ditty04
Ditty 4
4. Is the book of Samuel pro-monarchy or anti-monarchy? Why/ Why not?
The book of Samuel is a pro-monarchy book. God has an agenda to the Israelites that He will produce a king from the Israelite that he will establish a kingdom that will be utilize as a political and religious center. But not as the king of the other nations has. The people demanded a king which is not on the timeframe of God. it was a because of their envy they ask for a king, just because the other nations are having a king which is a denial to the covenant of God, but on the later part of the book it, a king was set-up, he was David although imperfect but true representation of the ideal of the covenant king.
Kingship was God’s will for His people. In 1 Samuel 12 is the resolution for this tension when Samuel inaugurates Saul as Israel’s first king in the context of covenant renewal ceremony by which Israel renews its allegiance to the Lord. We can see that Kingship was not wrong for Israel; God desired for Israel to have a king. But kingship of the type Israel desired (”like the other nations”) and for the reasons she wanted a king (to give a sense of national security and lead her to victory in battle) involved a denial of the Lord as her ultimate sovereign. Samuel defined the role of the king in Israel and presented Saul to the people in a ceremony in which they renewed their allegiance to the Lord. The monarchy in Israel was first established in a form that was compatible with the covenant. The king in Israel, as every other citizen of the nation, was to be subject to the law of the Lord and to the word of the prophet. From this perspective, the author depicts the reign of Saul as failing to correspond to the covenantal requirements, while the reign of David, although imperfect, reflected the covenantal ideal.
Source: Bible
Illumina Encyclopedia
