This conflict first rears its head in the relationship of Samuel, as judge of Israel, and Saul, as king of Israel. In the history of the settlement of Canaan, the book of Judges, when Gideon is offered the monarchy, he replies, "You have no king but Yahweh." So the institution of the monarchy creates a new conflict: the conflict between Yahweh and the Hebrew monarchs. In the Hebrew view of history, it represents the Hebrew refusal to be ruled by god in favor of a human ruler. It's clear that the monarchy is viewed as a negative development in Hebrew history-this is amazing considering that the account is written after centuries of Israelite and Jewish monarchs. While it's hard to assess Saul's monarchy, one very important pattern emerges.
The Hebrew history of Saul, however, emphasizes his disobedience because he repeatedly fails to carry out Yahweh's instructions as spoken by Samuel, Yahweh immediately chooses another king, David. Saul was certainly not a wealthy monarch the accounts of his kingship imply that he was no wealthier than any tribal leader. The Hebrews, after all, were still tribal people, so the transition to a monarchy must have been slow. There are no accounts of him exercising monarchical power outside of military exploits. Saul was not, however, a standard Near Eastern king he seems to have been largely a military leader. He was chosen for his height and his good looks, but soon proved to be ineffectual. This was Saul according to Hebrew history, he was chosen by popular acclaim by the Hebrew people (which seems likely among a group without a king). However, Yahweh, as happened with Moses and all other deliverers in Hebrew history, selected a king for the Hebrews and Samuel formally anointed this new king with oil to symbolize his election as monarch.
The account makes clear that both Samuel and Yahweh considered the desire for a king to be an act of disobedience towards Yahweh the Hebrew people, according to Samuel, would greatly suffer for this disobedience. As recounted in the I Samuel and II Samuel, the Hebrews approached Samuel, the "judge" of Israel, and demanded a king. Looking to the Egyptian and Mesopotamian models of monarchy, particularly among their neighbors the Canaanites, Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites, the Hebrew tribes began agitating for a king. The Hebrews, however, began to desire more permanent solutions to their political and military troubles. Still, the tribes faced down the constant threat of invasion and oppression, and they still had not even remained firm in their Yahweh religion. At times, various "deliverers" would lead some or all of the tribes against non-Hebrew oppressors or aggressors, and then fade again into history. During the early centuries in what the Romans later called Palestine, the Hebrews were ruled loosely by "judges," who seemed to exercise a limited amount of judicial, legislative, and even military control over the otherwise independent Hebrew tribes. Ancient Jewish History: Table of Contents| The Temples| The Twelve TribesĪfter two hundred years of only marginal success in occupying and holding lands in the Land of Israel, the Hebrews united to form a single state under a single monarch.
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