The Winds of Change: Israel Wants a King
Sermon text for April 13, 2008:
I Samuel 8:4-20
The winds of change are blowing over the face of Israel, and no one knows what it will look like when God is done. The first gust of wind blew the old priest Eli and his family out of the priesthood. In Eli’s place was the boy Samuel whom God called to be prophet, priest, and judge over all of Israel. With Samuel’s anointing, Israel is being transformed before our very eyes.
When God brought Israel into the Promised Land it was unique among the nations of the world. Other nations had kings to rule over them and they lived in strictly stratified communities, but Israel was different. In Israel, according to God’s design, everyone was equal and no one ruled over any one else. Within the tribes there were elders who offered wisdom and counsel, but no one had the authority of a king.
Instead of a king, God ruled Israel through judges who were appointed on a temporary basis, to speak God’s word in a particular situation. Try to imagine a nation designed so that everyone has equal stature; a nation where each one has access to the resources necessary to make a living. Imagine a nation without a king, president, congress, or parliament, where no one rules over anyone else. This is the revolutionary principle on which Israel was founded.
Now there are some problems with a leaderless society. More traditional nations may consider such a nation weak and as easy pickings in war. Neighboring nations might fear revolution in their own nations, if people saw that self rule was possible. The kings of Canaan’s city states felt they had to destroy Israel before their own people decided to live as Israel lived. So Israelites were forced to live in the hill country were they could more easily defend themselves from attack by armies which used chariots.
By the time of Samuel the Philistines were Israel’s chief enemy. They were a vassal state of Egypt with orders to defeat Israel and seize the farms. If the Philistines were successful, Israel would return to Egyptian domination, and that was an idea too terrible to contemplate. Yet a Philistine victory seemed certain because they had iron weapons while Israel’s weapons were made of bronze. It seemed obvious that better technology would guarantee Israel’s defeat.
So the winds of change became the winds of war and Israel came to a crossroads of its existence. One road led to a deepening trust in God. While the other road led to trust in a human king and a government just like everyone else’s. It all boiled down to a question of trust. Can Israel trust in God, or must it begin to look just like everyone else? The answer is that Israel rejected radical belief in God, and chose to be just like every other nation; with a king to rule over them.
One day the elders came to Samuel and said, “Now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the other nations.” Samuel was deeply hurt and completely bewildered. Their request felt like a rejection of God’s sovereignty and Samuel’s ministry. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he turned to God in prayer. While he was in prayer Samuel realized that the people were not rejecting him, but even worse they were rejecting God’s authority. God said,”They are rejecting me from being king over them.”
When Samuel saw that the people were intent on trading God’s leadership for a human king he warned them what was going to happen. The king would tax them exorbitantly, conscript both their male and female children, and instead of living in a free egalitarian society the king would appoint ruler over different groups. And then with a reminder of their history he told the people that one day they would wake up and realize that they had sold themselves back into slavery.
But the people could not be dissuaded. They were so afraid of the Philistines that they were willing to give up just about everything for security. “We don’t care,” they said. “We will have a king over us that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may govern us and fight our battles for us.”
It is amazing when we think of it. Israel traded in God for Saul. Israel traded in the fighting power of God for a human army. Israel traded in freedom for bondage. And nothing was ever the same again. The winds of change blew away the apparently naïve idea of trusting God for security, and blew in the more sophisticated idea that human power is better when confronting evil.
Maybe some of us are at a crossroads today. If we choose one path it means a deepening of faith and more dependence on God, while the other, more sophisticated path, means relying on people power. Which way are the winds of change blowing you today?
Trust is one of the most important issues which confronts us today. We need to decide for ourselves if God is trustworthy, and how much of our lives we should entrust to God. The winds of change are blowing and we need to decide if we trust God to blow us into peace and security.
It is interesting the way biblical stories are played out again and again in our lives and in the life of our church and the nation. The issues of trust and security we face are the same ones faced by the Israelites when they weren’t sure how to handle the Philistine threat. Are you threatened by a combative child or spouse? Are you hanging on to your job by the skin of your teeth? Are you frightened by advancing age and the prospect of death? Are you fighting some secret battle within yourself that no one else knows about? Are you willing to trust God with your secret or are you fighting the battle all by yourself?
In some ways the Philistine threat was secondary to the real issue in Israel’s life. The battle to decide if they would trust God implicitly was in reality a fight for the very soul of Israel. And that may be true for us as well. Israel’s decision to trust someone other than God set in motion a tragic future. We do not know what would have happened if Israel had chosen God over Saul. But we do know that by choosing a king over God, the people ultimately destroyed themselves.
So as the winds of change continue to blow in our lives, in the life of this congregation, and in the world, we need to find someone or something to give us the security we need. But this we know, the witness of scripture cries out to us, “Trust God! Trust God! Trust God!”
Copyright © 2008 by Dwight R. Blackstock
I Samuel 8:4-20
The winds of change are blowing over the face of Israel, and no one knows what it will look like when God is done. The first gust of wind blew the old priest Eli and his family out of the priesthood. In Eli’s place was the boy Samuel whom God called to be prophet, priest, and judge over all of Israel. With Samuel’s anointing, Israel is being transformed before our very eyes.
When God brought Israel into the Promised Land it was unique among the nations of the world. Other nations had kings to rule over them and they lived in strictly stratified communities, but Israel was different. In Israel, according to God’s design, everyone was equal and no one ruled over any one else. Within the tribes there were elders who offered wisdom and counsel, but no one had the authority of a king.
Instead of a king, God ruled Israel through judges who were appointed on a temporary basis, to speak God’s word in a particular situation. Try to imagine a nation designed so that everyone has equal stature; a nation where each one has access to the resources necessary to make a living. Imagine a nation without a king, president, congress, or parliament, where no one rules over anyone else. This is the revolutionary principle on which Israel was founded.
Now there are some problems with a leaderless society. More traditional nations may consider such a nation weak and as easy pickings in war. Neighboring nations might fear revolution in their own nations, if people saw that self rule was possible. The kings of Canaan’s city states felt they had to destroy Israel before their own people decided to live as Israel lived. So Israelites were forced to live in the hill country were they could more easily defend themselves from attack by armies which used chariots.
By the time of Samuel the Philistines were Israel’s chief enemy. They were a vassal state of Egypt with orders to defeat Israel and seize the farms. If the Philistines were successful, Israel would return to Egyptian domination, and that was an idea too terrible to contemplate. Yet a Philistine victory seemed certain because they had iron weapons while Israel’s weapons were made of bronze. It seemed obvious that better technology would guarantee Israel’s defeat.
So the winds of change became the winds of war and Israel came to a crossroads of its existence. One road led to a deepening trust in God. While the other road led to trust in a human king and a government just like everyone else’s. It all boiled down to a question of trust. Can Israel trust in God, or must it begin to look just like everyone else? The answer is that Israel rejected radical belief in God, and chose to be just like every other nation; with a king to rule over them.
One day the elders came to Samuel and said, “Now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the other nations.” Samuel was deeply hurt and completely bewildered. Their request felt like a rejection of God’s sovereignty and Samuel’s ministry. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he turned to God in prayer. While he was in prayer Samuel realized that the people were not rejecting him, but even worse they were rejecting God’s authority. God said,”They are rejecting me from being king over them.”
When Samuel saw that the people were intent on trading God’s leadership for a human king he warned them what was going to happen. The king would tax them exorbitantly, conscript both their male and female children, and instead of living in a free egalitarian society the king would appoint ruler over different groups. And then with a reminder of their history he told the people that one day they would wake up and realize that they had sold themselves back into slavery.
But the people could not be dissuaded. They were so afraid of the Philistines that they were willing to give up just about everything for security. “We don’t care,” they said. “We will have a king over us that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may govern us and fight our battles for us.”
It is amazing when we think of it. Israel traded in God for Saul. Israel traded in the fighting power of God for a human army. Israel traded in freedom for bondage. And nothing was ever the same again. The winds of change blew away the apparently naïve idea of trusting God for security, and blew in the more sophisticated idea that human power is better when confronting evil.
Maybe some of us are at a crossroads today. If we choose one path it means a deepening of faith and more dependence on God, while the other, more sophisticated path, means relying on people power. Which way are the winds of change blowing you today?
Trust is one of the most important issues which confronts us today. We need to decide for ourselves if God is trustworthy, and how much of our lives we should entrust to God. The winds of change are blowing and we need to decide if we trust God to blow us into peace and security.
It is interesting the way biblical stories are played out again and again in our lives and in the life of our church and the nation. The issues of trust and security we face are the same ones faced by the Israelites when they weren’t sure how to handle the Philistine threat. Are you threatened by a combative child or spouse? Are you hanging on to your job by the skin of your teeth? Are you frightened by advancing age and the prospect of death? Are you fighting some secret battle within yourself that no one else knows about? Are you willing to trust God with your secret or are you fighting the battle all by yourself?
In some ways the Philistine threat was secondary to the real issue in Israel’s life. The battle to decide if they would trust God implicitly was in reality a fight for the very soul of Israel. And that may be true for us as well. Israel’s decision to trust someone other than God set in motion a tragic future. We do not know what would have happened if Israel had chosen God over Saul. But we do know that by choosing a king over God, the people ultimately destroyed themselves.
So as the winds of change continue to blow in our lives, in the life of this congregation, and in the world, we need to find someone or something to give us the security we need. But this we know, the witness of scripture cries out to us, “Trust God! Trust God! Trust God!”
Copyright © 2008 by Dwight R. Blackstock
posted by Dwight Blackstock | 2:41 PM
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