Biblical Reflection (10): 1 Samuel, The Prequel - Looking for a Good King
The key scene in 1 Samuel is no doubt the transition of Israel from the rule of judges to the rule of kings. Samuel being the last judge in the Old Testament, all of Israel knew that he was a prophet of the LORD for the LORD was with him (1 Sam 3:19-21). Under Samuel’s judgment, Israel was able to restore its peace, until the time when Samuel grew old and made his corrupted sons the judges (1 Sam 8:3). This was the trigger to Israel asking for a king to govern them (1 Sam 8:5).
Their rejection of the LORD from being the king over them did not only displeased Samuel but most importantly, also breaking the heart of the LORD whose love for Israel is stronger than a mother’s for her children (CCC 219). Since the time when the LORD freed them from slavery in Egypt, to establishing the covenant on Mount Sinai through Moses, in hope of having Israel to “recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident Father and just judge” (CCC 62), they had forsaken the LORD and served other gods (1 Sam 8:8). Yet, the LORD still granted them the demand of a human king for “His love will be victorious over even the worst infidelities” (CCC 219) and “never stopped saving them and pardoning their unfaithfulness and sins” (CCC 218).
Another noticeable transition in 1 Samuel would be the kingship from Saul to David because of Saul’s rejection to the word of the LORD. Hence, the LORD rejected him from being king over Israel. “I repent that I have made Saul king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments” (1 Sam 15:11). Disobeying the commandments of God is a severe sin which even Samuel said, “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Sam 15:22) because “to keep the commandments is to correspond to the wisdom and the will of God” (CCC 348), and by this God reveals Himself to His people in making His will known (CCC 2059). Therefore, the LORD had provided for Himself a new king for the sons of Israel, David, the kingship in which Jesus Christ fulfilled in the New Testament.
Publish on O Clarim, 2 February, 2018