Church in the home Wednesday evenings 2010_1212 Set a king over us

Church in the home Wednesday evenings 2010_1212 Set a king over us


Set a King over us !

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http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/



In 1 Samuel 8 a seismic shift occurred amongst the people of Israel. The order amongst the folk was a combination of “man of God” , prophet, Judges, and elders of family and tribal groupings. God’s will was to keep the lines of communication as short as possible between Him and the people, and also to endeavour to have a bottoms up order in society. Thus the order among the folk was to be as God centered as possible, with the least amount of hierarchy as was possible. In the bible there are several types of government evident in the bible. There is no particular Godly or ungodly, type of government , it depends on the regime’s adherence to Gods word or not that determines the Godly nature of things.


Samuels sons were appointed Judges over Isreal, however they did not fulfill their responsibilities with the result that the elders made a petition to Samuel to substitute the Judges reign with a Regal reign. See appendix 1 for a tabular presentation of the Kings of Israel and Judah.


1 Samuel 8:5
And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.


Elders in Exodus and Deuteronomy;
(Exodus 24
And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.

Deuteronomy 1:13
Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”
Deuteronomy 1:15
So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.





Samuel goes to God in prayer and God replies with the following insight;

1 Samuel 8:6
But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

1 Samuel 8:7
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.


God’s guidence to his leaders varies according to the circumstances, and in this situation God knew that only one course of action was possible,
1 Samuel 8:9
Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

The books of Samuel reported to be penned by Samuel himself, dates from app. 1000 BC
The litany of oppression detailed by Samuel (1 Samuel 8: 11-18) did not convince the “people” that there would be another way that that of a King, Deuteronomy 17: 14 -20 penned by Moses some 400 years earlier specifically outline the “ways of working” which a King should adhere to, and Samuel coroborates this guidence with his own utterences of revelation.

Deuteronomy 17:14 -20
14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;

15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:

20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.

Despite the written guidence from someone no less that Moses, and the utterance of Samuel, the will of the people as opposed to the will of God prevailed.

1 Samuel 8:19
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;


Samuel received guidence from God as to how to select the King which would rule over Israel. Samuel was a credible prophet, and this was acknowledged by Saul as can be seen from the respect he showed him in wanting to bring “the man of God” a gift. (1 Samuel 9:7,8)

Saul when appointed showed himself to be a decent King, as he had received the spirit of God, and was surrounded by mighty men who also had the Spirit of God and he got the best possible start to his reign.

Samuel annointed Saul with oil, and the series of signs and wonders that immediately followed must have struck a chord with Saul. Saul prophesied along with others, and the day was filled with ceremony from on high, a truely wonderful coronation. 1 Samuel 9: 1 – 10: 14.

However Samuel brings it all back down to the common demoninator,

1 Samuel 10:19
And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands.

After all that, the rejection of God by the people of Israel was once again emphasised.


Appendix 1

One of the most authoritative works on chronology in the bible is…
“The mysterious numbers of the Hebrew Kings” by Edwin R. Thiele
(Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). ISBN 082543825X, 9780825438257



http://biblerefshelf.sudalyph.org/ot-chronologies/thiele-mysterious-numbers


1. Kings of Israel and Judah
Judah From (BC) To (BC) Israel From (BC) To (BC)
Rehoboam 930 913 Jeroboam 930 909
Abijah 913 910
Asa 910 869
Nadab 909 908
Baasha 908 886
Elah 886 885
Zimri 885
Tibni & Omri 885 880
Omri 885 874
Ahab 874 853
Jehoshaphat 872 848
Jehoram 853 841 Ahaziah 853 852
Joram 852 841
Ahaziah 841 Jehu 841 814
Athaliah 841 835
Joash 835 796
Jehoahaz 814 798
Jehoash 798 782
Amaziah 796 767
Jeroboam 793 753
Azariah 792 740
Zachariah 753
Shallum 752
Menahem 752 742
Pekah 752 732
Jotham 750 732
Pekahiah 742 740
Ahaz 735 715
Hezekiah 715 686
Manasseh 696 642
Amon 642 640
Josiah 640 609
Jehoahaz 609
Jehoiakim 609 598
Jehoiachin 598 597
Zedekiah 597 586



2. The ages of the kings of Judah

King Father Age at accession Age at successor’s birth Age at death
Rehoboam Solomon 41 59
Abijah Rehoboam
Asa Abijah
Jehoshaphat Asa 35 (corex) 38 (sole) 23 59
Jehoram Jehoshaphat 32 (corex) 37 (sole) 23 44
Ahaziah Jehoram 22 or 42 22 22
Athaliah Ahab
Joash Ahaziah 7 22 46
Amaziah Joash 25 15 54
Azariah Amaziah 16 (corex) 39 (sole) 33 68
Jotham Azariah 25 (corex) 36 (sole) 21 44
Ahaz Jotham 20 16 40
Hezekiah Ahaz 25 33 54
Manasseh Hezekiah 12 (corex) 22 (sole) 45 66
Amon Manasseh 22 17 24
Josiah Amon 8 17,16,31 39
Jehoahaz Josiah 23
Jehoiachim Josiah 25 19 36
Jehoiachin Jehoiakim 8 or 18
Zedekiah Josiah 21


3. Rulers of Babylon
Name Years From (BC) To (BC)
Nabonassar 14 747 734
Nabu-nadinzir 2 733 732
Ukinzer 5 731 727
Ululai 5 726 722
Marduk-appal-iddin 12 721 710
Sargon 5 709 705
(inter-regnum) 2 704 703
Bel-ibni 3 702 700
Ashur-nadin-shum 6 699 694
Nergal-ushezib 1 693
Mushezib-marduk 4 692 689
(inter-regnum) 8 688 681
Ashur-akk-iddin 13 680 668
Shamash-shum-ukin 20 667 648
Kandalanu 22 647 626
Nabopolassar 21 625 605
Nebuchadnezzar 43 604 562
Amel-marduk 2 561 560
Nergal-shar-usur 4 559 556
Nabonidus 17 555 539


4. Rulers of Persia
Name Years From (BC) To (BC)
Cyrus 9 538 530
Cambyses 8 529 522
Darius I 36 521 486
Xerxes 21 485 465
Artaxerxes I 41 464 424
Darius II 19 423 405
Artaxerxes II 46 404 359
Ochus 21 358 338
Arses 2 337 336
Darius III 4 335 332




http://www.truthortradition.com/

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http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/