The Heart of a King: Lessons from the First King of Israel
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When God’s chosen nation came out of Egypt and were led about in the wilderness by God, He knew they would see the governments of the nations around them He knew they would want what they had, want to live as they did. This included having a human king to reign over them. Early on the people even insisted that Moses speak directly with God because they were afraid of Him (Exodus 20:18-21). It was always God’s intention that He should rule over His own people directly. In the wilderness He guided and directed them in a pillar of cloud and fire. Just as Jesus Christ is the head of the church today, so was He the head of the nation of Israel then (1 Corinthians 10:1-4) God knew that His people would reject His leadership and instead ask for a king, so He made provisions for just such a situation. Certain instructions and guidelines were laid out for how a king was to act when ruling over his own brethren. (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) The king was supposed to take care of the people, not take advantage of his power. He was supposed to write his own copy of the law: Deuteronomy 17:20 20 that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. The king was not to be above the laws of God, but was instead to be familiar with the same laws that all the people were to keep. Just because he was king didn’t mean he was more special than his brethren. He wasn’t to treat himself any different than anyone else, although God warned that this would happen contrary to what He had commanded. We can see this progression take place at the end of the time of the Judges of Israel. Samuel the Prophet and his sons, Joel and Abijah, were the last of the judges. Just as God had said, the people further rejected the direct leadership of their God, even rejecting the judges that He had placed over them to lead them. They looked at the nations around them and wanted what they had. They wanted a king to rule over them. One they could see and hear. 1 Samuel 8:1-5 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 … Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel,