The Book of SamuelSýnishorn

The Establishment of Saul as King: 1 Samuel 8:1-12:25

Apparently, the author of Samuel found nothing remarkable about Saul’s birth and childhood. His record of Saul’s earlier years begins with Saul as a young adult and deals with God’s establishment of Saul as king in 1 Samuel 8:1-12:25. Then, his narrative moves directly to God’s rejection of Saul as king, in 1 Samuel 13:1-15:35.

The establishment of Saul as king consists of a number of episodes that fall into four symmetrical steps. The first step appears in 8:1-22 with Samuel’s initial warning about kingship and God’s commission for Samuel to find Israel a king.

Samuel had grown old and his sons were greedy, dishonest and unjust. Unlike Samuel, his sons would not be able to lead God’s people into victory over their enemies. So the elders of Israel went to Samuel in Ramah and asked for a king to rule over them. 

In response to this request, in 1 Samuel 8:, God said to Samuel:

Obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.

So, Samuel issued a lengthy warning about kingship in 8:11-17. In this passage, Samuel drew from Deuteronomy 17:14-20 where Moses severely limited the authority of Israel’s future kings. Samuel warned that kings would be prone to violate these regulations. Kings would oppress the people of Israel by sending their sons into battle, by forcing them to plow and harvest royal lands, by compelling the people to make weapons and implements of war, by conscripting their daughters as cooks and perfumers, by stealing their lands, by requiring a tenth of all they earned, and by taking their servants, young men, donkeys and flocks for themselves. In the end, Samuel warned that a human king would make all of God’s people his slaves. 

And Samuel closed with this final warning in 8:18:

In that day you will cry out because of your king … but the Lord will not answer you.

In 9:1-10:16, our author reported Samuel’s acknowledgment and God’s confirmation of Saul as king.

God led Samuel to Saul and commanded him to anoint Saul in a private ceremony. As we read in 10:1, Samuel said to Saul, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over His people Israel?” And more than this, God also confirmed Saul’s anointing with a number of miraculous signs.

The third step of the establishment of Saul displays God’s benevolence even further. In 10:17-11:13, reports the national acknowledgment of Saul as king and God’s confirmation.

Some groups in Israel doubted that Saul should be king. But God enabled Saul to unite all the tribes of Israel and to lead them in a victory over the Ammonites. And everyone in Israel gave Saul their full support.

Still, despite the great kindness God showed to Saul and Israel at this time, the fourth step of this section echoes Samuel’s initial warnings. In 11:14-12:25, our author closed this section with Samuel’s final warnings about kingship and his fulfillment of God’s commission.

Samuel called on Israel to acknowledge God’s benevolence toward them. But he also warned them to respond to God’s kindness with grateful loyalty to God. As he put it in 12:24 and 12:25, “Consider what great things God has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”