THE RISE OF MONARCHY

Book Review
Submitted to
Mr. Jonathan Vijay John
Professor of Old Testament
Serampore College, Faculty of Theology

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Subject

By,
Thanghougin Singson
BDI

7th October 2022

This work was done by me in good faith and honest and I affirm the honor code.
 INTRODUCTION
These chapter describe the rise and development of kingship in Israel. Samuel is a pivotal
figure. He bridges the gap between the period of the Judges and the monarchy, and guides
Israel’s transition to kingship at 1000 BCE. A Deuteronomistic editor presents both positive
and negative traditions about the monarchy, portraying it both as evidence of Israel’s
rejection of the Lord as their sovereign (1 Sam 8:6–22; 12:1–25) and as part of God’s plan to
deliver the people (1 Sam 9:16; 10:17–27; 2 Sam 7:8–17). Samuel’s misgivings about abuse
of royal power foreshadow the failures and misdeeds of Saul and David and the failures of
subsequent Israelite kings. These books include independent Saul’s rise to power [1 Sam
9:1–11:15], David’s ascendancy over Saul [1 Sam 16–31], Samuel, the reluctant king maker
(1 Sam 1–12); Saul, the king whom the Lord rejects (1 Sam 13–31); David, the king after the
Lord’s own heart (2 Sam 1–24).Solomon’s reign takes on the trappings of many of the
surrounding kingdoms and achieves considerable influence, but his rule also sows the seeds
of dissension that lead to the division of the kingdom in 922 BCE.
SUMMARY
The Israelites were under pressure from their hostile neighbours. Thus, external pressure
around the year 1000 B.C. led to the establishment of the monarchy and thereby to the
formation of a state”. This actually tells that Israel was rally under political crisis, and their
neighbours who conquered them seem have been politically well organized. The Israelites at
this time thought that their leader who was Samuel, a Judge, had failed to deliver them from
the hostility of neighbours. And this same period, is said to have been the period when judges
were loosed, not strictly organized, hence the need to demand for a monarchy by the
Israelites. During this period of the judges the organization of the tribes remained somewhat
loose; and it was no doubt the succession of crises. And at that time Samuel was the judge
and at the same time a prophet acted with the powers of God in the deliverance of Israelites,
but failed to do so. This situation made Israelites to start demanding for a king. Whom they
thought would deliver them from oppression and defeat in war by the Philistines. Philistines
with their superior iron weapon forced Israel as a whole to take a common action under a
permanent leader. Hence the Israelites opted for a political reformation, to shift from the rule
of God to that of a human being. The demand for a king by the Israelites grew stronger when
the Philistines dominated them in a war and destructed the sanctuary in about 1050 B.C. and
the capturing of the Ark.
Of course, this did not please Samuel because he thought that the elders had rejected God and
himself from being there King for, he considered God to have been already a king over Israel,
1Samuel 8:7. The demand of elders for a king like other nations was probably that he could
also lead them into battle by instituting a permanent administrative structure. They thought
those established structures would grant them victory over the opponents.
Therefore, such pressure on Samuel for the demand of a king and established monarchy like
that of Israel’s surrounding nations, led Samuel into giving them one. Of course, Samuel did
this with the permission from God to whom he had presented the demand, 1Samuel 8: 22-23.

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Saul was the chosen king who ruled Israel and led them into battle and this is how the
monarchy emerged.
EVALUATION
The crisis of Israel and the transition to kingship is also the result of external pressure. This
came in the form of the Philistines. In the tribal period reflected in the book of Judges, Israel
had faced military threats from enemies before, and leadership had been raised up to lead
coalitions of tribes to victory and relief from the threat. The Philistines established
themselves on the Mediterranean coastal plain at the beginning of the twelfth century BCE.
Pharoah Ramases allowed them to settle in South West Israelite with the coalition of five
chiefs cites: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. Toward the end of the eleventh
century BCE, conflicts broke out between the Philistines and the southern tribes of Judah and
Dan. This threat becomes more serious in the opening chapters of 1 Samuel. As we shall see,
1 Sam 4–6 The Ark of the Covenant was captured, the city of Shiloh and its sanctuary
destroyed, the hill country occupied by Philistine. Further, the God’s covenant people have
become corrupt and self-serving (1 Sam 2:11-17, 22-25). By the end of the books of Samuel
we have two new offices in Israel to meet this leadership crisis: the mediators of God’s word,
the prophets, and God’s anointed ones, the kings.1 Samuel sees these crises primarily in
theological perspective. God will not tolerate the faithlessness of the house of Eli (1 Sam
2:25b, 27-36). God will not tolerate the victory over God’s own people (1 Sam 5:1–7:1). To
understand the establishment of monarchy in Israel as not only a socio-political
transformation but a theological transformation as well. The notion of Yahweh as divine ruler
appears much earlier in the biblical story. God is sovereign over the cosmos, and God is
sovereign over God’s own people, Israel. Yahweh’s sovereignty is manifest in ascendancy
over all other gods, and rooted in divine rule over all creation. God as King develops early in
Israelite tradition in connection with the Exodus-Sinai traditions. In light of these traditions, it
is understandable that Gideon would respond to the notion that he and his sons should be
kings in Israel by saying, in effect, “We already have a king!” (Judge 8:22-23).

It begins with the desperation of a childless woman named Hannah. In 1 Sam 1, Hannah is
one of two wives of Elkanah. she is taunted by his other wife, Peninnah, and burdened by the
stigma attached to childlessness. On a pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Shiloh she boldly prays
to God for a child. She is observed by the priest Eli, who thinks her drunk but ends by
blessing her petition. “[Yahweh] remembered her” (1:19); she conceives and bears a child
whom she names Samuel. But Hannah as not simply mother of Samuel but as mother of
Israel. The sons of Eli have become corrupt, taking their own gain and engaging in immoral
practices; Eli is powerless to stop them (2:12-17, 22-25). God cannot tolerate such
faithlessness, and God’s judgment on the house of Eli 2:27-36. The boy Samuel grows both
in stature and in favour with the LORD and with the people. Samuel raised to leadership as
“trustworthy prophet of Yahweh” and a channel of God’s to all Israel. 1 Sam 4–6 is that
nothing less than the power of God can save Israel. 1 Samuel 4 tells us that Philistine
campaign to occupy the central hill country of Israel. The ark is placed in the temple of
Dagon, the Philistine god. In the morning the statue of Dagon lies on its face; on the second

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morning Dagon lies with head and hands cut off. Its o seems that Yahweh was defeated, but
now the "hand of the LORD" Is “heavy” against the Philistines (5:6, 7, 9, 11). In the face of
this plague, the Philistines decide to send the ark home on a cart drawn by milk cows with
offerings to appease the wrath of Israel’s God (1 Sam 6). God has raised up the prophet
Samuel as the agent of God’s word. To meet the external need to demonstrate where true
power lies, Yahweh humiliated the Philistines and their god Dagon through the power of
God’s hand. Samuel leads the people of Israel in turning away from idolatry (7:3-4) and in
praying before Yahweh (7:5-6). When the Philistines attack Samuel cries to the Lord and the
Philistines are thrown into confusion by the thunder of Yahweh and routed by the Israelites
(7:7-11).
In 1 Sam 8 the elders of Israel approach the prophet Samuel with a request to give them a
king. Samuel’s response to the people’s request. Even after Samuel’s warning of the dangers
(8:11-18), the people insist, they determined to have a king, so that they would be like other
nations, and that their king may govern them and go out and fight the battles” (8:19-20). The
speech of Samuel describing the practices of kings (8:11-18). Kings operate by the grasping
that comes from power. “And you shall be his slaves. (8:17b-18). This slavery will be of the
people’s own choosing. God goes further in instruction to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and
make for them a king” (8:22). Saul enters the story. Saul and his young companion naively
seek out Samuel as a seer to help find the lost donkeys, only to become part of the large
drama God has set in motion. In the morning Samuel anoints him and commissions him to
“reign over the people of the LORD and . . . save them from the hand of their enemies all
around” (10:1). The people acclaim Saul as king. in 1 Sam 11 serves this purpose as word
reaches Saul that the people of Jabesh-gilead are besieged by the Ammonites. The great
speech of Samuel in 1 Sam 12 occupies a key position between the stories of Saul’s accession
to kingship and his career as king. Samuel declares that the kingship arose in disobedience
and rejection of God’s rule. The people acknowledge and confess their sin: “We have added
to all our sins the evil of demanding a king for ourselves”. But despite its origins in
disobedience, kingship can serve God’s purposes and the people’s well-being: “If both you
and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well”. The
danger for Saul becomes reality in the immediate context when he is rejected for
disobedience to God’s word. When Samuel arrives, he condemns Saul’s action and rejects
him from the possibility of dynasty in Israel. In 15:11 God regrets making Saul king. A cycle
of rejection has been completed.
As soon as David appears, Saul is still physically occupying the throne. David is also
anointed by the prophet Samuel (16:1-13) and “the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon
David from that day forward” (v. 13). David makes a public appearance in the court of Saul
(16:14-23), but he cannot yet be publicly acclaimed king since Saul still occupies the throne.
David does a mighty deed in killing Goliath and bringing deliverance to Israel. Then David’s
rise to the kingship and his actions as king. Instead of rejection David is eventually confirmed
in the kingship by the prophet Nathan and given a dynastic promise (2 Sam 7). David
becomes the model of success as God’s anointed one. But Saul he still had the freedom to be
a man of integrity. Saul is consumed with insane jealousy and plots to have David killed (1
Sam 18–19). Saul finally takes his own life on Mt. Gilboa after witnessing the defeat of his

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army and the deaths of his sons at the hands of the Philistines (1 Sam 31). In these chapters
David becomes king over South and North, and establishes a true royal state for the first time
in Israel. David becomes king first over the tribe of Judah at Hebron (2 Sam 2:1-4a). In the
North, Saul’s general, Abner, tries to maintain Saul’s son Ishbosheth as king, but finally
abandons this effort in order to support David, only to be murdered in a personal vendetta by
David’s general, Joab (2 Sam 3:6-39). Subsequently, Ishbosheth is assassinated and his head
brought to David (4:1-12). David occupies two thrones and possesses a much broader base in
united Israel than Saul ever did. Significant victories over the Philistines (5:17-25) establish
secure borders for the development of a true kingdom—a nation. The story of his rise ends in
5:10: “David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.”
David was faced with the problem of locating his capital. Jerusalem was located on the
boundary between Judah and Benjamin and was now the literal city of David, belonging to
none of the Israelite tribal groups. David desires to build a house for Yahweh (7:1-2). God
responds that David will not be the one to build. God’s promise implies a divine future for
kingdom in Israel that will not be limited by human sin. Sin will have its consequences, but
the promise will not be revoked. And he shows this loyalty to Mephibosheth, the son of
Jonathan, who is brought to court and given an honored place there to fulfil the vow of
loyalty David made to his friend Jonathan, Saul’s son. He leads war with Ammon and with
the Aramaeans who come to Ammon’s aid, but the outcome is a victory for David and Israel.
In 2Sam11 David uses royal power first to “take” Bathsheba, another man’s wife, and then to
murder her husband, Uriah, to cover up his misdeed. David’s son Amnon rapes his half-sister
Tamar and is killed for it in revenge by Tamar’s brother Absalom. Absalom leads a rebellion
against David, even forcing David into a humiliating retreat from Jerusalem. The rebellion is
put down, and David’s general, Joab, kills Absalom. Even after this victory David is forced to
put down a revolt by a man named Sheba. David is the seed of God’s planting to bring this
hope to flower in Israel. Solomon that emerges first in the story (1 Kgs 1–2). When David
names Solomon as his successor and dies, Solomon consolidates his power with a ruthless
purge of his opposition. He has his half-brother and rival Adonijah killed, along with his
influential supporters, including David’s general, Joab. David’s priest Abiathar is banished.
Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David. God offers Solomon
his choice of a divine gift. Solomon chooses “an understanding mind to govern your people.
God is pleased by this request and grants Solomon the gift of wisdom, wealth and honour. A
measure of Solomon’s stature was that his first recorded marriage was to a pharaoh’s
daughter and allowed her to bring concubines and their foreign gods with them. Solomon
policies, building projects, administrative details, and Solomon’s growing reputation for
international wisdom. “Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cores of choice flour, and
sixty cores of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, one hundred sheep, besides
deer, gazelles, roebucks and fatted fowl.” He builds fortresses, chariot cities, and garrisons
for his defense forces throughout the land. Notices in 4:26 and 10:26 attribute to Solomon
1,400 chariots, 12,000 horsemen, 40,000 stalls of horses. He builds shrines and houses for his
many wives as well as public buildings of a variety of types. This is no longer possible for
Solomon. The people play no role in the elevation of Solomon to kingship as they did for
Saul and David. Solomon comes to power completely as a product of politics inside the royal
court. Solomon also institutes a forced-labor policy. When Jeroboam sends the administrator

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of the forced-labor details as his representative to meet with the northern tribes, he is so hated
that they stone him to death. Jeroboam, who escapes Solomon’s hand Jeroboam leads the
northern tribes to form a new northern kingdom. Israel is permanently divided by the
Solomonic politics of oppression. God angrily reveals to Solomon that the kingdom will be
“torn” from the hand of his son. By the end of Solomon’s story, the image has changed again
— back to the dark side of the Solomonic tradition. Chapter 11 details Solomon’s complicity
in idolatry and attributes the division of the kingdom to his sin. Solomon had seven hundred
wives and three hundred concubines.
CONCLUSION
Many aspects of Saul’s rise to power and the monarchy in general are judged by Saul’s poor
decision making in 1 Samuel 13-15, yet the text is far more complex, and the answer does not
come simply by any means. 1 Samuel used the people and the prophet to provide differing
views and aspects of the kingship. One helpful discovery comes from recognizing the change
in tense when God claims to be rejected. It was not the request for a king specifically that
demonstrated a rejection of God, for the Israelites constantly did that. In this specific request,
it was the request for a human deliverer, over against God’s deliverance that had just taken
place in the narrative. While this study focused on the rise of the Israelite monarchy through
the reign of King Saul, there is still much to be studied concerning the books of Samuel and
Kings. These topics will surely be covered in current and future studies.