Sunday, October 07, 2007
Who's the king?
Each time they appealed to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned in forsaking the LORD and worshiping Baals and Ashtaroth; but deliver us now from the power of our enemies, and we will worship you.'
Accordingly, the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel; he delivered you from the power of your enemies on every side, so that you were able to live in security.
Yet, when you saw Nahash, king of the Ammonites, advancing against you, you said to me, 'Not so, but a king must rule us,' even though the LORD your God is your king.
"Now you have the king you want, a king the LORD has given you.
1 Samuel 12
I've always been curious about this bit - if the LORD is the proper king of Israel, it seems strange that the Davidic monarchy would last forever. There are, of course, some answers that become apparent, but this is not the proper forum for airing such ideas. Still, I feel like it's one of the great unresolved tensions in the Hebrew books of the Bible.
Labels: religion
