Saul and David
Commentary
I got a distinction for this exam answer (84%). I can’t recall the question but it related to the transition from the Judges to the Kings and Yahweh’s role as ultimate king. The significant issue that you will note at the end of the assessment is my horrendous time management – I just messed up how long I have and wrote the last sentence as the clock ran down with much still to be written!
Again, I will just comment on the mark. I include my marks because they are an important indicator of the quality of the answer for your information. Otherwise, I could be spouting rubbish! Of course, fleshly man that I am, I take some satisfaction from the result, but I am acutely conscious that glory is to God rather than my poor efforts – whence is wisdom after all? Praise Yahweh for his blessings and the opportunity to seek out his wisdom.
Note that I will reference secondary sources without a bibliography and footnotes. The simple fact is that none of this is possible in exam conditions because we don’t have access to these references or even the internet during the exam. I am quoting from memory and because I am getting old, that memory might be fading a little!
Introduction
Kingship, despite the displeasure of Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:6 was a foregone conclusion. Dumbrell asserts along with Fee and Stuart and other scholars that the matter of Kingship was settled in Deuteronomy 17:14. The fact that there was going to be a king was not in dispute, but what kind of a king was very much the question that the monarchies of David and Saul settled. It should not be ignored what the
divine assessment of the request for a king was. Yahweh states in 1 Samuel 8:7 that Israel had rejected God in favour of a king like the nations around them.
A king who acknowledged Yahweh’s sovereignty through most of his actions would in fact establish the circumstances that led to the Golden Age of Solomon’s reign even if that Golden Age led in turn to failure.
Samuel and Transition
The birth of Samuel was divinely appointed to usher the kingdom from the dark period of the Judges to the kingdom and a period of active engagement by God in the affairs of the nation. In some respects, the family that Samuel was born into were emblematic of the nation. Elkanah, Hannah and Penninah were a family with internecine strife just as the nation was. Hannah’s barrenness (according to Phillip – 1 Samuel) was a type of the spiritual barrenness of the people that required the intervention of God to relieve. Elkanah’s kindness and mercy to his barren wife was symbolic of the regard of the heavenly Father for his people and his intervention to bring forth judges to liberate the people. The birth of Samuel, last judge and first of the former prophets, would lead the people from darkness to a Golden Age.
Saul and the Consequence of Disobedience
Saul was everything that the people could want in a king. Saul was a handsome and tall man (1 Sam 9:2). Despite his potential character flaws, he was selected by God for anointing. God was demonstrating to the people that there were two types of kings. Saul was one type. He was set aside by God for an anointing as king (1 Sam 9:15) and Samuel duly anointed him. Saul was initially quite humble (eg verse 21) but this soon changed as the young man developed into an intractible and wild king who would stop at nothing to preserve his position.
Bright argues that the chief unifying force for Israel was the presence of the Philistines (rather than the Canaanites) and certainly 1 Samuel 13 appears to bear this out. Saul in fact sets out to unify the people soon after he commenced his reign to destroy the Philistines. The problem that emerges in verses 8-14 is that Saul’s impetuousity leads to unlawful sacrifice and this sets a pattern of self willed behaviour and a failure to acknowledge the sovereignty of Yahweh. The kingdom would be torn from his grasp and handed to another. (1 Sam 13:14)
David and Covenant Loyalty
The fundamental difference in David that endorses the kingship of Yahweh is found in David’s generally unswerving acknowledgement of Yahweh’s sovereignty. Even in his weakness and failing, David stood ready to inquire of Yahweh before he took a step. He refused to act on his own initiative in the matter of his kingship and ultimately, when he failed to do so, he learned from his mistake and refused to act
further without inquiring.
From the time of his anointing, after the final straw of Saul and the Agagites and Saul’s failure in 1 Sam 15, David refused to take the initiative and “act the king”. The spirit of Yahweh was upon him “mightily” (1 Sam 16:13) and yet he returned to tending the sheep (v. 19) until he entered Saul’s service. Even after the victory over Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, when David could have been expected to step up a mighty man in Israel, the man was humble, announcing that he was “the son of your servant the Jesse the Bethlehamite.” Next he became the son-in-law to the king, marrying Michal and again proclaiming himself “a poor man and of no repute.” (1 Sam 18:23)
Even when the strife between Saul and David was in the open and David encountered Saul in the cave of the Rocks of the Wild Goat (1 Sam 24:2) and he cut off a corner of Saul’s garment and again later in 1 Samuel 26 when David took his spear and water jar, on no occasion did David presume to take the initiative and kill Saul (Yahweh’s anointed). Instead, he used both occasions as an attempt to bring Saul
to his senses and encourage him to be a better king. David’s kingship endorsed Yahweh’s kingship in that he always deferred to Yahweh’s will. His full and unwavering obedience, acknowledging the sovereignty of Yahweh in every step of his life demonstrated the sovereignty of Yahweh and made it clear to the people that Yahweh was their king, David his representative only and point emphasised by Fee and Stuart.
The strongest evidence that Yahweh valued this in David is in the lead up to the Davidic Covenant. David refused to take the kingdom before enquiring at Yahweh’s word. He took Hebron because Yahweh instructed him to do so. 7 years later he took kingship of the whole of Israel after enquiring at Yahweh’s mouth. He settled in Jerusalem and then made a misstep. He failed to enquire of Yahweh and set out to bring the ark to Jerusalem. The manner of this activity led to the death of Uzzah and the humiliation of David. So David reset. He was meticulous in enquiring of Yahweh and thus the ark was brought to Jerusalem and set at the top of Mt Moria just to the north of Jerusalem. Now he sought to build an house for the ark and ultimately this led to the Davidic covenant.
Lecturer’s comment
I thought I would include John’s comment here so you can see what happened!
Mark: 84%. This is a very good answer, engaging well with Scripture and scholars. Evidently you ran out of time. It would have been nice to see the essay wrapped up and concluded. More emphasis on Yahweh’s kingship would have been good in places…
Yep – I ran out of time badly.