Overview: The Kings (1 Samuel 9-2 Chronicles, Psalms-Song of Solomon, some prophets)
2022-12-06
Saul
Since the people desired a king at the expense of some freedom, the Lord would appoint them a king. The first king was Saul son of Kish. Saul was looking for his father’s lost donkeys, and in his travels, he met Samuel. The LORD told Samuel to appoint Saul king. He was a tall man but humble. When the Ammonites besieged Jabeshgilead, Saul was the one to save them, leading an army against the invaders.
When the Philistines gathered against Israel, the people feared. Saul made an unlawful sacrifice because he assumed Samuel had delayed in his coming. This was the beginning of Saul losing the kingdom. He made a rash vow, forcing his troops into a fast. Meanwhile, Jonathan the son of Saul made a huge victory against the Philistines. Jonathan violated the fast decree, and they went up against the Philistines no more that time because of it.
Saul had numerous victories, subduing many of Israel’s enemies. When fighting the Amalekites, Saul was commanded of the Lord to destroy all the men and spoil, but failed to do so, keeping the Amalekite king alive with some of the animals. The Lord took away the kingdom from Saul and would give it to another.
David
Samuel anointed David son of Jesse king in Saul’s stead. Like our Lord Jesus, there was a considerable gap between his anointing and the time he took the throne. David was the youngest son of his father, who was a shepherd and was devoted to protecting his flock.
David played the harp for Saul because of the spirit that troubled him, and the music helped him at first. He slew the Philistine champion giant Goliath and did many great exploits for Saul. Saul became envious of David and sought to slay him. David was on the run for a long time, while Saul was preoccupied with hunting down David, a man who only meant to do him good.
David had two opportunities to slay Saul, but he did not, showing himself harmless to his former master. David delivered people from enemies, and amassed followers while on the run. Eventually, David sojourned among the Philistines to get away from Saul. Consider that it was safer to live with the enemy than to live with his own king!
Saul became desperate in his fights with the Philistines that he contacted a woman necromancer who would call the spirit of the now deceased Samuel for advice. This sealed the fate of Saul, and he with three of his sons died in battle. In time, David became king of the southern portion of Israel (“Judah”), while Ishbosheth son of Saul became king of the northern portion of Israel (“Israel”).
David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). The people may have wanted someone like Saul, a man of great stature, but God chose David, who had a heart after God. In time, David became king over all Israel and moved the capital to Jerusalem. King David wanted to create a permanent Temple to supersede the tabernacle, and the Lord said his son would complete this task. God made a covenant with David, that he would always have a descendant on the throne. He defeated many of Israel’s enemies. David’s one major failure was that he committed adultery and killed the mistress’ husband to cover up a resulting pregnancy. This had lasting effects on his family. His own son rebelled against him.
David authored much of the book of Psalms. In it, you can see his heart to serve the Lord and his pouring out his heart to the Lord when he was in trouble. Many of these psalms prefigure or prophesy about our Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 22 is a significant one, as is Psalm 110. The New Testament often quotes the Psalms as referring to our Lord.
Solomon
When Solomon assumed the throne, he ruled mostly in peace. He built the Temple using cedars from Lebanon. He prayed for wisdom, and his wisdom was known throughout the world. One notable ruler, the queen of Sheba, came to Israel and was impressed with Solomon’s wisdom and how his kingdom was ordered. He had massive amounts of wealth. He also had many wives, likely from treaties with other nations, who turned him to following false gods and building temples for them.
Solomon authored most of the book of Proverbs. His wisdom is laid out on how to live pragmatic lives in the Lord’s wisdom. He is also the author of Ecclesiastes, where he showed the fruitlessness of living for this life. He also wrote the book of Song of Solomon, where he wrote of love between him and one of his wives.
The Schism
When Solomon died, the kingdom divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Rehoboam son of Solomon was not willing to lessen the load his father put on the people, so Israel (henceforth, in this post “Israel” will refer to the northern kingdom only) broke away and followed Jeroboam, a former servant of Solomon. The dynasty of David continued to rule over the southern kingdom of Judah.
Israel’s main problem was that the rulers did not want their people going to the Temple in Judah to worship for fear they would lose control over them. Therefore, they made idols in the extremes of the kingdom for the people to worship. This became a major snare to Israel because no northern king ever turned from these idols. At their best, they served these idols of Jeroboam, and at worst, they were serving pagan gods of the surrounding kingdoms. Consider the whole list of the kings of Israel here.
The southern kingdom had some good kings. They also had some very bad ones. They were at enmity with the northern kingdom almost the entire time, with the exception during the reign of Jehoshaphat. This king, though overall a godly man, was in league with king Ahab of Israel and his sons, who were very wicked men. Because Judah had more godly men as kings, they lasted longer as a nation than their northern neighbors. Consider the whole list of the kings of Judah here.
Prophetic Warning and Exile
Because there was much wickedness in the land during the time of the kings, the Lord sent to them many prophets. Elijah and Elisha were prophets that, though they had no books of the Bible bearing their name, did much to preserve some godly direction in the kingdom of Israel.
Many prophets were sent to the kingdoms. Because so many kings and people rejected the word of the Lord, eventually, the kingdoms were given over to their enemies. The territory east of the Jordan was lost during the reign of Jehu king of Israel. Assyria eventually captured the capital of Israel, Samaria, and exiled the people during the reign of Hoshea king of Israel. The same people tried to do the same to Judah, but king Hezekiah relied on the Lord, and the prophet Isaiah delivered a promise from the Lord to defeat the besieging enemy. The Lord defeated them in a miraculous fashion one night, and they retreated.
However, evil kings succeeded Hezekiah, and except for Josiah, they were all very wicked men. Prophets like Jeremiah implored the kings of Judah to heed the Lord, and none of them did. During the reign of Zedekiah, the Babylonians came and took Jerusalem, and exiled the people. They destroyed the Temple of the Lord and took all the treasures. The remnant left in the land were poor people to keep the land. Some other wicked people slew the appointed governor of the land and fled to Egypt contrary to the commandment of the Lord.
Though king Jehoiachin was declared childless, without an heir, there would be a branch that comes out of his lineage, the Lord Jesus Christ, that would save His people and fulfill the covenant to David the king.