Bible Survey

08-The United Israelite Monarchy

I. The Reign of Saul (1 Samuel 8:4 - 31)

     The "Earthly Kingdom" Problem - A long-running error has been the belief that an earthly Messianic monarchy is central in God’s plans.  The truth is that: (1) God expressed His kingdom plans to Israel at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:5-6) and they were not interested (Exodus 32), (2) God identified the source of the earthly kingdom notion through Moses - human desire (Deuteronomy 17:14).  The judge Gideon was approached about the idea of setting up an earthly Jewish dynasty and refused for the right reason (Judges 8:22-23).  Later, Samuel was approached with the same request, where it was clearly labeled by God for what it really was - a rejection of God’s rulership (1Samuel 8:4-8).  The people were warned about what it would cost them, but they were adamant (1Samuel 8:9-22).  So, God let them see for themselves what an evil human monarchies can be and Samuel reminded them several more times that their earthly kingdom obsession was really a rejection of God’s spiritual rulership (1Samuel 10:19; 12:17).

     By the time Jesus appeared, this same “earthly kingdom” expectation was still around and was expressed by Peter as he attempted to correct Jesus about God’s plans, which Jesus clearly identified as a result of Peter “not setting his mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (Matthew 16:21-23).

     Sometimes the only way to recognize the folly of human obsessions is to let people give it a try and see for themselves.  The United and Divided Monarchy periods in Israel’s history (931-586 B.C.) is the object lesson demonstrating why human’s were not given dominion over each other (Genesis 1:26-28) and why God’s spiritual rule from heaven is better than an “earthly monarchy - like all of the nations.”  Israel’s earthly kingdom enjoyed a brief period of success during the David-Solomon era (1Kings 4:20-21), but generally declined from fair to horrible, with idolatry, class warfare, civil war, coup’s, and assassinations becoming all too common amongst “God’s covenant people.”

The Reign of Saul (1Sam. 8-31)

     Initial qualities and opportunities (1Samuel 9-12) - God selected Saul as the first king because of his family background and personal appearance (9:1-2), the very same “external” things that we look for in political candidates today.  Initially, Saul was sensitive and considerate of others (9:5), with God giving him extra spiritual influences to help him become a spiritual man (10:6,9).  When publicly set forth, Saul was shy and not anxious to step forward (10:22) and did not lash out at his detractors (10:27).  The initial threat was from the Ammonites and, with God’s guidance, Saul handled the situation very well, even with mercy toward his enemies (11).  Afterwards, Saul was officially confirmed as Israel’s king, but Samuel used this as a final warning that Israel had made a mistake in trying to copy earthly political models (12).

     Decline & Corruption (1Samuel 13-31) - Having already been told to wait for Samuel at Gilgal (10:8), Saul gave in to the situation/circumstances and assumed the priestly office by offering sacrifice.  As soon as the offering was made, Samuel arrived and told him that he had acted foolishly and that he would be replaced by another (13).  As the battle with the Philistines then unfolded, Saul’s son Jonathan acted valiantly while Saul issued a foolish order to motivate his army (14:24).  Unknowingly breaking Saul’s rule, Saul would have executed his own son Jonathon if the people had not restrained Saul (14:45).

     Saul’s second major mistake was in “ad-libbing” on God’s orders to destroy the Amalekites, a group that had launched an unprovoked attack on the Israelites as they were leaving Egypt (Exodus 17:8-16).  Rather than destroy everything, they spared the king, kept the best animals, and Saul set up a monument to himself at Mt. Carmel (15:3,7-12).  Again, Samuel confronted Saul on the road and Saul claimed that he had done as God had commanded, with some people wrongly preserving some animals for sacrifice later (15:13-21).  Samuel unloaded on Saul - God wants obedience rather than our substitute ceremonies, for rebellion and insubordination are as bad as divination, iniquity and idolatr (15:21-22).  Saul broke down and admitted his sin, rooted in fearing people more than God (15:24), and from this point on Samuel had nothing to do with Saul (15:25-35).

II. The Reign of David (1Samuel 16 - 2 Samuel)

David And Saul

     1Samuel 16/ It is a little difficult to know how to date the reigns of Saul and David, for 1Samuel 13:1 raises some questions about how long Saul reigned.[1]  Soon after Saul’s rejection, God called Samuel to anoint David, which he did and the movement of God’s Spirit as David was anointed king (16:12-13) suggests that David was Israel’s rightful king at that point.  Saul’s torment and David’s soothing music (16:14-23) was a Divinely-orchestrated way of bringing David to court with Saul’s approval to initiate what could have been a smooth transition of power.

     1Samuel 17/ A long-running border dispute with the Philistines gave God another opportunity to exalt David, this time as a faithful warrior.  David’s encounter with Goliath teaches us several valuable lessons: confidence from past successes and faith in God’s help is a key to facing new challenges (vv. 33-37), don’t try to imitate others but use your own developed skills/tools (vv. 38-40), don’t under-estimate your opponent and over-estimate yourself (vv. 41-44), and one good shot can end the fight (v. 49).

     1Samuel 18-26/ This transition from Saul to David could have occurred fairly smoothly except for one thing - although, deep down, Saul knew what was going on (1Samuel 18:12; 24:17-20), power and sin had corrupted his character to the point that refused to step down for the good of the kingdom.  Power changed Saul for the worse - jealous of David’s successes to the point of trying to kill David (18:10-15; 19:9-10), shamefully using his own daughter Michal’s love for David as a means of bringing on David’s death (18:19-29), attempting to kill his own son Jonathon for defending David (20:30-34), pursuing David in the wilderness until David was forced to flee to the Philistines (20-29), having the priests at Nob killed for aiding David (22), and visiting a witch/medium for information on the future (28).  In the wilderness, David was developing a band of devoted followers who aided him the rest of his life.  The story of Nabal and Abigail displays David’s diplomacy, the folly of a short-sighted man, and how David continued to build a harem (25).

     1Samuel 27-31/ Fleeing to the Philistines because of Saul’s continual pursuit, David was in a spot - he won’t kill Saul, but he doesn’t really want to join the Philistines in battle against his own people either.  God’s providential solution is that some of the Philistine commanders don’t trust David and he is exempted from joining them in battle (ch. 29).

     Prior to this battle with the Philistines, Saul was becoming desperate for information, since God and Samuel had abandoned him.  Thus, he sought and met with a spirit medium.  She summons the spirit of Samuel, who rips Saul pretty good for his behavior and then predicts utter defeat for Saul’s forces the next day and Saul faints on the floor (ch. 28).

     Spared from joining the Philistine army, the Amalekites raided David’s base at Ziklag and David had reason to deal with the Amalekites as Saul should have earlier.  Afterward, a precedent is established - non-combatant duties are valuable too (30:21-25).

     The Philistines and Israelites did meet in battle, with Saul and his sons dying on Mt. Gilboa.  Saul’s body and weapons were taken to Philistia and paraded as war-trophies, but the valiant men of Jabesh-Gilead (rescued by Saul early in his reign - 1Samuel 11) went to get his body and gave it an honorable burial (31).

     The Lack of Nationhood Before David - One of the elements of Israel’s history that needs to be noted is that the tribes did NOT tend toward harmonious partnership.  The evidence for this disunity is found in the fact that: (1) the twelve tribes arose from four different mothers (Genesis 29-30), (2) the tribes settled on both sides of the Jordan (Numbers 32) and almost got into a fight over a memorial altar intended to memorialize their kinship (Joshua 22), (3) did not help each other finish the conquest (Judges 1:27-36), (4) Ephraim was ready to fight other tribes for foolish reasons (Judges 8:1-3; 12:1-6), and (5) got into a civil war over Benjamin‘s unwillingness to deal with horrible crimes in their midst (Judges 19-21).  Thus, David accomplished quite a feat in uniting the tribes for 33 years and, later Jeroboam showed a real failure to understand Israel’s past when he imagined that Israel would want to politically reunite with Judah because of a common central worship site (1Kings 12).

David’s Kingdom

     Early Diplomacy (2Sam. 1:1 - 2:11) - Although Saul had treated David poorly for years, David refused to reward a man’s claim to have finished Saul off for David (1:1-16).  Then David publicly mourned Saul and Jonathon’s death (1:17-27).  The Tribe of Judah then accepted David as their king and he ruled them for 7.5 years, while Saul’s son Ish-bosheth ran a renegade government at Mahanaim until Abner (Saul’s army commander) made him king over Israel for two years (2:1-11).

     David and Abner (2:12- 4:12) - Abner’s men faced off against Joab’s men and this resulted in a period of warfare between Israel and Judah (2:12 - 3:1a).  David collected more wives and his house grew stronger (3:1b-5).  Abner was the real power behind Ish-bosheth, but when Abner loved one of Saul’s concubines (often a sign of taking over the kingdom) and Ish-bosheth challenged him, Abner determined to turn the northern kingdom over to David and met with him (3:6-25).  When Joab learned of Abner’s plans, he treacherously sought revenge for his brother Asahel’s death and killed Abner in the gate of a city of refuge (3:26-30).  To demonstrate his innocence in the death of Abner, David mourned for Him and expressed difficulty in handling Joab (3:31-39).  Without Abner’s support, Ish-bosheth was killed and his murderers took his head to David seeking a reward, but David hated treachery and murdering royalty (4:1-12).

     David Becomes King of all 12 Tribes (2Sam. 5:1-5) - Representatives of the northern tribes met with David and acknowledged that he had been their true leader even during Saul’s reign.

     David's Power Established (2Samuel 5:6 - 12:31) - Although it had been captured earlier, Jebus/ Jerusalem had not been occupied and now David conquers it as a more central capital from which to rule all twelve tribes (5:6-12).  David expanded his harem (5:13-16).  God directed David to begin pushing the Philistines back (5:17-25).  He had trouble moving the Ark to Jerusalem until he followed the instructions given in Numbers 4, then he celebrated as it entered the city (ch. 6).  Embarrassed that his palace was nicer than the 400-year old Tabernacle, David wanted to build a Temple, but was instead promised an enduring royal (and Messianic) lineage (ch. 7).  David’s military victory over Philistia, Moab, and Zobah are noted, as well as garrisoning Syria and Edom (ch. 8).  Having promised Saul he would not destroy his family, David showed kindness to the crippled Mephibosheth (ch. 9).  When David’s diplomats to Ammon are sent back in shame, David attacked Ammon and Syria (10).  During the war with Ammon, David foolishly became involved with Bathsheba and brought shame upon himself and trouble to Israel until Nathan brought him to repentance.  The child died and David returned to the battlefield to finish the war with Ammon (ch. 11-12).

     David’s Later Years of Turmoil (2Sam. 13-24) - God forgave David for his sin with Bathsheba, but David’s “marriage” situation did bring a number of results that affected his family and the nation - turmoil amongst his kids born to different mothers, such as rape and revenge (ch. 13-14).

     Another son, Absalom, campaigned his way to popularity and led a short-lived but sizeable revolt that made David and followers leave the capital for awhile, until winning a battle in the forest of Ephraim (15:1 - 18:8).  Joab killed Absalom and exhorted David to stop grieving for his rebellious son and thank his loyal supporters (ch. 18:9 - 19:9).  David returned to the throne and tried to reward Barzillai for his help (19:9-39).  Another example of the persistent disharmony between Judah and Israel developed into a revolt orchestrated by Sheba (19:40 - 20:26).  David had to clean-up a problem resulting from Saul’s killing of some Gibeonites, people with whom a covenant had been formed during Joshua’s conquest (ch. 21; Joshua 9).

     David wrote a psalm of deliverance (ch. 22) and his last song (23:1-7).  Then we have a description of David’s “mighty men” (23:8-39).  David then called for a census, to assess his strength in human terms, and this angered God - David got to choose his punishment - and then built an alter on the site of the future temple and offered sacrifice to stop the plague (ch. 24).

III. United Monarchy: Solomon (1 Kings 1-11)

David and Solomon (1Kgs. 1-2)

     Towards the end of David’s life, the borders of Israel encompassed the area God promised to Abraham and they were secure.  However, although Solomon had been designated as the next king (1:13,17,30), Adonijah decided to make a play for power by getting a motorcade, gathering some supporters, and throwing a campaign banquet (1:5-10).  When word of this got out, Solomon was quickly anointed king and Adonijah begged for mercy (1:11-53).  David then warned Solomon of others that needed to be dealt with before they caused him trouble - Joab and Shimei (2:1-9).  David died and Solomon ruled his kingdom (2:10-12).

Solomon's Reign (1Kgs. 2:13 - 11)

     Early Years - When opportunities presented themselves, Solomon was able to deal with Adonijah (2:13-27), Joab (2:28-35), and Shimei (2:36-46).  He formed a marriage alliance with Egypt (3:1; 9:16) and worshipped YHWH at the Canaanite High Places (3:2-3).  At Gibeon, God appeared to Solomon and asked for wisdom to rule well, which God gave him and we see an example of it in his handling of the two women disputing over a baby (3:5-28).  Solomon divided up the nation into administrative districts (4:1-19) and Israel was prosperous and secure (4:20-34).  Hiram, King of Tyre, became involved in Temple construction and Israelites were conscripted for labor (5).  The construction of the Temple and Solomon’s palace are described (6-7).  The Ark was moved into the Temple and the dedication ceremony is described (8), after which God appeared to Solomon a second time and warned him of the penalty for apostasy (9:1-9).  Other building projects (9:10-28), the Queen of Sheba’s visit (10:1-13), and Solomon’s wealth/import/export business Solomon operated are described (10:14-29).

     Later Problems - Solomon loved and married many foreign women (no doubt some of this was for political/business reasons) and they turned his heart away from devotion to YHWH, as he built temples/shrines to their gods around Jerusalem (11:1-8).  God’s anger was aroused and the punishment would be division of the kingdom (11:9-13).  As a preliminary step, God raised up adversaries to Solomon - Hadad the Edomite (11:14-22), Rezon in Damascus (11:23-25), and Jeroboam (11:26-40).  Jeroboam worked for Solomon, but the prophet Ahijah told him that God was offering him rulership over the coming northern kingdom and God’s blessing if he will obey the Covenant.  Solomon died and was followed by his son Rehoboam (11:41-43).

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Charles E. McCoy [2006/06/23]