Video Transcript: Rise of the Monarchy

The next stage in our overview of the redemptive historical story of the Old  Testament deals with the kingdom of Israel. First of all with the rise of the  monarchy, which was prompted by years of turmoil following Joshua's death,  there had been a measure of unity among the tribes under the leadership of  Moses and Joshua but after them with temporary exceptions, Israel's leaders  were unable to unify in their God given task of making their inheritance secure.  By completing the job of driving out there idolatrous neighbors. God's people  started off well enough. Judges begins with him asking the Lord which tribe  should take the lead in fighting the Canaanites. The Lord told them Judah shall  go up and Judah did that with and had some success although they had some  trouble overcoming the Canaanites of the plains because of their iron chariots.  We don't know exactly what the men of Judah might have done differently after  all the iron chariots of their enemies were a great advance on the weapons  Judah had. But the main problem appears to have been a lack of will to fight on  after Judah had conquered what they considered to be enough territory to  sustain them. And the other tribes said similar problems. Judges 1:21, tells us  the Benjamites failed to dislodge the Jebusites verse 27 Manasa did not drive  out several groups of Canaanites, nor other verses tell us that Ephraim,  Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali or Dan. The failure of the tribes of Israel to drive out  the nations as God had commanded led them to making agreements and  treaties with the Canaanites. And that resulted in faith compromises. In fact, the  major theme of the book of Judges is Israel's failure through compromise. God  rebuked his people for their disobedience. The beginning of Judges chapter 2  tells us the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim. And said, I brought  you up out of Egypt and lead you into the land that I swore to give to your  forefathers. I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And you shall not  make a covenant with the people of the land, but you shall break down their  altars. Yet you have disobeyed me, why have you done this? Now, therefore I  tell you, I will not drive them out before you they will be thorns in your sides and  their gods will be a snare to you. Now most of these compromises took place  after the death of the generation of Israelites who had personally experience  Gods leading them into their inheritance. Judges 2:10-15 says after that whole  generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up  who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel, there seems to have been a failure here of the parental generation to pass that on. And then the  Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and serve the Baals. They forsook the  Lord, the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt. They  followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They arouse  the Lord's anger because they forsook Him and served Baal and the Asherah. In his anger against Israel, the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who  plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around whom  they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight the hand of 

the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them, they  were in great distress. And so again, the tragic story of the book of Judges is  this failure through compromise, of failure for which God judged the people of  

Israel. But he was not judging them in the sense of condemning them as he had  the Canaanites. He was testing them, much as he had tested Israel in the  wilderness to see if they would repent and follow him again. Judges 2:20-21  puts it this way. I will no longer God says I will no longer drive out before them  any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use him to test Israel to see  Whether they will obey the keep the way of the Lord and walk in it, as their  forefathers did. And this theme is repeated in chapter 3:4, the nations were left  to test Israelites, to see whether they would obey the Lord's command which he  had given their forefathers, through Moses, this time of testing in the period of  the Judges lasted for about 300 years, things were not as bad as they could  have been, for God raised up a number of leaders during these years. Twelve  judges are mentioned in the in the book of Judges, they had some success at  rescuing the people from their Canaanite oppressors and calling them back to  the service of God and administering justice in the land. And still, there were  long years between judges. And so the centuries were generally an unhappy  time for Israel and for the demonstration of righteousness within the covenant  community of Israel. There's a repetition in Judges, a series of what we might  call vicious cycles, that not only helps us understand what is what Israel went  through, but also is informative about the ups and downs of life. Within any  community of faith. God's people mess up time and again by departing from  wholehearted devotion to God. And we know what inevitably follows such sinful  compromise, sooner or later. Sin brings its own evil reward, some kind of  suffering. Now, notice that I'm not saying that all suffering is a result of sin, but  rather, that all sin sooner or later results in suffering. The suffering often causes  people to turn to God again and cry out for help. And of course, God responds to genuine prayer with help and salvation. And then after a while, it seems that  people again start taking God for granted and neglecting him and again start  making unacceptable and sinful compromises. So, to sum to sum it up, we say  that sin leads to suffering, which should lead to repentant supplication, which  God answers with some sort of salvation. Sin, suffering, supplication, salvation,  six times this pattern is made explicit in the book of Judges. The first time is  listed in Judges 3:7-11. The sin, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,  they forgot the Lord their God and serve the Baals and the Asherahs suffering.  The anger of the Lord turned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands  of Cushan-Rishathaim, king of Aram Naharim, to whom the Israelites were  subject for eight years, supplication, but when they cried out to the Lord,  salvation, He raised up for them and delivered Othniel. son of Kenaz Caleb's  younger brother who saved them. And so the land had peace for 40 years until  Othniel son of Kenaz died. The second example is in is in the same chapter 

verses 12-15 Sin once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Suffering because they did this evil The Lord Eglon king of Moab power over  Israel for 18 years. And prayer supplication again, the Israelites cried out to the  Lord, salvation and he gave them a deliverer, Ehud, a left handed man, the son  of Gera, the Benjamite. Number three in Judges 4. Sin after Ehud died the  Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They suffered so the Lord  sold them into the hands of Jabin, the king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. In  supplication, because he had 900 iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the  Israelites for 20 years, they cried out to the Lord for help. And then salvation  Deborah a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time in  this period of peace lasted for 40 years. The fourth cycle in Judges 6-8. Again,  the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, they sinned, and for seven years,  they suffered, He gave them into the hands of the Midianites Midian. So  impoverished Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help supplication, this  time, God answered their prayers with salvation by the hand of Gideon, and  Judges 8:28 concludes, then Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did  not raise its head again. During Gideon's lifetime the land enjoyed peace 40  years. The fifth cycle in Judges 8:33-12:7, sin no sooner had Gideon died than  the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith  as their God and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them  from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show  kindness to the family of Jerub-Baal that is Gideon for all the good things he had done for them. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer  served him, they suffered, he became angry with them, he sold them into the  hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites who that year shattered and  crushed them. For 18 years, they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of  the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. Then, guess what, the Israelites  cried out to the Lord, we have sinned against you forsaking our God and serving the Baals. And then salvation came at the hand of Jeptha, who came to the  rescue and led Israel six years. And the final cycle is in Judges 13-16. Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord this sad repetition. So the Lord  delivered them into the hands this time of the Philistines for 40 years. Now in  this cycle, there is no mention of prayer supplication. It's not explicit, but it  certainly is implied. And then the angel of the Lord appeared to Samson's  mother and told her, the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth. And  then God announced his salvation through Samson, he will begin the  deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines. And we find out later that  deliverance, that period of deliverance lasted for 20 years. Now throughout this  time, none of Israel's judges established dynasties. And Gideon had the best  chance but he wouldn't do it. The Israelites asked him to they said rule over us  you chapter 8:22-23, your son, your grandson, because you have saved us out  of the hand of Midian. But Gideon told them, I will not rule over you, nor will my 

son rule over you. The Lord will rule over you. Gideon had it right. He  understood that Israel had been set up not as a monarchy but as a theocracy, a  nation under the direct rule of God. Tragically, however, after Gideon died, one  of his 70 sons murdered all his brothers in an attempt to assume the power that  had been offered to his father. All in all, Israel just didn't do well at passing the  Lord's tests. At the best times, they were still they still remembered that they  were God's people and that they were supposed to be serving Him. And I'm sure that even in the worst of times, there were always some faithful people of God.  In fact, the book of Ruth speaks of a couple some people during this time of the  judges the covenant keeping actions of two people in particular, in the time of  the judges and tells what their faithfulness meant to a woman named Naomi.  Naomi had temporarily left the promised land with her husband and two sons.  But after some time, in Moab, her husband and sons died, and Naomi returned  to her homeland feeling empty, and hopeless. There one of the faithful people  who helped Naomi was Boaz, an Israelite so willing to risk his own future for the  sake of caring for the down and out of his world and of His people. The other  person who helped in this regard was Naomi's daughter in law, Ruth. Now Ruth  was a Moabite, a newcomer to the worship of Yahweh, who had accompanied  Naomi back to Israel despite her lack of prospects. There both Boaz and Ruth  conducted themselves just as God wanted His people to do. And as a result,  they got married and as a result of the son born to them, Naomi regained her  inheritance in Israel, and was brought as she described it, from emptiness, to  fullness. This fullness in the in the person of the son of Ruth and Boaz would  eventually a bless the entire nation through his grandson, who was David. The  story of Ruth and Boaz, however, appears to have been somewhat unusual for  the period of the judges. The last verse of the whole book of Judges  summarizes the period like this. In those days, Israel had no king. Everyone did  as he saw fit. And in fact, that statement is made a few more times in Judges. In  those days Israel had no king everyone did as he saw fit. Despite their  unfaithfulness, however, God was persevering with his people. To maintain the  promise he had first made to Abraham, he was determined to see this project  through to the end. God's next steps are recounted in I Samuel, as the name of  the book indicates Samuel is a central character in the story. He was the last  and probably best judge of Israel. Samuel was different right from the start. To  start with, he was born to a special woman, Hannah, who had been barren for  many years, considered to be a tragedy in Israel, where barren women were  considered to be cursed. In her desperation, Hannah vowed to the Lord that if  he would only bless her with a son, she would surrender him into the Lord's  service. Shortly afterward, she was enabled to conceive. And nine months later,  Samuel was born, how happy Hannah was, but she didn't forget her vow to  dedicate him to the Lord. And so after Samuel was weaned, probably it's about  age three or four. She took him to Shiloh to live with and be trained by Eli, the 

priest. Now, conditions in Eli's home were not the best. Actually, what happened  there was typical of what was happening at large in Israel with every one doing  his own thing. Eli's sons who are also priests didn't even let the people sacrifice  

properly. They confiscated the fat of the offerings for themselves. And that's  significant because in biblical terms the fat was the best portion and reserved for God alone. For this offense, and others, God sent a prophet to Eli to announce  judgment on his house. But even in this atmosphere, God was with Samuel and  already early in his life spoke to him and through him. I Samuel verse 3, or 3:19- 20 puts it this way. A significant a couple of verses. The Lord was with Samuel  as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground. What a  beautiful way of saying that he supported what Samuel said. And Samuel was  clear to say only what God told him to say. And so all Israel from Dan to  Beersheba recognize that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.  Samuel's judgeship was accompanied by a degree of relief from Philisine  oppression. But later on, Israel grew concern for what what happened when  Samuel was gone. He appointed his sons as Israel's leaders, but they had  turned out rather like Eli sons, accepting bribes and perverting justice and so the elders of Israel asked Samuel to appoint a king to lead them. We can probably  understand that request for a King. All the surrounding nations had kings and  the elders thought it would solve Israel's many problems and make things  wonderfully easier if only Samuel's successor could be a human and visible  King, such as the neighboring peoples had. But that was not in mind. what God  had in mind for his people. God had wanted a theocracy, direct rule by himself.  He himself was Israel's King, invisible. Samuel knew this and was angered by  the request of Israel's elders, but God told him not to take the rejection  personally. He also told Samuel to warn Israel, how much the king would  demand of them things like heavy taxes, forced labor, military service, but I  Samuel 8:18 says they refused to listen, the people refused to listen to Samuel.  No, they said, we want to a king over us, then we will be like all the other nations with the king to lead us and go out before us and fight our battles. And so God  gave in and led Samuel to anoint Saul as Israel's first king. Saul was an  impressive man physically taller than everyone else. And he started off at least  as an apparently God fearing and humble man. And unfortunately, it didn't take  him long before he demonstrated his unwillingness To follow God's instructions,  The occasion was a threat from a large force of Philistines, who had much of  Israel's army, hiding in fear and others even deserting. Saul had been told to  wait for Samuel to offer the pre battle sacrifices. But after a week of that, after a  week of waiting, the king took upon himself to do only what only the priests were authorized to do. Shortly after Samuel showed up and severely rebuked Saul  telling him that for his disobedience, his kingship would not endure. Sometime  later, Israel was in a battle with the Amelikites, and Saul disobeyed the Lord  again, this time and his failure to totally destroy this nation and all their 

possessions. God had put them under the ban of final judgment for the ambush  that they had said against the Israelites as they made their way from Egypt to  the Promised Land. After that battle, Moses had spoken this word from the Lord  Exodus 17:16, because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the  Lord will be at war against the Amelikites from generation to generation. Samuel told Saul what his disobedience meant. He said, You have rejected the word of  the Lord and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel. It was the last time  Samuel would ever go to see Saul, and soon after he He anointed David as  Saul's successor, From this time on Saul deteriorated even more spiritually, his  low point came the day before his death. When he resorted to a pagan practice  that he himself had previously outlawed, he went to a spiritual medium to  consult with spirits of the dead. The next day, Israel's army was defeated by the  Philistines and Saul and three sons died in the battle. Saul by suicide. Before  this ends, however, Saul's decline was associated with the story of the rise of  David who would succeed him to the throne. To this point, the Lord's negative  predictions about the appointment of the king for Israel were confirmed. And yet  God would raise up the king who had a heart for him and his purposes, David,  and even though David would have had significant failures, God would keep  covenant with David's line and make sure of an eventual successor who would  live die and be raised again, to be the perfect king for the spiritual offspring of  Abraham.