Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

We are discussing this today in the office...any opinions?

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

1 Samuel 8:5-9
And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. [6] But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. [7] And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. [9] Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

The Lord told Samuel that they haven’t rejected you, but rather they rejected the Lord from reigning over them. They desired to be like other nations that were ruled by a king. That stayed with the nation of Israel even up to the point of Jesus on the cross.

John 19:15
But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

I believe its Gods will for him to lead us as a Husband leads his wife, and not as a king.

Looking forward to what others bring to the discussion.

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

Luke 1:32-33 KJV
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: [33] And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

Yes. Messiah's going forth is from everlasting to everlasting. The imperfect system through which God operated, that is, Israel, ushered in the perfect King of the Universe, Jesus of Nazareth.

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

God was Israel's king. As he told Samuel they had not rejected him (Samuel) but God as their king.

Two things we should get out of that statement, one God is king and always has been and will be, but we can reject him, but this does not change him from being king. Two, too many times those that God has put as spokes person between himself and the people, take to much on themselves as leaders and take it personally if the people don't take to heart what they say.

Finally since the people chose to have a earthly king, God gave them one born of the linage of the earthly king to be their spiritual king again from heaven. We again have a heavenly king but we know his name is Jesus. We can speak his name as in the OT they did not even utter his name. They went before the throne of God once a year, in the OT, now we can go before the throne of God boldly.

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

Something else was asked yesterday...how did they get a king? By voting or some other method? ( The other nations especially)

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

As I understand the bible the first king of the Jews was chosen by God, and anointed by the prophet. from that time on It went to the first born son of that family.

Kings of the world were not chosen but the strongest leader was made king, and then their family kept the kingship in the family as long as they held the position, but if a stronger king came in and conquered them you lost your kingship.

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

Among the Celts and Teutonic peoples, kings were often elected by the men. Oftentimes an elected king would go about trying to conquer neighboring clans/tribes to establish himself as king over larger territories and over more people.

In Israel, each family had a head and related families formed what today would be called clans. These also each had a head. Together, all the related clans or families made a tribe, and usually the head of the chief or most influential family was head of the tribe, usually descended directly from the ancestor of the tribe from father to eldest son. These chiefs or heads of families and tribes are in fact the ancient equivalent of a "king", which in the ancient world was literally primarily a clan chief. So Israel was literally a nation of "kings". The family heads also served as priests prior to the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood. Some of those priestly functions remained even after the Aaronic priesthood was ordained (as each father had certain responsibilities to ensure his family followed the law of God, etc). A nation of kings and priests in other words.

When the people demanded a king like the other nations, they were demanding a centralised government under one man and his family, to unify them, protect them, and provide legislation. They didn't want to be united by God and His one Law, and didn't trust His protection, in other words. So God sent a prophet (Samuel) to anoint Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. Eventually, God chose another (David, of the tribe of Judah) and Saul was deposed. God ordained that David's family would reign over Israel permanently, father to son.

Because of Solomon's sins, God chose Jereboam of the tribe of Ephraim to rule as king over ten of the tribes. He would have been established like David with a permanent dynasty, but he flaked out and lost it. After that, some of the northern Kingdom f Israel's kings inherited the throne, some seized the throne by intrigue and assassinating the sitting king, some were appointed by more powerful foreign governments as puppet kings, etc.

Jesus, as Son of David, is the last king of the dynasty of David, and reigns forever over Isrsel.

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

one question leads to another here in my office...now the question is: is voting for a pastor Biblical or any church office as far as voting is concerned?

Re: Was it God's will for Israel to have a king?
 

I really hope you are just having fun and don’t really have these questions concerning who chose Israel’s king and if voting for a pastor is biblical.