1 Samuel 8-12: Content Essay Assignment

Content Essay Assignment: 1 Samuel 8-12

Joo Won Lee

OBST 515: Old Testament Orientation

April 26, 2026

Introduction

     The Israelites are now ready to move from the judgeship to the kingship as YHWH, the King of kings and the Lord of lord begrudgingly but cautiously yields to the demands of the stiff-necked people who wanted to be just like their surrounding gentiles, who all had ruthless but powerful kings ruling over them.

Does God want Israel to have a king? Necessary Pathway to the Eventual Kingship to Come Under Lord Jesus 

     The negative statements stemming from the passages 1 Sam 8:1-22; 10:17-19; 12:1-25 regarding an imminent kingship for Israel mainly center around a humanly appointed king’s (potential) tyrannical acts as he would heavily tax the people and take away not only their valuable men power including their precious own children, servants, maids, et al, but also the property they owned. These verses depict a very grim picture where the people would be hard-driven, powerless, exploited, taken advantage of, and left impoverished, with not much human rights or liberty to stake a claim in for improvement in living conditions as implied.

     The symbolical and more grave matter of the request of a king by Israel is elaborated by YHWH as he laments, “They have not rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king. They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to Me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning Me and worshipping other gods.” (1 Sam. 8:7b-8 HCSB). It is apparent here that God’s biggest gripe and dissatisfaction with Isarel was their rejection of worshipping the true God in YHWH as stipulated in their covenant and Ten Commandments, specifically, but instead going after and worshipping other graven gods which was strictly forbidden by the law. Obviously, the warnings of YHWH did come true in the latter periods as particularly highlighted by Solomon who built a fabulous temple for God, but kept a palace(s) for himself and his 700 wives and 300 concubines in the process of  overburdening the regular citizens of Isarael all over to much of their boiling discontents (1 Kings 1; 2 Kings 25; 1 Kings 12:4). Upon the death of Solomon, when the people confronted this issue with Rehoboam and asked to have their burdens be lessened, the soon-to-be disposed as a ruler of the united kingdom answered, “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” (1 Kings 12:14). Ten tribes accordingly rebelled, and the kingdom became split into the Northern Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah, which Rehoboam reigned over. However, as Hill and Watson observe, “the Kings historian rightly attributes the division of Israel’s united monarchy to Solomon’s sin of idolatry (cf. 1 Kings 11:33, perhaps foreshadowed in 3:3). However, the collapse of the empire was merely the regrettable by-product of years of gross mismanagement of the affairs of state by Solomon.”[1] Lavish lifestyle where Solomon sucked the living life out of the populace of Israel was one of the most grossly mismanaged affairs as God warned Israel against through Samuel as the ramifications of their desire in kingship.

     On  the other hand as one looks at the positive statements (1 Sam 9:1-10:16; 11:1-15) regarding the impending kingship the benefits can be best summarized as the following: 1) a role of prophet, 2) a role of “captain over people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines,” (/Ammonites), etc. It is outside the scope of discussion for this particular assignment, but the role of a prophet is interesting as it is astonishingly limited to Saul only for a brief time as the author Hamilton points out, “Saul is the only Old Testament king who is called a prophet (v.11b), and the only one who is said to prophesy (v. 11a).”[2] Furthermore, “It is also ironic that Saul is the son of “a man of wealth” (“a son of mighty man of power”)  (v. 1) but does not have a nickel in his pocket to give as an honorarium or fee to the man of God (vv. 7-8)”[3] How negligent and careless if not downright irreverent. Therefore, as warned in Matt. 7:22, not all who prophesied would be granted an entry into kingdom of heaven as exemplified in Saul (cf. 1 Sam. 13:15; 31:1-13). Nevertheless, overall, the singular main benefit of having a king  as a commander in chief based on these passages is someone who can raise an army, organize it, and protect the land and people against the invading marauders of foreign origin as in Philistines or the Ammonites. Spiritually and symbolically, it also embodies what a messiah as king would do for His people as the captain of the army of God (Cf. Joshua 5:13-15).

     Summarily, how does God feel about all this kingly matter, the upcoming inauguration of Saul as the first king and the ensuing monarchy system for Israel? As Victor Hamilton points out, “God’s response to this is most interesting. Not once but three times he instructs Samuel to “listen to the voice of the people,” adding to this on the third occasion “and set a king over them” (vv. 8:7, 9, 22)…It is as if the writer is drawing a contrast between “a God who reveals his love in spite of being rejected” and “a judge who fails to conceal his selfish reluctance to become the maker of kings” (Polzin 1989: 88)”[4] The whole mood of YHWH in the backdrop of Israel’s demand for kingship appears to be that of deeply concerned Father/Parent who reluctantly grants a child to play by a side of swimming pool keeping a close watch on him as the bigger (aquatic) goals to achieve are to come later once all the training is done—perhaps in an Olympic sized pool one day.   

Relation of Gen. 17:6, 16; 35:11, Deut. 17:14-20 to 1 Sam. 8-12: Author depicts in Positive or Negative way?

“And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.” (Genesis 17:6 KJV)

“And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be of her.” (Genesis 17:16 KJV)

“And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply: a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins:” (Gen. 35:11)

“When thou are come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it, and shall dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me, Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among they brethren shall thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.” (Deut. 17:14-20 KJV)

Note: these verses should not count towards the total word count.

     The four passages from Genesis chapters 17, 35 and Deuteronomy in relation to 1 Sam. 8-12 regarding the kingship which the Israelites are about to embark on seems to be the 1) fulfilment of the covenant promised made to the patriarch fathers, particularly in person of Abraham, widely regarded as the forefather of the faithful, 2) greater promises and vision to be fulfilled later (in a person of Jesus to descend from the Davidic lineage) as an inevitable event or a pathway towards the Eternal Kingship to be established (cf. Daniel 6 :26; Rev. 11:15.)

     Daniel Durken points out, “Curiously, the narrative highlights certain royal prerogatives that remain in check, i.e., horses and wives (vv. 16-17). These items have a metaphorical value that should not be overlooked. As is the case even today, horses are much associated with the upper class, because the wealthy can afford their care and maintenance…Further, horses represent the hidden dangers of military prowess and royal privilege, i.e., human pride. Deuteronomy insists that reliance on the Lord supersedes “horse and chariot,” a tenet sung in Israel’s worship and prophecy (Pss 20:8; 33:16-19; 76:7-8; 147:10; Isa 43:16-17; Ezek 26:7)”[5] Yes, human pride got in the way, particularly regarding Solomon, the wisest  man who ever lived (cf. 1 Kings 3:12; 4:29-31),  but the Almighty and Omniscient God would turn it around and build an eternal kingdom full of pure love, joy, happiness, justice, and righteousness on the ashes of consumed human pride and wastes (cf. Matthew 11:28-30).

Author of 1 Samuel’s Attitude towards Kingship as Depicted in 1 Samuel & the Rest of the OT

     As the authors Hill and Walton point out the primary message of the 1 Samuel is “that the Davidic covenant was established by God. People may choose kings, as they did Saul, but God chooses dynasties. Even though the people chose the first king and God did not approve of either motivation for or their concept of kingship, the institution of a monarchy was in God’s plan for Israel (Duet. 17:14-20).”[6] It is obvious that kingship in ancient Israel had colorful history as depicted in the rest of the Old Testament: handful were good wise kings as in David, Amaziah, Hezekiah, Josiah, but the vast majority were wicked rulers such as Rehoboam, Jehoram, Ahab, etc., who did nothing evil things and burdened the people. However, more tragically, they turned the people  away from YHWH worshipping foreign idols, committing unforgiveable sins. Nevertheless, that is how a kingship usually went regardless of which countries or continents it ever existed on in the history of mankind: most kings were tyrants who did nothing but only ingratiated themselves to the sufferings of the masses. As the author of Samuel and the rest of the OT prophets did, the rest of the world longed for the Righteous and Good Shepherd King to arrive one day to redeem and save us by giving us the eternal life by crushing the head of the serpent, the old dragon (cf. Gen. 3:15; John 10:11, 14-15). Matthew Henry notes, “In opposition to the design of the thief which is to kill and destroy (which was the design of the scribes and Pharisees) Christ saith, I am come among men, 1 that they might have life. He came to put life into the flocks, the church in general...” Skeptical towards human kings, but the OT authors all appeared to be  anticipatory and jubilant toward the coming of the prophesied Shepherd King.

Conclusion

     Prophet and judge Samuel served as a bridge which connected the judgeship to the kingship of Israel where Saul would be crowned as the very first king out of tribe of Benjamin; however, Saul, an apostate, would be ultimately rejected by YHWH paving the way for David and his lineage to be ushered in through which the Ultimate King of the Universe, the rejected cornerstone by the establishment (cf. Ps. 118:22; Mark: 12), would be born as Immanuel, the Messiah for all, to redeem the whole world as prophesied (cf.  Gen. 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2).

Bibliography

Durken, Daniel, ed. The New Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testament. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2015.

Hamilton, Victor P. Handbook on the Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001.

Hamilton, Victor P. Handbook on the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 2^nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005.

Henry, Matthew. Genesis & Deuteronomy. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008.

Hill, Andrew E., and John H. Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. 3^rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009.

[1] Hill, Andrew E., and John H. Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. 3^rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009, 295. .  

[2] Victor P. Hamilton, Victor. Handbook on the Historical Books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 236.

[3] Ibid., 234.

[4] Ibid., 232.

[5] Daniel Durken ed. The New Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testament. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2015,) 356-357.

[6] Hill, Andrew E., and John H. Walton. A Survey of the Old Testament. 3^rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009, 259. .