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Randall Wellman
BIBL 105 B12: Essay 1
February 12, 2017
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During the times of the United Kingdom there were three major kings Saul,
David, and Solomon. During the time of Samuel the judge and prophet, Israel began to
desire a king because Samuel was getting old and his sons did not follow in the way of
Samuel also they wanted to be like all the other nations around them, this is according to
Samuel 8:5. When Israel desired to have a king this grieved Samuel and it also made
God mad. Samuel 8:7 says, “But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything
they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king.” Not
only had the people rejected Samuel, but they had now rejected God. Israel now had
decided to follow man instead of following Gods Spirit. Israel had forgotten where God
had brought them. How God had brought them out of Egypt with the ten plagues, how
God had protected them in the desert for forty years, and how they had conquered the
promise land with Joshua and now they wanted to be like all the other nations around
them and follow a man.
The people of Israel went from following the voice of God through his judge and
prophet to following a man. This man would be known as Saul. There were several
reasons why Saul was chosen as the king of Israel. When you looked at Saul the first
quality that you would notice about him is that he was a tall man. Not only was he tall,
but he was also attractive. The second quality that Saul had been he was from the tribe of
Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin was on the boarder of Ephraim and Judah, the reason
this is important is it gave Saul credibility with both the northern and southern tribes.
Not only did Saul have all these qualities of a king, but he was also a very good military
leader as he showed with his early victories. Even though Saul had all the attributes of a
great king that Israel and other nations could look at on the outside it would not take very
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long for his weaknesses to come to the forefront and ultimately be his downfall. Saul had
a rebellious spirit that no one could see until it was too late. There were several instances
were it came out. First it came out a Gilgal were he failed to wait for Samuel and made
several excuses. ( I Samuel 13:8-12) Saul also neglected the many needs of his own men
and made an oath that almost cost Jonathan his son’s life. (I Samuel 14) God may have
forgiven the rest of Saul’s rebelliousness, but the act the really cost Saul his kingdom and
the main reason why he was rejected was Saul failed too kill all the Amalekites and then
proceeded to lie to the prophet Samuel about why he did not kill all the Amalekites.
(Samuel 15) This event is what makes God reject Saul as king and the rest of his years
were wasted on trying to kill David.
David was considered the second greatest king to ever rule Israel. David had
many attributes just as king Saul had to be king, but the attribute that made David a better
king than Saul is David had a very repentant heart. This is why the bible says David was
a man after Gods own heart. (Acts 13:22) Even after David had sinned with Bathsheba
and the prophet came to him and told him his sin his first reaction was too repentant.
Unlike Saul who even when he was caught in the wrong made up excuses as to why he
did not do what he was supposed to do and was not obedient, David would always ask
forgiveness from the Lord and try to do right in his sight. In I Samuel 15:22 it says “Then
Samuel said: Does the Lord a take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice,
to pay attention is better than the fat of rams” This is another key difference between
David and Saul. Saul did what was pleasing to himself, David tried to obey God Even
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though he messed up at times as we see with Bathsheba he found a place of repentance
and this is on of the reason his dynasty reigned Judah for over four hundred years.
Solomon was a lot like his father David in many ways. Solomon liked to write
songs and was obedient to the Lord. Solomon also know he needed the Gods help at the
beginning of his reign and that is why he asked for wisdom. The on area that was both a
downfall for Solomon and David was women, David with Bathsheba and Solomon with
all of his wives. The difference between David a Solomon was that Solomon married
women that did not believe in the one true God. From a young age Solomon was taught
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord. Yet Solomon decided to
marry women that worshipped false Gods and did not believe in the one true God.
Solomon’s wives wanted to server other gods and they turned Solomon’s heart and also
caused him to serve other Gods. What Solomon had done was a great sin in the sight of
God and he dealt very harshly with him in I Kings 11: 9-13 it says “The Lord was angry
with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who
had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him about this, so that he would not
follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded.
Then the Lord said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep My
covenant and My statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from
you and give it to your servant. However, I will not do it during your lifetime because of
your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand. Yet I will not tear the entire
kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son because of my servant David
and because of Jerusalem that I chose.” Solomon followed in the path that David had led
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him into, Solomon just took the sin further than what David did and it caused the division
of Israel after his death.
The nation of Israel ended up getting what they deserved. Israel did not want to
follow God they wanted to follow a man instead so they ended up with Saul, David, and
Solomon. All three kings had good attributes to be kings and guide a nation. They also
had faults and none of them were without their faults. Saul was rebellious, David was an
adulterer, and Solomon because of his wives turned into an idol worshipper. These three
kings followed what was in there heart and the Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart
is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable —who can understand it?” It is written
that no can understand the heart that is why the nation of Israel was always in a mess
cause they wanted to follow their hearts instead of following God.
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Bibliography
Berman, Joshua “Law Code as Plot Template in Biblical Narrative (1 Kings 9.26–
11.13; Joshua 2.9–13)” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Vol 40, Issue 3, pp.
337 - 349
First published date: March-09-2016, 10.1177/0309089216637146
Bar, Shaul. "Saul and Samuel." The Expository Times 126, no. 7 (December 12, 2014):
326-33. April 1, 2015. Accessed February 12, 2017. doi:https://doi-
org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/ 10.1177/0014524614564288.
