Articles
Turning Points in Bible History - 9
Bible history includes several periods where no significant turning points occur for generations. In some cases several hundred years pass without a recorded comment from God. After Israel invaded Canaan they entered a long span of cyclical rebellion against God – the period of the judges.
These grinding cycles of rebellion eventually take their toll on Israel and convince them that a civil monarch would solve all their problems. The people pressure Samuel, the last judge, to give them a king. In response, Samuel is bitter and feels unjustly rejected by Israel (1 Sam 8:6; 12:3-5). God, however, offers a different perspective: “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Sam 8:7).
The lesson: Our weakness can make it appear that God’s care is insufficient. Israel unwittingly revealed a deeper flaw: “No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations” (1 Sam 8:19-20). God’s people always looked at the heathen nations through rose-colored glasses. But their gods were figments of their imaginations.
Thus at Saul’s coronation Samuel rebukes them: “When you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king” (1 Sam 12:12). Sometimes in our blindness we choose the inferior over the superior.
