Article 2016-07 - Two Judges and Two Kings
Chapter 22: Two Judges and Two Kings
Introduction
The commission of missionaries can not be detached from the time frame in which they live. When we look at where our story continues, we see that the last two judges played a role in the period that Israel transferred from a theocracy, a rule under God, to a monarchy, ruled by kings. We will look briefly at Samson and Samuel as well as at Saul and David. All four were sent by God with specific assignments. Their characters played a decisive role in their success or failure, as well as in the reputation with which they entered history. Most of the ten themes occur in these Bible stories.
Scripture reference
… Manoah … had a wife who was … childless. The … Lord appeared to her and said, ‘… you are going to … have a son … he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the … Philistines … The woman gave birth … and named him Samson (Judg. 13:2,3,5,24)
… Elkanah … had two wives; … Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none … Hannah … prayed … ‘O Lord … if you will only … not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord …’ … Hannah … gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel (1 Sam. 1:1,2,10,11,20)
The story
Both books of Samuel originally formed one book. Samuel forms the bridge between the last period of Israel as a theocracy and its first as monarchy. He too was the son of a barren woman and became a son of promise like Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Samson. The difference between Isaac, Jacob and Joseph on the one hand, and Samson and Samuel on the other was that the former three inherited the patriarchal, national promise whereas the latter two received a ministerial mandate. Both Samson and Samuel were true sent ones (missionaries) in the same mission: Samson began what Samuel would later – more or less – finish. Both were to set the nation free of submission to the Philistines, until Saul assumed reign over Israel.
Samuel’s commission was more complicated than Samson’s. The latter dealt only with the Philistines, not with Israel. It was a ‘ministry’ of force, anger, revenge and violence – plus a life style that did not match his vocation. Samuel by contrast was a man who practiced what he preached and, apart from subduing the Philistines, exercised great national influence. He reformed Israel’s worship and initiated by his teaching a national movement of repentance.
Samuel was the last judge of Israel (not counting his sons Joel and Abijah, because of their corruptness). His great disappointment came when the people requested a king. He was thoroughly grounded in the theocratic principles the nation had had for almost four centuries. God told him to anoint Saul to be Israel’s first king. So, reluctantly the sent one became a sender himself by helping the new king on his way. He even anointed David after Saul failed, but died before David assumed rule.
Samuel is a book of two judges (Eli and Samuel): one failed and one succeeded. It is also a book of two kings (Saul and David): one failed and one succeeded. The failures were due to liberalism: not taking God’s business seriously and compromising with obedience. The successes were due to strict obedience to God’s word and true repentance when things had gone wrong.
Scripture reference
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head … saying, ‘Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance?’ (1 Sam. 10:1)
‘You have acted foolishly,’ Samuel said. ‘You have not kept the command the Lord … gave you; if you had he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people …’ (1 Sam. 13:13,14)
Comment
The books of Samuel are rich in missionary content. Nine of our ten themes feature. Instead of asking you how they occur, as I did before, this time I will explain how we can recognize them in Samuel’s books. Apart from theme one, all appear.
So we start with the second theme, about man’s sin problem. We see it in the lives of the leaders: Eli and sons, Saul, and David and sons. What occurs most is liberalism and lukewarmness (Eli); greed, pride and fornication (Hophni and Phinehas); jealousy, pride and murder (Saul); impurity and family neglect (David); rebellion, impurity, murder and idolatry (Absalom, Amnon, Adonijah and Solomon). The books of Samuel are about leadership. This is important because the ordinary people will eventually become like the leaders. We see this even more in the books of the Kings. Samuel shows several times that God is not more considerate with leaders than with their subjects; on the contrary! It is a lesson for Christian leaders today: if you fail to be the Godly example you are supposed to be, you will be cut off. Eli and his two sons, Saul and the four sons of David we mentioned, all jeopardized their God-given missions through sin. Only two men succeeded: Samuel, who committed no grave sin according to the Scriptures and David who did, but consistently humbled himself and repented. Only humble, obedient leaders can guide God’s people into that example-for-the-world position, deliver it of their spiritual enemies and lead it into establishing God’s Kingdom where it has not yet rooted. Successful completion of evangelism and world missions depends on the character quality of its leaders.
Our third theme, about how God saves people and sends them, is seen throughout Samuel. God sent Samuel as a prophet and Saul and David as kings. He speaks, guides and corrects these three main characters and progressively reveals His own character.
How man is being made part of God’s mission, our fourth theme, we see in how Samuel was dedicated to God’s service by his mother before his conception and heard the Lord speak from his early days of service in the Tabernacle at Shiloh. His mission was to be God’s mouth-piece and Israel’s spiritual leader, sent to help the nation to change from a theocracy into a monarchy. Saul was told to be king and to deliver the people of their enemies. David was to continue what Saul had started and to rule over Israel, in a humble, God-fearing way.
Our fifth theme speaks about how man tries to find his own way to deal with his sin problem. We see many different ways in the books of Samuel and I will just mention them briefly, without going into many details.
First there is Eli who ignores the problem of his sinning sons. He represents the leaders who think that sin will disappear from self.
Second, there are the Philistine kings who think they can manipulate the Lord by buying off His wrath. They represent the Gentiles that seek their own way of salvation, apart from God.
The third is Samuel himself who appoints his corrupt sons in his place and in doing so compromises God’s standards of holiness. He represents the leaders who think it is better to appoint bad leaders than none at all.
The fourth is Saul, who thought he could argue himself out of his sins. He represents the leaders who value their own opinions higher than the revealed Word of God. Finally we see how David tried to cover up his sin with Bathsheba until he could not escape direct confrontation nine months later. He represents the leaders that think they can get away with a few sins now and then.
Each of the five situations proves that no human solution satisfies God’s holiness.
Our sixth theme, conflict between brothers, has several expressions. Think about the conflicts between Samuel and Saul, between David and his brothers; between David’s sons; between David and Absalom, between Joab and Abner and so on.
We see God’s solution for the sin problem, theme seven, is in the repeated message that whoever obeys the Lord’s commands is blessed and whoever does not faces judgment. Repentance is the turning point from judgment to forgiveness. The same applies to ordinary persons and kings.
The eighth theme, (whoever rejects God’s salvation meets His judgment), is seen clearly in these books. Look at the stories of Eli and his sons, the happenings around the Ark while in Philistine territory, Saul in offering the burnt offering and loosing the kingdom, and jeopardizing his mission against the Amalekites. Goliath resisted God and died. Nabal resisted God’s man and died. Saul lost his life after missing his last chance to repent. Amnon and Absalom died, forfeiting salvation through lack of repentance.
That God’s plan encompasses all nations, theme nine, is seen in these books too. Israel still struggles with its spiritual identity and through its idolatry, was not a good example to the surrounding nations. It had been called to rule over its enemies but these now ruled over them.
Where Israel failed, God succeeded. After the Ark was taken by the Philistines and placed in the temple of their god, a power-encounter took place that made the Philistines admit that Israel’s God was superior and could not be resisted. Another power-encounter took place later, when David fought Goliath. Under David’s rule the Philistines were subdued.
Israel was meant to be entirely different from the nations, and one of the most painful moments for Samuel was when its leaders said that they wanted Israel to be like the other nations. The nations to whom Israel should have been the example of a God-fearing nation, had become their enemies.
How strongly God displayed His justice toward the nations, we see when He had the Gibeonites avenged after King Saul dealt with them unjustly and contrary to the oath Joshua had taken to protect them.
At the end of his life David calls himself ‘the head of nations’. At last Israel dominated nations instead of being dominated by them, and David made sure that Jerusalem became the centre of worship, where all nations could meet God. Finally, Israel had become an example-nation of Godly rule to other nations.
Scripture reference
You have delivered me from the attacks of my people; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know are subject to me, and foreigners come cringing to me; as soon as they hear me, they obey me (2 Sam. 22:44,45)
Comment, continued
Our tenth theme, about God’s covenant with the son of promise, is seen in the lives of Samson, Samuel, Saul and David. God’s covenant with Samson and Saul was as real as with Samuel and David. The sole reason the first two failed and the latter two succeeded were abominable attitudes in Samson and Saul, in contrast to an attitude of meekness and humility in Samuel and David. This made David the man after God’s own heart – and secured him a lasting dynasty with a direct line to the Messiah, the great Son of David and the eternal Son of the Promise. Today leaders may have received promises like Saul or David did but if they don’t display the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus they will fail.
And so we see that nine out of ten themes are clearly expressed in the books of Samuel. It is amazing how much missions theology we find in the Old Testament!
