he didn’t always understand, but who he always loved. David’s best days with God happened in the wilderness. We read about them in the psalms he wrote while hiding or on the run.

Far from perfect, David and even Saul, teach us an important truth: we have two options of what to do when we sin. We can confess it and be restored to God (like David) or we can make excuses that dismiss and rationalize it (like an unraveling Saul).

People will judge us by our appearance, but God will always look at our hearts. That’s the lesson we see proven over and over again in this tragic tale of two kings.

Next: When life was good for Israel.