The Ark of the Covenant remains in Kiriath Jearim for twenty years, and during this time the people of Israel mourn and seek after the Lord. The ark is back on Israelite soil and yet something is still not right, because losing the ark was never the problem. The Israelites thought they could box God and everything would be okay, and that when things weren't okay they could blame God or the box, but they are beginning to learn that it was never so simple. Perhaps we can still be guilty of that mentality, believing that we somehow own God by faith and that it is up to him to sort things out, but I think most of us know deep down that it doesn't work like that, and so we find ourselves making new mistakes.
The church culture I have most often encountered is one which seeks to manage rather than raise expectations, by saying over and over again that being a Christian doesn't make your life easy. I understand as well as anyone that Christians aren't exempt from suffering, and I know that the message comes from a desire to prepare people for the reality of faith and encourage then not to give up when things get tough, but it makes it all too easy for us to dismiss our troubles as "just the way things are" rather than looking at what we can do to help them, and so ultimately we end up in much the same position as the Israelites. Of course we need to realistic about how difficult life can be, but we also need to be honest about our own part in our troubles.
Samuel sees the truth of the situation, and tells the people that if they are returning to the Lord with all their hearts then they must rid themselves of their foreign gods and commit themselves to him alone. It seems things have been rough for them because they've turned away from God to paganism or syncretism, not because the Philistines stole the ark of a covenant they're not even keeping. That doesn't mean that we always suffer as a direct result of our failures or that God abandons us when we abandon him, but it does meant that sometimes we have to take responsibility for what happens to us and we have to recognise that when we walk away from God there's not a lot he can do to help us.
The people recognise Samuel's wisdom and destroy their idols, rededicating themselves to Lord. Samuel then tells them to assemble at Mizpah, where he will intercede for them, and they duly gather and confess their sins, making Samuel the judge of Israel. Unfortunately the gathering does not go unnoticed, and the Philistines decide to crash the party. The Israelites call on Samuel to cry out to the Lord that he might save them, and the Lord answers his prayers, throwing the Philistines into chaos so that the Israelites can defeat them. The Israelites have screwed up for the umpteenth time, but they have turned back to the Lord with all their hearts, and that is enough for he is the god of second chances.
This is a turning point for Israel, as the Philistines do not invade again during Samuel's lifetime and the Israelites gain new land, but this time of peace and prosperity does not last forever. Samuel is a good leader and he brings good fortune, but sadly the sons he appoints to judge in his old age are of a different type. They accept bribes and pervert justice, and so the people try to avert disaster by asking Samuel to appoint a king to lead them. This displeases Samuel and so he prays to the Lord, who says it is him who they are truly rejecting. They can seen that things are about to go wrong, but they are foolishly placing their trust and their hope in man instead of God. Nevertheless, the Lord tells Samuel to listen to the people but warn them solemnly of what the king will do.
Samuel goes back to the people and tells them that the the king will take their sons to be soldiers and commanders and farmers and armourers, their daughters to be perfumers and cooks, the best of the field and vineyards and a tenth of their grain for his attendants, their servants and the best of their animals for his own use, and their lives as he makes them his slaves. In spite of all of this, the people still say they want a king like all the other nations, and so the Lord says he will give them one. I should imagine he sighed rather deeply as he said it.
Israel has had leaders in the form of judges for many years, so it may seem strange that God is so reluctant to give Israel a king now, but I think the issue is not about leadership in general but kingship in particular. God understands that we need good leadership, but Samuel's prophecies suggest that kingship is characterised by power and indulgence rather than guidance and servitude and so does not make for good leadership; and kings were awarded a supremacy that equated them with gods, so it is easy to see why God understood the people's desire for a king as a rejection of him. That does not mean that all kings make bad leaders or that the only bad leaders are kings, but it does suggest that there is something fundamentally wrong with granting total power and immense wealth to a single person. History has shown us that again and again. If only we'd listened when God warned us in the first place.
God knows things will go wrong but he also knows that sometimes we need to find that out for ourselves, and so he sets about delivering a king. We are introduced here to Saul, who we are told is remarkable in being quite literally head and shoulders above everyone else, and who has set out to find his father's missing donkeys. He and a servant go to consult a seer, who turns out be Samuel. God has already told Samuel that he will be sending him a man who he must appoint as leader over Israel, and now he tells him that this is the man he meant. Samuel invites Saul to eat with him, and the next day he anoints him with oil, saying that God has chosen him to be leader over his inheritance. If Saul is taken aback by this he does not say it, and I suspect that he thinks Samuel is a bit mad.
Saul tells Samuel that he will meet two men who will tell him that his father's donkeys have been found and his father is now worried about him, and then he will meet three men with food which he is to accept, and finally he will meet a procession of prophets coming from the high place, at which point the Spirit of the Lord will come upon him and he too will prophesy and be changed. After that, Samuel says that he must do what his finds for him to do for God will be with him. This last bit reminds me of a prayer I first prayed several years ago. Lord, let my heart be your heart, my desires your desires, my thoughts your thoughts. I don't ever want to stop talking to God, but I would love to be so in tune with him that I didn't have to, so in step with his rhythm that I could trust that my instincts were his instincts.
Everything happens as Samuel had said it would but Saul says nothing to anyone else. Samuel then calls all the tribes together to make a ceremony out of the choosing of the king. He calls forward the tribe of Benjamin, then the clan of Matri, then finally Saul himself. Saul is not there however, perhaps because he hadn't taken Samuel seriously or perhaps because he is beginning to fear that he may have been deadly serious. Some men run off to find Saul and he is proclaimed king, although it happens so quickly that we're still not sure what Saul makes of the whole thing. Samuel then gives the regulations for kings which were laid down by Moses and everyone returns home. There are some dissenters who question whether or not Saul can really save them, but he says nothing and we are left wondering what kind of king this man will make.
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