Creating Israel: Samuel's Role in Selecting a King

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

The Edomite kings are listed in Genesis 36.  They reined in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the Children of Israel which would have included the Saul we know as Israel's 1st king.

A King Saul was first mentioned in Genesis 36:37:  And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth-nahar reigned after him, And Saul died, and Baal- haman, son of Achbor, reigned after him....This was the ancient's way of using surnames-adding the name of the father to a person.  Even they recognized that first names could become commonly used.                      

Saul, Hebrew Shaʾul, (flourished 11th century bc, Israel), first king of Israel (c. 1021–1000 BCE). According to the biblical account found mainly in I Samuel, Saul was chosen king both by the judge Samuel and by public acclamation.  Saul was the son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin.  The Israelites were under a military threat of the Philistines and Ammonites who surrounded them and were clamoring for a king like other people had, which at the time they only had judges.  

Samuel anointed Saul in an unnamed town in the land of Zuph, woodcut from Die Bibel in Bildern.  What gave Samuel the right to do this?  Well, he was the last judge chosen, and the people wanted a king, not a judge anymore.  It was probably decided by a consensus of the judges that Samuel use his intuition and choose someone.  Saul could have had a good reputation as a shepherd in making wise choices, like younger David had.  Samuel himself was an outstanding person, as you will read and see below.  

Samuel lived in the 11th century BCE and was the last of Israel's judges.  He came from a family of Levites that lived on Mt. Ephraim and at Ramah in the land of Zuph. Land of Zuph (1 Samuel 9:5, 6), a district in which lay Samuel's city, Ramathaim-Zophim.   Levites were the tribe that Moses and Aaron came from, where we get the Cohens (directly from Aaron) and the other Levites-to serve as Levites, with other responsibilities.  They were to live with their cousins, and would not have a share of the land for themselves.  They were the teachers.             

 It was probably so named after Zuph (1 Chronicles 6:26). Zuph and the city of Ramathaim-Zophim are mentioned in the Bible together with Mount Ephraim, suggesting that they shared a similar locality. 

Samuel's mother had  consecrated him before he was even born to the Nazirites. They were religious devotees sworn not to drink any alcohol, never cut their hair, and not to touch dead bodies.  This was a common vow in the ancient days among mothers, lasting into the 2nd Temple period at which it suddenly disappeared. Probably being taken to Babylonia ended this practice.  

 Samuel's destiny was to serve the group's sanctuary at Shiloh in his childhood where he received a Divine Calling.    

Shiloh became the 1st cult-center of the Israelite religion after the conquest of Canaan under Joshua.  Shiloh, Shilo, or Silo (/ˈʃaɪloʊ/; Hebrew: שִׁלוֹ ,שִׁילֹה ,שִׁלֹה, and שִׁילוֹ variably) is mainly known as the name of the biblical city which preceded Jerusalem as the central worship site of the early Israelites. One bible verse, Genesis 49:10, might indicate that it was also used as the personal name of a biblical figure.  Shiloh was only 25 miles north of Jerusalem in the mountains of Ephraim. 

 This is where the Ark and Tabernacle were kept during the era of the Judges and during Eli's era of priesthood. By 1050 BCE the Philistines stole the Ark in a battle.   From the Hellenistic period to the 12th century CE, people lived in Shiloh.  

For reasons of his own, Samuel selected Saul for a king who immediately organized the young men and trained them into an army, started fighting and winning. He was the most outstanding and best looking man of all he had seen.  No wonder he chose Saul.   

"There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, son of Asbiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, son of a distinguished Benjamite--a mighty man of valor.  He had a son named Saul who was exceptional and goodly;  no one in Israel was handsomer than he.  From his shoulders up, he was taller than any of the people".  (I Samuel, 9:2)

War with the Philistines

Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years. He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home.…

Then they won against the Moabites, Ammonites and Arameans.  Everyone surrounding them were attacking.  Saul even managed to do away with using witchcraft. He became very jealous of David, youngest son of Jesse,  his sword-armor bearer who was the best friend of his son, Jonathan.   Even such a perfect leader as Saul had his problems, and Samuel wound up putting David in his place as the 2nd king of Israel. 

                                                 

"David, king of Israel, lives and endures." (Hebrew: דוד מלך ישראל, חי, חי וקיים), transliterated to: David Melekh Yisra'el; Ḥai, Ḥai, Ve'qayam.  David melekh Yisrael, hai, hai, ve quay am.  (hai-means to live)

The text comes from the Talmud, where Rabbi Judah the Prince instructs Reb Chiyah to use the phrase as a watchword indicating that the new moon has appeared. The Talmudic Rabbis often used the image of the waxing and waning moon as a metaphor for the power of the Davidic line, which would renew itself with the coming of the Messiah."  I learned the song in my Hebrew class in Haifa in 1980."  

     A consensus of agreement about the law by Jewish sages who love to bring up differing points with each other....no one here is a yes-man.  Those caps they wear on their head are their "thinking caps", their kippas.  

Halakha (Jewish Law) has a rich tradition on the laws about the Nazirite. These laws were first recorded in the Mishnah (coded by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi 135-220 CE of Palestinian Jewry, and Talmud (in tractate Nazir), Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds after 200 CE. They were later codified by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah (Hafla'ah, Nazir). From the perspective of Orthodox Judaism these laws are not an historical footnote but can be practiced even today. However, since there is no Temple of Jerusalem to complete the vow, and any vow would be permanent, modern rabbinical authorities strongly discourage the practice to the point where it is almost unheard of today.  Samson was also a Nazirite and one of the judges.  Evidently people had more faith that Nazirites would be honest judges.  

Resource;

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Tankah,, The Stone Edition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuph#:~:text=Land%20of%20Zuph%20(1%20Samuel,they%20shared%20a%20similar%20locality.https://biblehub.com/1_samuel/13-1.htm