Judge and King: Is There a Difference?

How often do we trade in one vice for another? I am reminded of a relative of mine who came to visit, boasting that he had finally quite smoking. We were all impressed and proud. Such a habit is hard to break. Fifteen minutes into his visit, he interrupted the conversation to retrieve a small plastic cup from his bag. We were all slightly confused. He then proceeded to pack a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth. It is hard not to see the irony in the situation.

I cannot help but wonder if the Israelites were confronting and advising Samuel in a similar way. At the beginning of chapter 8, we are told of Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah. The brief summary of their behavior reminded me of a few characters that held the same positions as these two sons of Samuel earlier in the book, the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas. Perhaps the Israelites looked at Joel and Abijah and wondered, “I wonder if this great prophet, Samuel, will end up a fat, blind, old man who falls and breaks his neck when he finds out that Israel has been humiliated by the Philistines again.” (Heck, maybe he will even have a grandson named Ichabod…)

With that said, I have to admit that I do not blame the Israelites for suggesting a change in the current method of succession. Eli was a good judge, but his sons were a menace; likewise with Samuel and his sons. And let us not forget Gideon and his son Abimelech!

But if this is true, then why does God tell Samuel that they have not rejected Samuel, but God when they demand a king? God’s statement in this regard makes an important point as to the reality of the situation: a king will only function to make this observed problem worse. The fact is that Saul’s behavior is ultimately no different from that of Joel and Abijah. But here is the key problem, when you have a judge, his/her children are not guaranteed heirs to the throne, with kings, they are. Is this why God preferred judges rather than kings? Is it because the children of judges were not viewed as heirs to a position?

So, perhaps the change from judge to king is less of a change of what kind of ruler the Israelites have and more an issue of who gets to choose the ruler for each generation. I believe this is what the Israelites mean when they say, “Give us a king to judge us.” What a fresh stinking batch of irony that statement is. In effect their solution to the problem is to guarantee that sons like Abimelech, Hophni, Phineas, Joel, and Abijah are shoe-ins. They did not want the type of governance to change, but the method of choosing a successor.

All of this is to say that I do not blame the Israelites for seeing the problem. But perhaps they should be questioned when it comes to their proposed solution.

Peace my friends. I hope this reading is fruitful for you. Here is the 2 Samuel Worksheet.