Why don't we leave well enough alone?

by Timothy Howe

 Yesterday we wondered why Saul was rejected? It might be good to do some back tracking on this to see how the OT gets to Saul in the first place. How did Israel end up with a king?

Samuel was a hero

Samuel is one of the biggest heroes in the Bible. He heard from God at a time when "the word of the Lord was rare" and "visions from Him were infrequent" (1 Samuel 3:1). Samuel was God's movement away from the corrupt House of Eli. Samuel heard from God. That is actually what his name means - he heard from God. He brought the worship of Yahweh back to its proper heights. 

Heroes aren't always heroes

Sad but true - all of our heroes fail sometimes. We have seen sports heroes fall to substance abuse. Religious heroes have moral failure. Political heroes turn out not to be who they were elected to be. Heroes are still human. They still fail. For all that Samuel did well, he also failed.

Samuel Started the Whole Mess

Samuel’s sin led to Israel’s misguided request for a king. (1 Samuel 8:1-3). What was Samuel's sin? There were two different problems. 

(1) Samuel chose the next judge, not God as was the pattern.

All of the judges in Israel's history until and including Samuel were selected by God. 1 Samuel 8:1 tells us that when he sensed it was time for a new judge, he selected the next judge. He did not wait on God to do what God had always done. The person who became famous for hearing from God, chose to act according to his own volition than to wait to hear from God. 

(2) Samuel chose a dynastic approach, his descendants, not through merit.

What is even worse is the fact that Samuel attempted to install his own sons in the authoritative position of being a judge, instead of allowing God to choose a godly man. When Gideon had tried to do this with his son Abimelech in Judges 9, things turned out terribly for his son and for Israel. One would think that a prophet of God would have learned from the past.

The Elders Ask for a King

Samuel's poor choice forced the hands of Israel's elders. The elders of Israel rejected Samuel's sons as judges over them and asked for a king instead. The poor decisions of one man, Samuel, prompted poor decisions from other people; and so a vicious cycle began that would have dire consequences for the people of Israel.

Tomorrow we will see how 

poor decision-making becomes infectious.