{"id":40,"date":"2018-01-10T09:55:07","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T14:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/?post_type=chapter&p=40"},"modified":"2018-01-10T09:55:07","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T14:55:07","slug":"chapter-9-prophet-versus-king","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/chapter\/chapter-9-prophet-versus-king\/","title":{"raw":"Chapter 9: Prophet versus King","rendered":"Chapter 9: Prophet versus King"},"content":{"raw":"
PROPHET VERSUS KING \r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0 Prophet: One who speaks for God or for any deity, as the<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 inspired revealer or interpreter of his will; one who is held or<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (more loosely) who claims to have this function; an inspired or<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 quasi-inspired teacher....One who predicts or foretells what is<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 going to happen; a prognosticator, a predictor....The `inspired'<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or accredited spokesman, proclaimer, or preacher of some<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 principle, cause, or movement. (Oxford English Dictionary)<\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nProphets mediate between the divine and the ordinary. They are\u00a0important figures in the Old Testament who interpret God's story to the\u00a0people and to the leaders of the people. In the Book of Judges the judge of the\u00a0tribal confederation is often gifted with prophetic powers and able to read\u00a0God's story when making decisions that are important to the tribes. Deborah,\u00a0for example, is able to predict the day for her commander's victory by being\u00a0able to read the signs that tell her when the rains are coming. She tells Barak\u00a0(Judges 4.14), \"Up! This day the Lord gives Sisera into your hands. Already\u00a0the Lord has gone out to battle before you.\" And the rains come. Sisera's\u00a0chariots are mired down in the \"Torrent of Kishon\" and the victory goes to\u00a0Deborah. In what is \"the oldest surviving extended fragment of Hebrew literature\"[1]<\/a> Deborah and Barak sing a song of praise to their Lord:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFor the leaders, the leaders in Israel,\r\n\r\nfor the people who answered the call, bless ye the Lord.\r\n\r\nHear me, you kings; princes, give ear;\r\n\r\nI will sing, I will sing to the Lord.\r\n\r\nI will raise a psalm to the Lord\r\n\r\nthe God of Israel.\r\n\r\nO, Lord, at thy setting forth from Seir,\r\n\r\nwhen thou camest marching out of\r\n\r\nthe plains of Edom,\r\n\r\nearth trembled; heaven quaked;\r\n\r\nthe clouds streamed down in torrents. (Judges 4.2-4)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nand later we hear \"Be proud at heart, you marshals of Israel; you among the\u00a0people that answered the call, bless ye the Lord.\" Deborah's song is for a\u00a0particular audience: those \"who answered the call.\" Not all of the tribes did\u00a0answer the call, for we learn later in the song that \"Gilead stayed beyond\u00a0Jordan,\u201d that Dan tarried by the ships, and that \"Asher lingered by the\u00a0sea-shore.\" Those who did answer the call were rewarded with victory on that\u00a0day because Deborah knew when to attack to bring the enemy with its heavy\u00a0chariots into the river bottom to be caught by the sudden rain:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe stars fought from heaven,\r\n\r\nthe stars in their courses fought\r\n\r\nagainst Sisera.\r\n\r\nthe Torrent of Kishon swept him\r\n\r\naway,\r\n\r\nthe Torrent barred his flight, the\r\n\r\nTorrent of Kishon;\r\n\r\nmarch on in might, my soul! (Judges 5.20-21)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nA few stanzas later we are told of the other prophecy by Deborah which\u00a0comes to pass. She had told Barak that the day would belong to a woman, and\u00a0indeed it does, as we read in the King James translation:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n24. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of\r\n\r\nHeber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above\r\n\r\nwomen in the tent.\r\n\r\n25. He asked water, and she gave him milk;\r\n\r\nshe brought forth butter in a lordly dish.\r\n\r\n26. She put her hand to the nail, and her right\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nhand to the workmen's hammer; and with the\r\n\r\nhammer she smote Sisera, she smote off\r\n\r\nhis head when she had pierced and stricken\r\n\r\nthrough his temples.\r\n\r\n27. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down;\r\n\r\nat her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed,\r\n\r\nthere he fell down dead.\r\n\r\n(Judges 5.24-27)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSisera dies at the hands of a woman and the prophesy comes true: the\u00a0day indeed belongs to a woman as Deborah had said. Sisera, the great\u00a0champion, the warrior in command of far superior forces is vanquished in a\u00a0tent by a workman's hammer weilded by a woman.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDeborah, as Judge, is unable to get all of the tribes to answer the call to\u00a0arms, but with the forces at hand and a brilliant battle plan (there is even the\u00a0suggestion that she employs a spy) which depends on using the tactics of\u00a0guerilla warfare to challenge a larger and heavily armed enemy, she is\u00a0victorious. After drawing the chariots of Sisera into the valley for what they\u00a0would expect to be a \"duck-shoot\" she awaits the sudden rain which will\u00a0eliminate the advantage of Canaanite light armor.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDeborah's inability to raise an army from all the tribes signals one of\u00a0the weaknesses of the political organization of a loose confederation and sets\u00a0the stage for the cry for a king which we hear in the first book of Samuel.\u00a0Samuel is the last of the judges and the first important prophet. The two books\u00a0of Samuel and the two books of Kings form a single text in the ancient Greek\u00a0Bible entitled \"Concerning the Kingdoms.\" Modern texts break this section\u00a0into the four books we presently have which tell of the establishment of\u00a0David's dynasty and the consecration of the Solomonic Temple.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n`Samuel' means \"name of God,\" and Samuel's birth narrative is one\u00a0which emphasizes his special status. His father Elkanah has two wives, Hannah\u00a0and Peninnah. \"Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.\" Hannah is\u00a0childless and is tormented by her \"rival.\" She weeps and refuses to eat. One\u00a0year while the family is at Shiloh for sacrifices, Hannah goes to the temple to\u00a0pray for help. She prays:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nO, Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt deign to take notice of my trouble\r\n\r\nand remember me, if thou wilt not forget but grant me offspring,\r\n\r\nthen I will give the child to the Lord for his whole life, and no razor\r\n\r\nshall touch his head. (1 Sam. 1.11)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAs Hannah prays her lips move and Eli the priest sees her and is\u00a0deceived: he thinks she is a drunken woman and orders her away from the\u00a0temple. Hannah is not to be ordered away by anyone; she refuses and\u00a0announces her innocence, forcing Eli to apologize \u00a0 to her for not seeing her\u00a0true condition. She gives birth to a son. She takes him to Shiloh to serve the\u00a0Lord. Shiloh is an important center before the age of the monarchy, but not\u00a0much is heard of it after the monarchy is established. Now the narrative places\u00a0the young Samuel under Eli's control as his master. From the time of the\u00a0bondage in Egypt God had charged Eli's family with the priesthood for all the\u00a0tribes of Israel, had given them the special task \"to mount the steps of my\u00a0altar, to burn sacrifices, and to carry the ephod before me\"; and \"assigned all\u00a0the food-offerings to [Eli's] \u00a0 family.\" Although God had promised that Eli's\u00a0family would fulfill this function for all time there is a narrative requirement\u00a0here to elevate Samuel to this high position. We are told that Eli's sons have\u00a0been stealing the best parts of the offerings (these sons will literally eat Eli out\u00a0of house and home) for themselves and that Eli has not disciplined them\u00a0properly - thus showing that he honors his sons more than he honors his Lord.\u00a0Eli is visited by \"a man of God\" and told that his fortunes will change. God is\u00a0looking \u00a0 for a new and faithful priest - he is choosing again. The story is\u00a0resumed, with a \"time passes\" indicator, in Chapter 3: \"So the child Samuel\u00a0was in the Lord's service under his master Eli.\" Next we can hear the narrator's\u00a0voice as it breaks through the frame: \"Now in those days the word of the Lord\u00a0was seldom heard, and no vision was granted,\" which is followed by a vision\u00a0given to Samuel.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe story so far gives us a special kind of man. Special signs surround\u00a0Samuel's birth: a childless woman suddenly and unexpectedly has her prayer\u00a0for a child answered, at the birth of the child special gifts are given, and the\u00a0child is marked in a special way. All of these are images of uniqueness, are\u00a0intended to show that Samuel is the chosen one. Next we see that Samuel is\u00a0able to have visions, to make direct contact with the Lord. In a charming story\u00a0we are told how Samuel hears the Lord call him but mistakes that call for the\u00a0more natural call of his master Eli. On three occasions Samuel runs to Eli\u00a0saying \"You called me, here I am.\" Eli finally realizes that it is the Lord calling\u00a0the child and tells Samuel how to respond. Samuel's first message from the\u00a0\"other side\" is not a pleasant one to report to his earthly master:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Lord said, `Soon I shall do something in Israel which will ring\r\n\r\nin the ears of all who hear it. When that day comes I will make\r\n\r\ngood every word I have spoken against Eli and his family from\r\n\r\nbeginning to end. You are to tell him that my judgement on his\r\n\r\nhouse shall stand for ever because he knew of his sons' blasphemies\r\n\r\nagainst God and did not rebuke them. Therefore I have sworn to\r\n\r\nthe family of Eli that their abuse of sacrifices and offerings shall\r\n\r\nnever be expiated.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nbut report it he must, even though he is a frightened messenger. Eli's response\u00a0at hearing that he and his family are permanently unemployed and in serious\u00a0danger is calm and resolute: \"The Lord must do what is good in his eyes.\" One\u00a0prophet is gone, a new prophet is chosen: \"As Samuel grew up, the Lord was\u00a0with him, and none of his words went unfulfilled. From Dan to Beer-sheba, all\u00a0Israel recognized that Samuel was confirmed as prophet of the Lord.\" The\u00a0piece starts with Eli being unable to recognize that Hannah is the vehicle\u00a0for a special birth and ends with all Israel recognizing that Samuel is the\u00a0prophet of the Lord. There is a secret plan to be revealed to a chosen few - a\u00a0plan for the chosen tribes of Israel - this bigger narrative also must have plot\u00a0and story-line where events are related causally and the intent of the Author is\u00a0revealed in the story.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nChapters 4 through 6 do not mention Samuel but instead relate the\u00a0primitive story of the Ark of the Lord.[2]<\/a> Samuel has authority and legitimacy as\u00a0established by: his birth in answer to a prayer, his birth to a childless woman,\u00a0his special identifying feature (no razor shall touch his head), and by the\u00a0affirming instance of having a vision of the Lord at a time when \"the word of\u00a0the Lord was seldom heard.\" Now the narrative shifts to finish the story of Eli\u00a0and his sons. The Israelites face the Philistines near Aphek and are routed by\u00a0the Philistines who kill about four thousand of the Israelites. After returning to\u00a0camp from the killing fields, the Israelites confer with their elders who come to\u00a0believe that the defeat is because their army did not have the Ark of the Lord\u00a0in its midst. They send to Shiloh to get the ark (referred to here also as \"The\u00a0Ark of the Covenant of the Lord\") and when it comes into camp there is a\u00a0great shout from the Israelite army, now sure of its victory. The Philistines are\u00a0afraid and cry out, \"A god has come into the camp. We are lost!...Be men and\u00a0fight!\" And fight they do. We are told simply, \"The Philistines then gave battle,\u00a0and the Israelites were defeated and fled to their homes.\" The Ark of the Lord\u00a0is taken by the victorious Philistines and Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are\u00a0killed. As prophesied in the vision that Samuel reported to Eli, Eli's line is\u00a0ended - his sons are dead. In a parallel to the Marathon story of Greek\u00a0literature, here a Benjamite runs from the battlefield to Shiloh with news of\u00a0the defeat and the stunning loss of the Ark. Eli is seated by the gate to the city\u00a0in a throne, and is so shocked by the combination of news of the death of his\u00a0sons and the loss of the Ark that he falls over backwards and breaks his neck.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThese are dark days. Not only is the Ark gone to the hated Philistines\u00a0but the long time keeper of the Ark at Shiloh is dead, and his family almost\u00a0erased from the earth. The Philistines, meanwhile, take their prize to Ashdod\u00a0and place it in the temple of their god, Dagon. Here we are shown the power\u00a0of the Ark when it is placed next to a competing god. \"When the people of\u00a0Ashdod rose next morning, there was Dagon fallen face downwards before the\u00a0Ark of the Lord; so they took him and put him back in his place.\" But the next\u00a0morning Dagon has been unseated again - and his fall from the throne has\u00a0broken his head and his two hands and now he lies broken at the feet of the\u00a0Ark of the Lord.[3]<\/a> Yahweh's power destroys Dagon. Though Israel has been\u00a0defeated by the Philistines, their god has defeated the god of the Philistines. As\u00a0Simone de Beauvoir writes in one of her novels, \"When a god falls, he does not\u00a0become merely a man; he becomes a fraud.\" And the Philistines will pay. Rats\u00a0swarm over the Philistine territory; people and animals are stricken with\u00a0tumours. Death and destruction hits the city like the Egyptian plagues used by\u00a0the Hebrew god in his struggle with the Pharaoh. Finally, in desperation, the\u00a0Philistine princes realize it is the Ark that is responsible for the death and\u00a0destruction in their midst, and cry out, \"Send the Ark of God of Israel away; let\u00a0it go back to its own place, or it will be the death of us all.\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAlthough the armies of Israel have been unable to defeat the Philistine\u00a0armies, their god, in the form of the Ark of the Lord has defeated Dagon and\u00a0the people of Philistine. This God of Israel is powerful, destructive, and the\u00a0story shows us that the defeat of enemies is always the doing of the Lord and\u00a0has nothing to do with the armies of the Israelites. Victory is the Lord's, and so\u00a0is defeat. Some plan is present for the Israelites - a plan which is not easily\u00a0seen or understood, but a plan to be manifest by their god in time and in his\u00a0own way. The Ark of the Lord is the perfect image for this portable god who is\u00a0still looking for a permanent home for his chosen people. Power without limit,\u00a0destruction arbitrarily delivered, a plan that can be penetrated by no one - \"no\u00a0one is safe in the presence of the Lord.\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Philistine story is finished once the Ark is returned to the\u00a0Israelites, but the Ark's power is still dangerous, as witnessed in the report,\u00a0\"the sons of Jeconiah did not rejoice ... when they welcomed the Ark of the\u00a0Lord\" and the Lord struck down seventy of them. The men of Beth-shemesh\u00a0respond: \"No one is safe in the presence of the Lord\" and send a message to\u00a0Kiriath-jearim,[4]<\/a> \"The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord; come\u00a0down and take charge of it.\" The Ark finally finds a home and a custodian and\u00a0remains in Kiriath-jearim for several years. It will be moved again to Jerusalem\u00a0several years later (2 Sam. ch. 6). During this time the Ark and what it stands\u00a0for are far removed from the lives of the Hebrews, who have taken up the wor-\u00a0ship of Baal and Astarte, Canaanite fertility gods. A transition, \"So for a long\u00a0while...\" reminds us that time has passed and we are told once again of Samuel.\u00a0When the Israelites decide to return to the worship of their god, it is Samuel\u00a0who addresses the whole nation: \"If your return to the Lord is wholehearted,\u00a0banish the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth[5]<\/a> from your shrines; turn to the\u00a0Lord with heart and mind, and worship him alone, and he will deliver you from\u00a0the Philistines.\" This is a refrain we have heard before. If your faith is strong\u00a0enough then your reward will be .... And what is implied in the text is that if the\u00a0reward is not forthcoming then it is the people's fault for not having enough\u00a0faith. As we have seen this argument is fatally flawed. Samuel rises to power at\u00a0this point in the narrative, and in an assembly of all the tribes at Mizpah he\u00a0exhibits his special powers of prophesy by fasting and interceding with the\u00a0Lord for the Israelites who confess their sins in a day long prayer meeting.\u00a0Now when the Philistines advance the Lord thunders out at them, and his\u00a0chosen people are able to pursue and slaughter them. This narrative is the\u00a0Hebrew writer's way of giving us the events of hundreds of years of struggle\u00a0between the peoples who were established in the area and the encroaching\u00a0tribes of Israel, who were eventually to occupy the land and to form it into a\u00a0country. We are reminded of the opening story in Genesis where formlessness\u00a0is given form in the act of creation - in Exodus, the Book of Judges, and here\u00a0too we see images of a crowd of individuals being formed into a congregation\u00a0and then into a nation - a nation which, like the others around it, wants a king\u00a0to rule it.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"Samuel acted as judge in Israel as long as he lived,\" and appointed his\u00a0sons to be judges in his older years. His sons did not follow in his footsteps,\u00a0however, and took bribes and profited from their judgeships. The Israelite\u00a0response is to ask for a king. In what follows we see a hint of the conflict\u00a0between the monarchist and anti-monarchist positions expressed in the story.\u00a0Samuel warns the people that a king will take taxes from them and will enforce\u00a0a universal draft when he needs soldiers. Their sons will serve in the army\u00a0whether they want to or not. The people refuse to heed this warning and cry\u00a0again for a king - \"a king to govern us, to lead us out to war and fight our\u00a0battles.\" After hearing the will of the people Samuel confers with his Lord and\u00a0is instructed to give them a king. The Lord reads the peoples' will as a rejection\u00a0of his kingship and there is a sense of jealousy in his acceptance of the new\u00a0relationship between the tribes. The loose confederation of the judges is about\u00a0to be replaced by a new political arrangement, a centralized monarchy. Samuel\u00a0has served as a transition between the judges and the kings. Like him Saul will\u00a0serve as a transition between the time of the power of the priests and the time\u00a0of the power of the kings. Compare the relationship between Saul and Samuel\u00a0with the relationship between David and Nathan to see in narrative terms the\u00a0shift in power from the priest\/prophet\/judge to the king, or from church to\u00a0state.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAfter some appropriate prophetly mumbo-jumbo in the form of signs\u00a0and raptures, Samuel anoints Saul as king of Israel. Saul is anointed,\u00a0appointed and installed. We are shown how this is to be played out. First\u00a0Samuel anoints Saul in the name of the Lord as the one chosen by the Lord to\u00a0be the king. Then we are shown the appointment which is by lot. The tribe of\u00a0Benjamin is selected by lot and then the family of Matri is chosen by lot, and\u00a0finally from that family Saul is chosen by lot. When he is chosen he stands\u00a0forth in the crowd as special. He is a head taller than anyone else. Once again\u00a0the recurring theme of chosenness is built right into the narrative. Saul is from\u00a0the Benjamite tribe which is the smallest tribe of the twelve tribes and thus his\u00a0choice is also politically astute. It is doubtful that a king \u00a0 from the larger tribes\u00a0would be acceptable, but a Benjamite, like today's selection of\u00a0Secretary-General of the United Nations, must come from a small tribe.\u00a0Finally we read another version of the choice of Saul, for after Saul's stunning\u00a0victory over the Ammonites (ch. 11) the people cry out to have this victorious\u00a0warrior as their king: \"So they all went to Gilgal and invested Saul there as king\u00a0in the presence of the Lord, sacrificing shared-offerings before the Lord; and\u00a0Saul and all the Israelites celebrated the occasion with great joy.\"\u00a0Unfortunately for Saul, this great joy will soon turn to bitter despair, for\u00a0though he reigns over Israel for twenty-two years (we are told in 1 Sam. 13.1),\u00a0he spends the last several years out of favour with the Lord, devoured by fear,\u00a0jealousy and evil spirits, torn between hatred and love for David, and unsure of\u00a0his power.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nMany traditions are at play in the narrative. We read of Samuel's\u00a0special birth and of his commitment to the Lord which emphasizes the\u00a0unpredictability of the choice of the Lord. We are told of Samuel's visions and\u00a0shown how he will replace Eli as the prophet of the Lord, but we are told\u00a0almost nothing of his years as a judge for the tribes of Israel. 1 Samuel\u00a0concerns itself with Saul and David. Samuel plays a small part in the narrative\u00a0although his name is attached to the final text. Although Samuel has a small\u00a0part in the story-line he serves a major part in the official line: he is the reader\u00a0of the higher text, the reader of the Lord's plan; he will provide the current\u00a0reader with the correct interpretation. The correct interpretation,\u00a0Samuel's story tells us, is that the Lord is behind all of the events of impor-\u00a0tance in the history of the chosen tribes. Yahweh will choose to allow the\u00a0desire of the people for a king even though he is their king. Yahweh will\u00a0choose Saul; will turn away from him. Yahweh will choose David. The overlay\u00a0of the Samuel story gives us motives and reasons for the events described in\u00a0the Saul and David stories. Imagine for a moment cutting out the story of\u00a0Samuel from the book of Samuel. How much havoc would such an incision\u00a0cause?\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe first important act of Samuel is to select a king when the people cry\u00a0out for one. We read of Samuel going alone to anoint the one that the Lord\u00a0has chosen. The choice of the Lord is revealed in a strictly arbitrary way to\u00a0Samuel. The real king is not so easy to pick out for mere mortals, but Yahweh\u00a0can see deeper than humans and his choice will be the best. None of the\u00a0Israelites would have selected their first king from the smallest tribe - the tribe\u00a0of Benjamin, only Yahweh could see how the virtues of Saul shone out from\u00a0his humble beginnings \"from the smallest of the tribes of Israel\" and from a\u00a0family which \"is the least important of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin.\"\u00a0Samuel's second important act is to kill Agag when Saul has failed to carry out\u00a0the orders of the Lord completely and with dispatch. Saul's failure to obey\u00a0(the original sin) loses him the favour of the Lord, and it is Samuel who\u00a0provides us with this reading of the events.[6]<\/a> Samuel stands between the Lord\u00a0and his people reading the \"text,\" which contains the Lord's intentions, to the\u00a0people. He also stands between the text and us - providing a reading which\u00a0makes sense of the narrative from a particular point of view. Samuel's function\u00a0in the story is clear. But is it necessary?\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nNo. Everything that he provides us is also given in another way in the\u00a0narrative. His choice of Saul as first king can be explained without divine\u00a0intervention in a straight forward manner. There are good reasons to choose\u00a0Saul - reasons given in the story: Saul is a head taller than anyone else, a useful\u00a0characteristic for a warrior king; he is selected by lot, a way of indicating that\u00a0everyone had an equal chance; he is from the smallest tribe,[7]<\/a> a way of placating\u00a0the larger tribes, each of whom would have had its favourite candidate who\u00a0would have been unacceptable to the other; he wins a decisive battle against\u00a0the Philistines, an act that is at the center of the desire for a king. In other\u00a0words it is possible to read the story in a realistic manner without the\u00a0introduction of a puppet master who is controlling the strings which cause the\u00a0actors to move. Samuel's function in the story is to offer a reading of the\u00a0events of the story, a reading which proclaims the intentions and plans of Yah-\u00a0weh. Take that away and all that is lost is the official line.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSaul's story is a tragic one. He is chosen by Yahweh as the first king,\u00a0given the task of uniting a loose confederation of tribes while fighting against\u00a0the established and well armed Philistines, and is to do this while still under the\u00a0direct control of the prophet Samuel, who is opposed to the monarchy. Saul is\u00a0a brave warrior and leader who is capable of making decisions and acting\u00a0quickly. These very characteristics which make him a strong king are also his\u00a0downfall. After one battle with the Philistines he and his army are pursuing the\u00a0enemy from Michmash to Aijalon. \"But the people were so faint with hunger\u00a0that they turned to plunder and seized sheep, cattle, and bullocks; they\u00a0slaughtered them on the ground, and ate the meat with the blood in it.\" (1\u00a0Sam. 14.32) When Saul is told that the people are breaking the dietary rules of\u00a0Yahweh he immediately acts. He has a large stone rolled into camp and set up\u00a0as a temporary slaughtering place to drain the blood and purify the meat. In\u00a0doing so he takes on a priestly function. This is the beginning of his downfall.\u00a0His major sin, however, is the \u00a0 sin of the stories of the Old Testament: he\u00a0disobeys. Told to `Spare no one' in the battle against the Amalekites, Saul and\u00a0his army spare the king and the best of the sheep and cattle. For this he loses\u00a0Yahweh's favour. Remember that commandment: \"Thou shalt not kill\"?\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nYahweh, the god of choices, now chooses again. He chooses David:\u00a0\"Then the spirit of the Lord came upon David and was with him from that day\u00a0onwards.\" Several traditions converge in the David story. One has it that David\u00a0is brought to Saul as a musician to provide Saul relief from his bouts with\u00a0depression. In this story David kills Goliath in the most famous \"underdog\u00a0wins against incredible odds\" story in literature. Confusion arises when a\u00a0second strand of the story has Saul asking Abner, his commander-in-chief, who\u00a0the boy David is, after we have been told that David is loved by Saul. In any\u00a0case David and Saul's son, Jonathan, become friends bound together by love.\u00a0This friendship proves important in the David story as on several occasions\u00a0Jonathan assists David in his struggle against Saul. And what is the nature of\u00a0the struggle? David has been blessed by the Lord and will be king. But Saul is\u00a0king. The marvellous story of David's ascendancy to the throne is the stuff of\u00a0movies. He is in constant danger; he has the opportunity on two occasions to\u00a0kill Saul but he does not;[8]<\/a> he is the leader of a guerrilla band living in the hills;\u00a0he hires out to the enemy kings, but never fights against the Israelites; he is a\u00a0powerful sexual force who can turn Abigail's head and steal her from her\u00a0husband; he is cunning, brave, powerful, and has stones. David has all the quali-\u00a0ties (we are told) of the early patriarchs: he has the tenacity and strength of\u00a0Jacob, the vision and wisdom of Joseph, the loyalty of Abraham, and the sexual\u00a0appetite of all of them put together. It is only fitting that in his death bed the\u00a0cure offered by his attendants is to place a young virgin in bed with him. They\u00a0expect to see David get up once more.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDavid triumphs by the end of 1 Samuel. Samuel is dead. Saul is dead.\u00a0Long live King David.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAt the end of 1 Samuel we are told that Saul commits suicide by falling\u00a0on his sword. At the beginning of 2 Samuel we are told of an Amalekite who\u00a0comes to David and tells of the defeat of the Israelites and the death of Saul\u00a0and Jonathan. This man claims to have killed Saul after seeing him \"leaning on\u00a0his spear with the chariots and horsemen closing in upon him.\" Is this an\u00a0example of a contradictory report? One page has Saul falling on his sword and\u00a0dying and the next has him falling on his spear and not dying. How are we to\u00a0read this seeming discrepancy? The Amalekite is obviously a mercenary in the\u00a0Israelite army. He comes to David hoping to be rewarded for killing the old\u00a0king. Expecting a reward he gets killed. This mercenary does not see that\u00a0though the death of Saul may be in David's interest, the murder of the king is\u00a0not in David's interest. \"How is it,\" said David, \"that you were not afraid to\u00a0raise your hand to slay the Lord's anointed?\" The Amalekite's boastful lie,\u00a0offered as a calculated attempt at currying favour, is his death warrant. \"Your\u00a0blood be on your own head,\" says David, \"for out of your own mouth you\u00a0condemned yourself when you said, `I killed the Lord's anointed.'\" What\u00a0follows is the famous lament of David: (King James, 2 Sam.1.19-27)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n19. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy\r\n\r\nhigh places: how are the mighty fallen!\r\n\r\n20. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the\r\n\r\nstreets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the\r\n\r\nPhilistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the\r\n\r\nuncircumcised triumph.\r\n\r\n21. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no\r\n\r\ndew, neither let there be rain, upon you, not\r\n\r\nfields of offerings: for there the shield of the\r\n\r\nmighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as\r\n\r\nthough he had not been anointed with oil.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n22. From the blood of the slain, from the fat\r\n\r\nof the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not\r\n\r\nback, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n23. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant\r\n\r\nin their lives, and in their death they were not\r\n\r\ndivided; they were swifter than eagles, they were\r\n\r\nstronger than lions.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n24. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,\r\n\r\nwho clothed you in scarlet, with other delights,\r\n\r\nwho put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n25. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of\r\n\r\nthe battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine\r\n\r\nhigh places.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n26. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:\r\n\r\nvery pleasant hast thou been unto me:\r\n\r\nthy love to me was wonderful,passing the love\r\n\r\nof women.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n27. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons\r\n\r\nof war perished!\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThis dirge over Saul and Jonathan is to be taught to the people of\u00a0Judah. It is a fine lyric poem, a lament on the deaths of these two who have\u00a0been so intimately involved in David's life. It opens with a greeting to Saul and\u00a0immediately expands that to include all who have fallen. \"Laid low\", \"fallen\",\u00a0\"death\" are keys words in the opening which are picked up again in the closing\u00a0pair of lines, where the men of war are no more than the armour they have left\u00a0behind on the killing field. Let no enemy know of this downfall, for their\u00a0rejoicing and exulting at the deaths of these heroes would be an insult to their\u00a0memories. Let not the rains fall on the hills that bear their shields so that rust\u00a0cannot wear away all that is left of them: their armour, weapons and shields.\u00a0These men, powerful in life, are now reduced to mere tools, but their deeds\u00a0and their spirits live on for they \"were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.\"\u00a0In those images Saul and Jonathan rise above the Hills of Gilboa and become\u00a0not only objects of lament but also subjects of love. David the new king is\u00a0magnanimous in spirit and sensitive to the requirements of a good story. We\u00a0stand with King David at the high point of Israelite Old Testament history.\u00a0King David will soon unite the tribes and lift them on eagles' wings to the apex\u00a0of their historic relationship with Yahweh: the promised land has been\u00a0achieved.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDavid's story completes the transition from judges to kings. The\u00a0Israelite cry for a king has been answered. Samuel, who, as we have seen, reads\u00a0the Lord's story, is the last of the prophet\/judges and the administration of the\u00a0nation is now centralized in the hands of a divine-king. While Saul was\u00a0constantly under the control of Samuel, not so with David. David's power is\u00a0complete. He will turn to the priest\/prophet for advice and will be brought up\u00a0short for his more outrageous behaviour, but he is in command. \"David came\u00a0to the throne at the age of thirty and reigned for forty years. In Hebron he had\u00a0ruled over Judah for seven years and a half, and for thirty-three years he\u00a0reigned in Jerusalem over Israel and Judah together.\" (2 Sam. 5.4)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSamuel's story mediates between the \"divine\" and \"history,\" offering us\u00a0a reading of Yahweh's intentions in the unfolding of history in time. When\u00a0Saul, in despair, goes to the Witch of Endor (1 Sam. 28) in an attempt to\u00a0contact Samuel we see that Samuel, even in death, continues to \"read\" the\u00a0future and to give a causal explanation of events. His spirit says to Saul:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWhy have you disturbed me and brought me up?...You have not\r\n\r\nobeyed the Lord, or executed the judgment of his fury against the\r\n\r\nAmalekites; that is why he has done this to you today. For the same\r\n\r\nreason the Lord will let your people Israel fall into the hands of the\r\n\r\nPhilistines and, what is more, tomorrow you and your sons shall be\r\n\r\nwith me.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nSamuel the prophet can read the intentions of the Lord, and the proof\u00a0of his reading will be in the accuracy of his predictions. Indeed, the story tells\u00a0us that the next day Saul and his sons are killed and the Philistines are\u00a0victorious. The very structure of the story proclaims the status of Samuel, and\u00a0yet it is obvious here as before that the privileged position offered by writing\u00a0about the past is presented as a knowledge of the future. One of the functions\u00a0of prophets is to \"read\" the intentions of the gods and to provide us with\u00a0reasons for our misfortunes - reasons which in the Old Testament most often\u00a0turn out to be some form of disobedience. But Samuel is small potatoes\u00a0compared to the prophets to follow.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTHE TEST AT MOUNT CARMEL\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe establishment of David's dynasty and the building of\r\n\r\nSolomon's Temple bring to a completion the Lord's work of\r\n\r\nestablishing Israel in Canaan...Israel's prosperity has a\r\n\r\ncondition, however: that the Lord's commandments be carefully\r\n\r\nobeyed. Hence, the rest of Kings tells how disaster finally\r\n\r\ncame upon the Israelite kingdoms through their failure to meet\r\n\r\nthat condition. While individual kings were guilty of various\r\n\r\noffenses, two particular violations of the Lord's cultic\r\n\r\nrequirements condemned the two kingdoms. In the Northern\r\n\r\nKingdom of Israel, the violation was the \"sin\" of Jeroboam I,\r\n\r\nnamely, his establishment of the cult of the golden calves at\r\n\r\nBethel...In Judah, the violation was permitting the local\r\n\r\nsanctuaries, called the hill-shrines, to continue after the Temple\r\n\r\nwas built...(Headnote p. 349, New English Bible).\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe story in 1 Kings 1 that has Nathan talking to the dying King David\u00a0about the succession rights emphasizes the power shift from prophet to king.\u00a0When Saul went to the witch of En-dor (1 Sam. 28) and had her call up\u00a0Samuel from the dead we saw how Saul responded: \"Then Saul knew it was\u00a0Samuel, and he bowed low with his face to the ground, and prostrated himself.\"\u00a0At David's death bed it is Nathan who prostrates himself before \"the presence\"\u00a0of King David: \"The king was told that Nathan was there; he came into the\u00a0presence and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.\" This yielding\u00a0image indicates in the action of prostration the shift in power relationships\u00a0between the prophets and the kings. King David enjoys the support of\u00a0Yahweh, of course, and is a king by \"divine right.\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDavid and Solomon rule over the United Kingdom for some eighty\u00a0years; the period is now known as the golden age of Israel (c1010 B.C.E. to\u00a0c931 B.C.E.). David's capture of Jerusalem, his choice of Jerusalem as the\u00a0capital, and Solomon's construction of the Temple in Jerusalem signal the end\u00a0of the story of the nomadic chosen people and the fulfillment of the covenant\u00a0promise for \u00a0 land. Now the Hebrews have a permanent location for the Ark of\u00a0the Covenant, a king to offer central administration, and a settled way of life in\u00a0the promised land. Solomon not only builds a Temple for the Ark but he also\u00a0fortifies many of the cities in the kingdom by building thick walls such as are\u00a0seen at Megiddo, Hazor, and Gezer. These are the golden years: we read of\u00a0the wealth of Solomon imaged in gold and thousands of concubines, in massive\u00a0building projects employing thousands of slaves, in visits to the king made by\u00a0emissaries from other countries and by the Queen of Sheba herself. But at his\u00a0death in 931 B.C.E. the unification of the Hebrew tribal groups (traditionally\u00a012 in number) falls apart - Kings David and Solomon will be the only kings to\u00a0reign over a union of all the tribes. Much of the Old Testament is written\u00a0during the years of civil strife, invasion, and exile which follows the death of\u00a0Solomon. How could a nation ruled by Yahweh's chosen ones decline so\u00a0rapidly? What had gone wrong? These \"chosen people\" are led out of slavery,\u00a0purified in the desert, given a \"constitution,\" provided with a chosen king, enjoy\u00a0the results for some eighty years, and then tear themselves apart in internal\u00a0quarrels about shrines. Israel and Judah seem unable to agree on one reading\u00a0of the covenant text - competing readings break them apart into different\u00a0bunches, each claiming to have the Truth. This conclusion to the \"promised\u00a0land\" narrative is inevitable; it is to be found in the concept of \"chosenness\" -\u00a0choosing without reasons is destructive. Today we would call it privileging.[9]<\/a> All\u00a0of those arbitrary choices made by Yahweh throughout the stories of the Old\u00a0Testament produce an attitude of intolerant arrogance as each tribe asserts its\u00a0own special claim to be the chosen vessel of the proclaimed divine. The\u00a0united kingdom crumbles because the tribes cannot agree on where and how\u00a0to worship their god.[10]<\/a> The prophets, as opposed to the royal priests,\u00a0sympathized with the northern desire to reduce the power of the kings and the\u00a0Temple priests. As the monarchy falters the prophets return to prominence.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nConsider Elijah the Tishbite: a series of stories about Elijah enter the\u00a0narrative at 1 Kings 16 and relate the first stages of the overthrow of the\u00a0dynasty of Omri. Elijah appears as a mature and complete figure who\u00a0announces his authenticity to King Ahab by way of a nature miracle: he will\u00a0cause a drought to occur in Israel, a drought which will eliminate both rain and\u00a0dew until Elijah gives the word. On command from Yahweh he goes to Za-\u00a0rephath where he is told that a widow has been instructed to feed him. He\u00a0goes; he meets the widow. She tells him, in response to his request for food, \"I\u00a0have no food to sustain me except a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a\u00a0flask.\" Elijah tells her to make a small cake for him from the scarce supplies,\u00a0and she does. But the food is not used up, for \"the jar of flour did not give out\u00a0nor did the flask of oil fail,\" and \"there was food for him and for her and for\u00a0her family for a long time.\" After some time the son of this woman fell ill and\u00a0his breathing ceased. The woman is devastated by the loss of her son and\u00a0blames Elijah for interfering with her life and bringing this sad consequence to\u00a0her. He takes the boy in his arms, carries him to the roof-chamber, brings him\u00a0back to life, and announces to the boy's mother, \"Look, your son is alive.\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"Now I know for certain that you are a man of God and that the word\u00a0of the Lord on your lips is truth,\" she says, having seen his power in the act of\u00a0bringing her son back to life. Immediately after this the narrative shifts to a\u00a0larger arena where Elijah will demonstrate to all of the people that he is a\u00a0prophet of Yahweh, a \"true\" prophet of the \"true\" god. In an amazing display\u00a0of verification as a means of determining truth, Elijah sets up a contest\u00a0between himself\/Yahweh on one side, and King Ahab's prophets\/Baal on the\u00a0other. Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal answer the challenge. The test\u00a0is simplicity itself: \"Bring two bulls; let them choose one for themselves, cut it\u00a0up and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it, and I will prepare the other\u00a0and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it. You shall invoke your god by\u00a0name and I will invoke the Lord by name; and the god who answers by fire, he\u00a0is God.\" Here is a real test, a test that looks like a scientific test. The hypothesis\u00a0is something like this: The real god will have the power to start a fire and will\u00a0do so on a request from a real prophet. Common sense tells us that fires do\u00a0not just start spontaneously, but must be ignited by flame. No human hand will\u00a0provide the ignition, and if the fire bursts out it must be the work of a god.\u00a0Prediction: the real god will respond to the request of the real prophet by\u00a0starting a fire to consume the offering.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nJust before this test is conducted we read of Elijah's power (through\u00a0Yahweh) in a series of stories which include nature miracles and a resurrection\u00a0miracle. Based on the narrative we have no doubt that we are reading about a\u00a0real and powerful prophet. He is alone against four hundred and fifty prophets\u00a0of Baal - one voice against a multitude of voices. Just to be sure that the test is\u00a0accepted as proof of the claim that Yahweh is God, Elijah stacks the deck\u00a0against himself. After the wood has been laid, the bull prepared for sacrifice,\u00a0and the trench dug around the altar, he orders the people to soak the wood\u00a0with water. Not once, but three times, they carry water to the altar and soak\u00a0the wood and the sacrifice. After the prophets of Baal have cried out to Baal\u00a0all morning and most of the afternoon to no avail, Elijah tries. He addresses\u00a0his god, \"Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today\u00a0that thou art God in Israel.\" And the result? \"Then the fire of the Lord fell. It\u00a0consumed the whole-offering, the wood, the stones, and the earth, and licked\u00a0at the water in the trench.\" The prediction comes true at the appropriate time;\u00a0therefore there is good reason to believe that the hypothesis is true.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDoes this mean that we have been given evidence for the existence of\u00a0god? It certainly would count as evidence if it happened. But, of course, this\u00a0\"test,\" no matter how objective and fair, is contained in a story, a story which\u00a0has as its intention the desire to prove that Yahweh is \u00a0 God. The test is so\u00a0dramatic, the result so compelling, that we would expect it to be recorded in all\u00a0sorts of documents. But, alas, none of the four hundred and fifty \"prophets\" of\u00a0Baal are left to testify to the miracle, for Elijah has the people of Israel take\u00a0them down to the river valley below Mount Carmel. \"They seized them, and\u00a0Elijah took them down to the Kishon and slaughtered them there in the\u00a0valley.\" Shortly after this successful display of power Elijah outruns King\u00a0Ahab's chariot in a race to return to Jezreel.[11]<\/a> After a short time in Beersheba\u00a0hiding from Jezebel, Elijah is given new orders by Yahweh and sets off to\u00a0anoint a new king and to find a new prophet. He finds Elisha ploughing the\u00a0fields with twelve pair of oxen, throws his cloak over him and in that way\u00a0includes him as his new disciple and Yahweh's new prophet. Elisha leaves his\u00a0oxen, kisses his mother and father good-bye, slaughters a pair of oxen for the\u00a0people to eat, and follows Elijah.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAt the beginning of The Second Book of Kings Elijah is still a \"trouble\"\u00a0to Ahaziah, the king of Israel. The king sends a captain and fifty soldiers to get\u00a0Elijah down from a hill-top where he is sitting. In response to the captain's\u00a0orders Elijah says, \"If I am a man of God, may fire fall from heaven and\u00a0consume you and your company!\" And we are told, \"Fire fell from heaven and\u00a0consumed the officer and his fifty men.\" Look closely at this passage. It is\u00a0presented as a formal argument. `If P then Q' and `Q' therefore `P'. Or,\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIf I am a man of God then fire will consume you and your\r\n\r\ncompany. (premise)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nFire consumes you and your company. (premise)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTherefore, I am a man of God. (implied conclusion)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nwhich can be written:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIf P then Q\r\n\r\nQ\r\n\r\nTherefore, P.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nwhich is not a valid argument form. (The fallacy it commits is called\r\n\r\n`Affirming the Consequent'.)\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nElijah, the one true prophet, alone against incredible odds, perseveres\u00a0against the king's men (in spite of his bad logic!) and fire falls to consume a\u00a0total of one hundred and two men before Elijah feels safe enough to come\u00a0down the hill. It is really not so much a matter of logical error here in the story\u00a0as it is an indication of the writer's attitudes. These \"tests\" are not to be taken\u00a0as verification that god exists, but instead god's existence is taken for granted,\u00a0is a given. We see that here, in the logical error, for at no time is it even a\u00a0question whether or not \"I am a man of God\" is true. The truth of that \"proposi-\u00a0tion\" is given in the story. Read it like this: \"Given that God exists, and given\u00a0that I am a man of God then everything is possible for me. The physically\u00a0impossible is possible; the ability to destroy is possible; the ability to outrun\u00a0horses is mine.\" In the confusion of the divided kingdom Elijah's voice must be\u00a0strong and clear, and one. The centre must hold. Elisha will carry on. \"[A]nd\u00a0suddenly there appeared chariots of fire, which separated one from the other,\u00a0and Elijah was carried up in the whirlwind to heaven.\" The Elijah story looks\u00a0back to Moses - with Elijah leading the Israelites from the slavery of Baal as\u00a0Moses led them from the slavery of Pharaoh and with Elisha taking the place\u00a0of Joshua - and it looks forward to the Jesus story.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"The spirit of Elijah has settled on Elisha,\" we read, and with it the\u00a0power to control natural events, to intercede miraculously in the natural order\u00a0of things, and to deliver life from death. Elijah is taken up by Yahweh in the\u00a0same geographical area in which Moses was buried (Deut. 34.5-6) tying the\u00a0two stories together in yet another way. Over and over again we read the fun-\u00a0damental story of the Hebrews: Israeli disobedience leads to Yahweh's anger,\u00a0which leads to Israeli repentance and then to Yahweh's salvation. The heroes -\u00a0Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha - have access to Yahweh through\u00a0visions, dreams, and messengers and relate the text of history to the people\u00a0who do not always pay close attention to the reading they are offered. The\u00a0hero is always identified in some special way - a special birth, a special sign, a\u00a0unique physical mark, a special power - so that we readers can identify the true\u00a0prophet from the false prophet. The story is based on fact; that is, a united\u00a0kingdom did exist as the high point of the Israelite experience, but it existed\u00a0for less than eighty years before falling into pieces. The chosen people were to\u00a0have the Promised Land for all time, but instead had it for two generations.\u00a0Why did the kingdom fall? The official line tells us: Yahweh offered\u00a0the promised land; he delivered; the contract demanded obedience on the\u00a0part of Israel; Israel fell apart; therefore the reason must be that Israel has\u00a0failed to keep its contractual obligations. In a word, plot. Story is made up of\u00a0events; plot offers causal connections for those events. Prophets are readers of\u00a0plot.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n
\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[1]<\/a> Footnote page 255, The New English Bible<\/em>, Oxford Study Edition.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[2]<\/a> The Ark of the Lord is a box-throne like object that the Lord of Israel used to manifest his presence. See Exodus 25.22, Numbers 7.890, and Joshua chs. 3-4.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[3]<\/a> Dagon hasw been broken by the Ark of the Lord, and it is head and hands that are broken. Dagon\u2019s ability to formulate intention and his ability to carry out intention are destroyed.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[4]<\/a> Kiriath-jearim was located between Jerusalem and Gezer just a few miles east of Jerusalem. The Philistines were also a migrant5 people who had at this time control of the coastal area between the Shephelah and the sea, part of which is now the Gaza Strip. The Philistine cities were Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. The Philisitnes gave their name to this part of the Canaannite territory as `Palestine\u2019.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[5]<\/a> Ashtaroth was a cult object representing Astarte, a god of fertility.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[6]<\/a> Note also that Samuel\u2019s sons are not worthy of following him as judge. There is no other contender for the leadership.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[7]<\/a> During all of the years of the \u201ccold war\u201d we had no Secretary-General of the United Nations who came from the USA or the USSR. Someone from a \u201csmaller tribe\u201d always filled the position.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[8]<\/a> It is obviously in David\u2019s interest to maintain the principle of the divine right of the king.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[9]<\/a> The deconstructionists have pointed to the cultural and hence relative values that are bound up in some of our pairings of terms: truth\/fiction, philosophy\/literature, male\/female, thinking\/feeling. If one cannot provide a good argument for valuing one over the other then the privileging is arbitrary.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[10]<\/a> In addition to religious squabbling there were economic reasons for the split. Solomon\u2019s ambitious building programs tended to \u201cchoose\u201d the southern part of the kingdom to the exclusion of the more nomadic northern tribes.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n\r\n[11]<\/a> The interesting a popular movie, Chariots of Fire,<\/em> gets its title from these stories in the Old Testament. The Christian runner, who will not run on Sundays for religious reasons, tells his sister that he \u201cfeels the power of the Lord\u201d when he runs, just as Elijah did when he outran Ahab\u2019s chariot. Elijah is taken to heaven by a chariot of fire.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"
PROPHET VERSUS KING <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Prophet: One who speaks for God or for any deity, as the<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 inspired revealer or interpreter of his will; one who is held or<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (more loosely) who claims to have this function; an inspired or<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 quasi-inspired teacher….One who predicts or foretells what is<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 going to happen; a prognosticator, a predictor….The `inspired’<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or accredited spokesman, proclaimer, or preacher of some<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 principle, cause, or movement. (Oxford English Dictionary)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prophets mediate between the divine and the ordinary. They are\u00a0important figures in the Old Testament who interpret God’s story to the\u00a0people and to the leaders of the people. In the Book of Judges the judge of the\u00a0tribal confederation is often gifted with prophetic powers and able to read\u00a0God’s story when making decisions that are important to the tribes. Deborah,\u00a0for example, is able to predict the day for her commander’s victory by being\u00a0able to read the signs that tell her when the rains are coming. She tells Barak\u00a0(Judges 4.14), “Up! This day the Lord gives Sisera into your hands. Already\u00a0the Lord has gone out to battle before you.” And the rains come. Sisera’s\u00a0chariots are mired down in the “Torrent of Kishon” and the victory goes to\u00a0Deborah. In what is “the oldest surviving extended fragment of Hebrew literature”[1]<\/a> Deborah and Barak sing a song of praise to their Lord:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the leaders, the leaders in Israel,<\/p>\n

for the people who answered the call, bless ye the Lord.<\/p>\n

Hear me, you kings; princes, give ear;<\/p>\n

I will sing, I will sing to the Lord.<\/p>\n

I will raise a psalm to the Lord<\/p>\n

the God of Israel.<\/p>\n

O, Lord, at thy setting forth from Seir,<\/p>\n

when thou camest marching out of<\/p>\n

the plains of Edom,<\/p>\n

earth trembled; heaven quaked;<\/p>\n

the clouds streamed down in torrents. (Judges 4.2-4)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

and later we hear “Be proud at heart, you marshals of Israel; you among the\u00a0people that answered the call, bless ye the Lord.” Deborah’s song is for a\u00a0particular audience: those “who answered the call.” Not all of the tribes did\u00a0answer the call, for we learn later in the song that “Gilead stayed beyond\u00a0Jordan,\u201d that Dan tarried by the ships, and that “Asher lingered by the\u00a0sea-shore.” Those who did answer the call were rewarded with victory on that\u00a0day because Deborah knew when to attack to bring the enemy with its heavy\u00a0chariots into the river bottom to be caught by the sudden rain:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The stars fought from heaven,<\/p>\n

the stars in their courses fought<\/p>\n

against Sisera.<\/p>\n

the Torrent of Kishon swept him<\/p>\n

away,<\/p>\n

the Torrent barred his flight, the<\/p>\n

Torrent of Kishon;<\/p>\n

march on in might, my soul! (Judges 5.20-21)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A few stanzas later we are told of the other prophecy by Deborah which\u00a0comes to pass. She had told Barak that the day would belong to a woman, and\u00a0indeed it does, as we read in the King James translation:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

24. Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of<\/p>\n

Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above<\/p>\n

women in the tent.<\/p>\n

25. He asked water, and she gave him milk;<\/p>\n

she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.<\/p>\n

26. She put her hand to the nail, and her right<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the<\/p>\n

hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off<\/p>\n

his head when she had pierced and stricken<\/p>\n

through his temples.<\/p>\n

27. At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down;<\/p>\n

at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed,<\/p>\n

there he fell down dead.<\/p>\n

(Judges 5.24-27)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sisera dies at the hands of a woman and the prophesy comes true: the\u00a0day indeed belongs to a woman as Deborah had said. Sisera, the great\u00a0champion, the warrior in command of far superior forces is vanquished in a\u00a0tent by a workman’s hammer weilded by a woman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Deborah, as Judge, is unable to get all of the tribes to answer the call to\u00a0arms, but with the forces at hand and a brilliant battle plan (there is even the\u00a0suggestion that she employs a spy) which depends on using the tactics of\u00a0guerilla warfare to challenge a larger and heavily armed enemy, she is\u00a0victorious. After drawing the chariots of Sisera into the valley for what they\u00a0would expect to be a “duck-shoot” she awaits the sudden rain which will\u00a0eliminate the advantage of Canaanite light armor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Deborah’s inability to raise an army from all the tribes signals one of\u00a0the weaknesses of the political organization of a loose confederation and sets\u00a0the stage for the cry for a king which we hear in the first book of Samuel.\u00a0Samuel is the last of the judges and the first important prophet. The two books\u00a0of Samuel and the two books of Kings form a single text in the ancient Greek\u00a0Bible entitled “Concerning the Kingdoms.” Modern texts break this section\u00a0into the four books we presently have which tell of the establishment of\u00a0David’s dynasty and the consecration of the Solomonic Temple.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

`Samuel’ means “name of God,” and Samuel’s birth narrative is one\u00a0which emphasizes his special status. His father Elkanah has two wives, Hannah\u00a0and Peninnah. “Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.” Hannah is\u00a0childless and is tormented by her “rival.” She weeps and refuses to eat. One\u00a0year while the family is at Shiloh for sacrifices, Hannah goes to the temple to\u00a0pray for help. She prays:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

O, Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt deign to take notice of my trouble<\/p>\n

and remember me, if thou wilt not forget but grant me offspring,<\/p>\n

then I will give the child to the Lord for his whole life, and no razor<\/p>\n

shall touch his head. (1 Sam. 1.11)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Hannah prays her lips move and Eli the priest sees her and is\u00a0deceived: he thinks she is a drunken woman and orders her away from the\u00a0temple. Hannah is not to be ordered away by anyone; she refuses and\u00a0announces her innocence, forcing Eli to apologize \u00a0 to her for not seeing her\u00a0true condition. She gives birth to a son. She takes him to Shiloh to serve the\u00a0Lord. Shiloh is an important center before the age of the monarchy, but not\u00a0much is heard of it after the monarchy is established. Now the narrative places\u00a0the young Samuel under Eli’s control as his master. From the time of the\u00a0bondage in Egypt God had charged Eli’s family with the priesthood for all the\u00a0tribes of Israel, had given them the special task “to mount the steps of my\u00a0altar, to burn sacrifices, and to carry the ephod before me”; and “assigned all\u00a0the food-offerings to [Eli’s] \u00a0 family.” Although God had promised that Eli’s\u00a0family would fulfill this function for all time there is a narrative requirement\u00a0here to elevate Samuel to this high position. We are told that Eli’s sons have\u00a0been stealing the best parts of the offerings (these sons will literally eat Eli out\u00a0of house and home) for themselves and that Eli has not disciplined them\u00a0properly – thus showing that he honors his sons more than he honors his Lord.\u00a0Eli is visited by “a man of God” and told that his fortunes will change. God is\u00a0looking \u00a0 for a new and faithful priest – he is choosing again. The story is\u00a0resumed, with a “time passes” indicator, in Chapter 3: “So the child Samuel\u00a0was in the Lord’s service under his master Eli.” Next we can hear the narrator’s\u00a0voice as it breaks through the frame: “Now in those days the word of the Lord\u00a0was seldom heard, and no vision was granted,” which is followed by a vision\u00a0given to Samuel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The story so far gives us a special kind of man. Special signs surround\u00a0Samuel’s birth: a childless woman suddenly and unexpectedly has her prayer\u00a0for a child answered, at the birth of the child special gifts are given, and the\u00a0child is marked in a special way. All of these are images of uniqueness, are\u00a0intended to show that Samuel is the chosen one. Next we see that Samuel is\u00a0able to have visions, to make direct contact with the Lord. In a charming story\u00a0we are told how Samuel hears the Lord call him but mistakes that call for the\u00a0more natural call of his master Eli. On three occasions Samuel runs to Eli\u00a0saying “You called me, here I am.” Eli finally realizes that it is the Lord calling\u00a0the child and tells Samuel how to respond. Samuel’s first message from the\u00a0“other side” is not a pleasant one to report to his earthly master:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Lord said, `Soon I shall do something in Israel which will ring<\/p>\n

in the ears of all who hear it. When that day comes I will make<\/p>\n

good every word I have spoken against Eli and his family from<\/p>\n

beginning to end. You are to tell him that my judgement on his<\/p>\n

house shall stand for ever because he knew of his sons’ blasphemies<\/p>\n

against God and did not rebuke them. Therefore I have sworn to<\/p>\n

the family of Eli that their abuse of sacrifices and offerings shall<\/p>\n

never be expiated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

but report it he must, even though he is a frightened messenger. Eli’s response\u00a0at hearing that he and his family are permanently unemployed and in serious\u00a0danger is calm and resolute: “The Lord must do what is good in his eyes.” One\u00a0prophet is gone, a new prophet is chosen: “As Samuel grew up, the Lord was\u00a0with him, and none of his words went unfulfilled. From Dan to Beer-sheba, all\u00a0Israel recognized that Samuel was confirmed as prophet of the Lord.” The\u00a0piece starts with Eli being unable to recognize that Hannah is the vehicle\u00a0for a special birth and ends with all Israel recognizing that Samuel is the\u00a0prophet of the Lord. There is a secret plan to be revealed to a chosen few – a\u00a0plan for the chosen tribes of Israel – this bigger narrative also must have plot\u00a0and story-line where events are related causally and the intent of the Author is\u00a0revealed in the story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapters 4 through 6 do not mention Samuel but instead relate the\u00a0primitive story of the Ark of the Lord.[2]<\/a> Samuel has authority and legitimacy as\u00a0established by: his birth in answer to a prayer, his birth to a childless woman,\u00a0his special identifying feature (no razor shall touch his head), and by the\u00a0affirming instance of having a vision of the Lord at a time when “the word of\u00a0the Lord was seldom heard.” Now the narrative shifts to finish the story of Eli\u00a0and his sons. The Israelites face the Philistines near Aphek and are routed by\u00a0the Philistines who kill about four thousand of the Israelites. After returning to\u00a0camp from the killing fields, the Israelites confer with their elders who come to\u00a0believe that the defeat is because their army did not have the Ark of the Lord\u00a0in its midst. They send to Shiloh to get the ark (referred to here also as “The\u00a0Ark of the Covenant of the Lord”) and when it comes into camp there is a\u00a0great shout from the Israelite army, now sure of its victory. The Philistines are\u00a0afraid and cry out, “A god has come into the camp. We are lost!…Be men and\u00a0fight!” And fight they do. We are told simply, “The Philistines then gave battle,\u00a0and the Israelites were defeated and fled to their homes.” The Ark of the Lord\u00a0is taken by the victorious Philistines and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are\u00a0killed. As prophesied in the vision that Samuel reported to Eli, Eli’s line is\u00a0ended – his sons are dead. In a parallel to the Marathon story of Greek\u00a0literature, here a Benjamite runs from the battlefield to Shiloh with news of\u00a0the defeat and the stunning loss of the Ark. Eli is seated by the gate to the city\u00a0in a throne, and is so shocked by the combination of news of the death of his\u00a0sons and the loss of the Ark that he falls over backwards and breaks his neck.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These are dark days. Not only is the Ark gone to the hated Philistines\u00a0but the long time keeper of the Ark at Shiloh is dead, and his family almost\u00a0erased from the earth. The Philistines, meanwhile, take their prize to Ashdod\u00a0and place it in the temple of their god, Dagon. Here we are shown the power\u00a0of the Ark when it is placed next to a competing god. “When the people of\u00a0Ashdod rose next morning, there was Dagon fallen face downwards before the\u00a0Ark of the Lord; so they took him and put him back in his place.” But the next\u00a0morning Dagon has been unseated again – and his fall from the throne has\u00a0broken his head and his two hands and now he lies broken at the feet of the\u00a0Ark of the Lord.[3]<\/a> Yahweh’s power destroys Dagon. Though Israel has been\u00a0defeated by the Philistines, their god has defeated the god of the Philistines. As\u00a0Simone de Beauvoir writes in one of her novels, “When a god falls, he does not\u00a0become merely a man; he becomes a fraud.” And the Philistines will pay. Rats\u00a0swarm over the Philistine territory; people and animals are stricken with\u00a0tumours. Death and destruction hits the city like the Egyptian plagues used by\u00a0the Hebrew god in his struggle with the Pharaoh. Finally, in desperation, the\u00a0Philistine princes realize it is the Ark that is responsible for the death and\u00a0destruction in their midst, and cry out, “Send the Ark of God of Israel away; let\u00a0it go back to its own place, or it will be the death of us all.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although the armies of Israel have been unable to defeat the Philistine\u00a0armies, their god, in the form of the Ark of the Lord has defeated Dagon and\u00a0the people of Philistine. This God of Israel is powerful, destructive, and the\u00a0story shows us that the defeat of enemies is always the doing of the Lord and\u00a0has nothing to do with the armies of the Israelites. Victory is the Lord’s, and so\u00a0is defeat. Some plan is present for the Israelites – a plan which is not easily\u00a0seen or understood, but a plan to be manifest by their god in time and in his\u00a0own way. The Ark of the Lord is the perfect image for this portable god who is\u00a0still looking for a permanent home for his chosen people. Power without limit,\u00a0destruction arbitrarily delivered, a plan that can be penetrated by no one – “no\u00a0one is safe in the presence of the Lord.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Philistine story is finished once the Ark is returned to the\u00a0Israelites, but the Ark’s power is still dangerous, as witnessed in the report,\u00a0“the sons of Jeconiah did not rejoice … when they welcomed the Ark of the\u00a0Lord” and the Lord struck down seventy of them. The men of Beth-shemesh\u00a0respond: “No one is safe in the presence of the Lord” and send a message to\u00a0Kiriath-jearim,[4]<\/a> “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord; come\u00a0down and take charge of it.” The Ark finally finds a home and a custodian and\u00a0remains in Kiriath-jearim for several years. It will be moved again to Jerusalem\u00a0several years later (2 Sam. ch. 6). During this time the Ark and what it stands\u00a0for are far removed from the lives of the Hebrews, who have taken up the wor-\u00a0ship of Baal and Astarte, Canaanite fertility gods. A transition, “So for a long\u00a0while…” reminds us that time has passed and we are told once again of Samuel.\u00a0When the Israelites decide to return to the worship of their god, it is Samuel\u00a0who addresses the whole nation: “If your return to the Lord is wholehearted,\u00a0banish the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth[5]<\/a> from your shrines; turn to the\u00a0Lord with heart and mind, and worship him alone, and he will deliver you from\u00a0the Philistines.” This is a refrain we have heard before. If your faith is strong\u00a0enough then your reward will be …. And what is implied in the text is that if the\u00a0reward is not forthcoming then it is the people’s fault for not having enough\u00a0faith. As we have seen this argument is fatally flawed. Samuel rises to power at\u00a0this point in the narrative, and in an assembly of all the tribes at Mizpah he\u00a0exhibits his special powers of prophesy by fasting and interceding with the\u00a0Lord for the Israelites who confess their sins in a day long prayer meeting.\u00a0Now when the Philistines advance the Lord thunders out at them, and his\u00a0chosen people are able to pursue and slaughter them. This narrative is the\u00a0Hebrew writer’s way of giving us the events of hundreds of years of struggle\u00a0between the peoples who were established in the area and the encroaching\u00a0tribes of Israel, who were eventually to occupy the land and to form it into a\u00a0country. We are reminded of the opening story in Genesis where formlessness\u00a0is given form in the act of creation – in Exodus, the Book of Judges, and here\u00a0too we see images of a crowd of individuals being formed into a congregation\u00a0and then into a nation – a nation which, like the others around it, wants a king\u00a0to rule it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Samuel acted as judge in Israel as long as he lived,” and appointed his\u00a0sons to be judges in his older years. His sons did not follow in his footsteps,\u00a0however, and took bribes and profited from their judgeships. The Israelite\u00a0response is to ask for a king. In what follows we see a hint of the conflict\u00a0between the monarchist and anti-monarchist positions expressed in the story.\u00a0Samuel warns the people that a king will take taxes from them and will enforce\u00a0a universal draft when he needs soldiers. Their sons will serve in the army\u00a0whether they want to or not. The people refuse to heed this warning and cry\u00a0again for a king – “a king to govern us, to lead us out to war and fight our\u00a0battles.” After hearing the will of the people Samuel confers with his Lord and\u00a0is instructed to give them a king. The Lord reads the peoples’ will as a rejection\u00a0of his kingship and there is a sense of jealousy in his acceptance of the new\u00a0relationship between the tribes. The loose confederation of the judges is about\u00a0to be replaced by a new political arrangement, a centralized monarchy. Samuel\u00a0has served as a transition between the judges and the kings. Like him Saul will\u00a0serve as a transition between the time of the power of the priests and the time\u00a0of the power of the kings. Compare the relationship between Saul and Samuel\u00a0with the relationship between David and Nathan to see in narrative terms the\u00a0shift in power from the priest\/prophet\/judge to the king, or from church to\u00a0state.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After some appropriate prophetly mumbo-jumbo in the form of signs\u00a0and raptures, Samuel anoints Saul as king of Israel. Saul is anointed,\u00a0appointed and installed. We are shown how this is to be played out. First\u00a0Samuel anoints Saul in the name of the Lord as the one chosen by the Lord to\u00a0be the king. Then we are shown the appointment which is by lot. The tribe of\u00a0Benjamin is selected by lot and then the family of Matri is chosen by lot, and\u00a0finally from that family Saul is chosen by lot. When he is chosen he stands\u00a0forth in the crowd as special. He is a head taller than anyone else. Once again\u00a0the recurring theme of chosenness is built right into the narrative. Saul is from\u00a0the Benjamite tribe which is the smallest tribe of the twelve tribes and thus his\u00a0choice is also politically astute. It is doubtful that a king \u00a0 from the larger tribes\u00a0would be acceptable, but a Benjamite, like today’s selection of\u00a0Secretary-General of the United Nations, must come from a small tribe.\u00a0Finally we read another version of the choice of Saul, for after Saul’s stunning\u00a0victory over the Ammonites (ch. 11) the people cry out to have this victorious\u00a0warrior as their king: “So they all went to Gilgal and invested Saul there as king\u00a0in the presence of the Lord, sacrificing shared-offerings before the Lord; and\u00a0Saul and all the Israelites celebrated the occasion with great joy.”\u00a0Unfortunately for Saul, this great joy will soon turn to bitter despair, for\u00a0though he reigns over Israel for twenty-two years (we are told in 1 Sam. 13.1),\u00a0he spends the last several years out of favour with the Lord, devoured by fear,\u00a0jealousy and evil spirits, torn between hatred and love for David, and unsure of\u00a0his power.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many traditions are at play in the narrative. We read of Samuel’s\u00a0special birth and of his commitment to the Lord which emphasizes the\u00a0unpredictability of the choice of the Lord. We are told of Samuel’s visions and\u00a0shown how he will replace Eli as the prophet of the Lord, but we are told\u00a0almost nothing of his years as a judge for the tribes of Israel. 1 Samuel\u00a0concerns itself with Saul and David. Samuel plays a small part in the narrative\u00a0although his name is attached to the final text. Although Samuel has a small\u00a0part in the story-line he serves a major part in the official line: he is the reader\u00a0of the higher text, the reader of the Lord’s plan; he will provide the current\u00a0reader with the correct interpretation. The correct interpretation,\u00a0Samuel’s story tells us, is that the Lord is behind all of the events of impor-\u00a0tance in the history of the chosen tribes. Yahweh will choose to allow the\u00a0desire of the people for a king even though he is their king. Yahweh will\u00a0choose Saul; will turn away from him. Yahweh will choose David. The overlay\u00a0of the Samuel story gives us motives and reasons for the events described in\u00a0the Saul and David stories. Imagine for a moment cutting out the story of\u00a0Samuel from the book of Samuel. How much havoc would such an incision\u00a0cause?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first important act of Samuel is to select a king when the people cry\u00a0out for one. We read of Samuel going alone to anoint the one that the Lord\u00a0has chosen. The choice of the Lord is revealed in a strictly arbitrary way to\u00a0Samuel. The real king is not so easy to pick out for mere mortals, but Yahweh\u00a0can see deeper than humans and his choice will be the best. None of the\u00a0Israelites would have selected their first king from the smallest tribe – the tribe\u00a0of Benjamin, only Yahweh could see how the virtues of Saul shone out from\u00a0his humble beginnings “from the smallest of the tribes of Israel” and from a\u00a0family which “is the least important of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin.”\u00a0Samuel’s second important act is to kill Agag when Saul has failed to carry out\u00a0the orders of the Lord completely and with dispatch. Saul’s failure to obey\u00a0(the original sin) loses him the favour of the Lord, and it is Samuel who\u00a0provides us with this reading of the events.[6]<\/a> Samuel stands between the Lord\u00a0and his people reading the “text,” which contains the Lord’s intentions, to the\u00a0people. He also stands between the text and us – providing a reading which\u00a0makes sense of the narrative from a particular point of view. Samuel’s function\u00a0in the story is clear. But is it necessary?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No. Everything that he provides us is also given in another way in the\u00a0narrative. His choice of Saul as first king can be explained without divine\u00a0intervention in a straight forward manner. There are good reasons to choose\u00a0Saul – reasons given in the story: Saul is a head taller than anyone else, a useful\u00a0characteristic for a warrior king; he is selected by lot, a way of indicating that\u00a0everyone had an equal chance; he is from the smallest tribe,[7]<\/a> a way of placating\u00a0the larger tribes, each of whom would have had its favourite candidate who\u00a0would have been unacceptable to the other; he wins a decisive battle against\u00a0the Philistines, an act that is at the center of the desire for a king. In other\u00a0words it is possible to read the story in a realistic manner without the\u00a0introduction of a puppet master who is controlling the strings which cause the\u00a0actors to move. Samuel’s function in the story is to offer a reading of the\u00a0events of the story, a reading which proclaims the intentions and plans of Yah-\u00a0weh. Take that away and all that is lost is the official line.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saul’s story is a tragic one. He is chosen by Yahweh as the first king,\u00a0given the task of uniting a loose confederation of tribes while fighting against\u00a0the established and well armed Philistines, and is to do this while still under the\u00a0direct control of the prophet Samuel, who is opposed to the monarchy. Saul is\u00a0a brave warrior and leader who is capable of making decisions and acting\u00a0quickly. These very characteristics which make him a strong king are also his\u00a0downfall. After one battle with the Philistines he and his army are pursuing the\u00a0enemy from Michmash to Aijalon. “But the people were so faint with hunger\u00a0that they turned to plunder and seized sheep, cattle, and bullocks; they\u00a0slaughtered them on the ground, and ate the meat with the blood in it.” (1\u00a0Sam. 14.32) When Saul is told that the people are breaking the dietary rules of\u00a0Yahweh he immediately acts. He has a large stone rolled into camp and set up\u00a0as a temporary slaughtering place to drain the blood and purify the meat. In\u00a0doing so he takes on a priestly function. This is the beginning of his downfall.\u00a0His major sin, however, is the \u00a0 sin of the stories of the Old Testament: he\u00a0disobeys. Told to `Spare no one’ in the battle against the Amalekites, Saul and\u00a0his army spare the king and the best of the sheep and cattle. For this he loses\u00a0Yahweh’s favour. Remember that commandment: “Thou shalt not kill”?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yahweh, the god of choices, now chooses again. He chooses David:\u00a0“Then the spirit of the Lord came upon David and was with him from that day\u00a0onwards.” Several traditions converge in the David story. One has it that David\u00a0is brought to Saul as a musician to provide Saul relief from his bouts with\u00a0depression. In this story David kills Goliath in the most famous “underdog\u00a0wins against incredible odds” story in literature. Confusion arises when a\u00a0second strand of the story has Saul asking Abner, his commander-in-chief, who\u00a0the boy David is, after we have been told that David is loved by Saul. In any\u00a0case David and Saul’s son, Jonathan, become friends bound together by love.\u00a0This friendship proves important in the David story as on several occasions\u00a0Jonathan assists David in his struggle against Saul. And what is the nature of\u00a0the struggle? David has been blessed by the Lord and will be king. But Saul is\u00a0king. The marvellous story of David’s ascendancy to the throne is the stuff of\u00a0movies. He is in constant danger; he has the opportunity on two occasions to\u00a0kill Saul but he does not;[8]<\/a> he is the leader of a guerrilla band living in the hills;\u00a0he hires out to the enemy kings, but never fights against the Israelites; he is a\u00a0powerful sexual force who can turn Abigail’s head and steal her from her\u00a0husband; he is cunning, brave, powerful, and has stones. David has all the quali-\u00a0ties (we are told) of the early patriarchs: he has the tenacity and strength of\u00a0Jacob, the vision and wisdom of Joseph, the loyalty of Abraham, and the sexual\u00a0appetite of all of them put together. It is only fitting that in his death bed the\u00a0cure offered by his attendants is to place a young virgin in bed with him. They\u00a0expect to see David get up once more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David triumphs by the end of 1 Samuel. Samuel is dead. Saul is dead.\u00a0Long live King David.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the end of 1 Samuel we are told that Saul commits suicide by falling\u00a0on his sword. At the beginning of 2 Samuel we are told of an Amalekite who\u00a0comes to David and tells of the defeat of the Israelites and the death of Saul\u00a0and Jonathan. This man claims to have killed Saul after seeing him “leaning on\u00a0his spear with the chariots and horsemen closing in upon him.” Is this an\u00a0example of a contradictory report? One page has Saul falling on his sword and\u00a0dying and the next has him falling on his spear and not dying. How are we to\u00a0read this seeming discrepancy? The Amalekite is obviously a mercenary in the\u00a0Israelite army. He comes to David hoping to be rewarded for killing the old\u00a0king. Expecting a reward he gets killed. This mercenary does not see that\u00a0though the death of Saul may be in David’s interest, the murder of the king is\u00a0not in David’s interest. “How is it,” said David, “that you were not afraid to\u00a0raise your hand to slay the Lord’s anointed?” The Amalekite’s boastful lie,\u00a0offered as a calculated attempt at currying favour, is his death warrant. “Your\u00a0blood be on your own head,” says David, “for out of your own mouth you\u00a0condemned yourself when you said, `I killed the Lord’s anointed.'” What\u00a0follows is the famous lament of David: (King James, 2 Sam.1.19-27)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

19. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy<\/p>\n

high places: how are the mighty fallen!<\/p>\n

20. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the<\/p>\n

streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the<\/p>\n

Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the<\/p>\n

uncircumcised triumph.<\/p>\n

21. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no<\/p>\n

dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, not<\/p>\n

fields of offerings: for there the shield of the<\/p>\n

mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as<\/p>\n

though he had not been anointed with oil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

22. From the blood of the slain, from the fat<\/p>\n

of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not<\/p>\n

back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

23. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant<\/p>\n

in their lives, and in their death they were not<\/p>\n

divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were<\/p>\n

stronger than lions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

24. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,<\/p>\n

who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights,<\/p>\n

who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

25. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of<\/p>\n

the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine<\/p>\n

high places.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

26. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan:<\/p>\n

very pleasant hast thou been unto me:<\/p>\n

thy love to me was wonderful,passing the love<\/p>\n

of women.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

27. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons<\/p>\n

of war perished!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This dirge over Saul and Jonathan is to be taught to the people of\u00a0Judah. It is a fine lyric poem, a lament on the deaths of these two who have\u00a0been so intimately involved in David’s life. It opens with a greeting to Saul and\u00a0immediately expands that to include all who have fallen. “Laid low”, “fallen”,\u00a0“death” are keys words in the opening which are picked up again in the closing\u00a0pair of lines, where the men of war are no more than the armour they have left\u00a0behind on the killing field. Let no enemy know of this downfall, for their\u00a0rejoicing and exulting at the deaths of these heroes would be an insult to their\u00a0memories. Let not the rains fall on the hills that bear their shields so that rust\u00a0cannot wear away all that is left of them: their armour, weapons and shields.\u00a0These men, powerful in life, are now reduced to mere tools, but their deeds\u00a0and their spirits live on for they “were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.”\u00a0In those images Saul and Jonathan rise above the Hills of Gilboa and become\u00a0not only objects of lament but also subjects of love. David the new king is\u00a0magnanimous in spirit and sensitive to the requirements of a good story. We\u00a0stand with King David at the high point of Israelite Old Testament history.\u00a0King David will soon unite the tribes and lift them on eagles’ wings to the apex\u00a0of their historic relationship with Yahweh: the promised land has been\u00a0achieved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David’s story completes the transition from judges to kings. The\u00a0Israelite cry for a king has been answered. Samuel, who, as we have seen, reads\u00a0the Lord’s story, is the last of the prophet\/judges and the administration of the\u00a0nation is now centralized in the hands of a divine-king. While Saul was\u00a0constantly under the control of Samuel, not so with David. David’s power is\u00a0complete. He will turn to the priest\/prophet for advice and will be brought up\u00a0short for his more outrageous behaviour, but he is in command. “David came\u00a0to the throne at the age of thirty and reigned for forty years. In Hebron he had\u00a0ruled over Judah for seven years and a half, and for thirty-three years he\u00a0reigned in Jerusalem over Israel and Judah together.” (2 Sam. 5.4)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Samuel’s story mediates between the “divine” and “history,” offering us\u00a0a reading of Yahweh’s intentions in the unfolding of history in time. When\u00a0Saul, in despair, goes to the Witch of Endor (1 Sam. 28) in an attempt to\u00a0contact Samuel we see that Samuel, even in death, continues to “read” the\u00a0future and to give a causal explanation of events. His spirit says to Saul:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why have you disturbed me and brought me up?…You have not<\/p>\n

obeyed the Lord, or executed the judgment of his fury against the<\/p>\n

Amalekites; that is why he has done this to you today. For the same<\/p>\n

reason the Lord will let your people Israel fall into the hands of the<\/p>\n

Philistines and, what is more, tomorrow you and your sons shall be<\/p>\n

with me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Samuel the prophet can read the intentions of the Lord, and the proof\u00a0of his reading will be in the accuracy of his predictions. Indeed, the story tells\u00a0us that the next day Saul and his sons are killed and the Philistines are\u00a0victorious. The very structure of the story proclaims the status of Samuel, and\u00a0yet it is obvious here as before that the privileged position offered by writing\u00a0about the past is presented as a knowledge of the future. One of the functions\u00a0of prophets is to “read” the intentions of the gods and to provide us with\u00a0reasons for our misfortunes – reasons which in the Old Testament most often\u00a0turn out to be some form of disobedience. But Samuel is small potatoes\u00a0compared to the prophets to follow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE TEST AT MOUNT CARMEL<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The establishment of David’s dynasty and the building of<\/p>\n

Solomon’s Temple bring to a completion the Lord’s work of<\/p>\n

establishing Israel in Canaan…Israel’s prosperity has a<\/p>\n

condition, however: that the Lord’s commandments be carefully<\/p>\n

obeyed. Hence, the rest of Kings tells how disaster finally<\/p>\n

came upon the Israelite kingdoms through their failure to meet<\/p>\n

that condition. While individual kings were guilty of various<\/p>\n

offenses, two particular violations of the Lord’s cultic<\/p>\n

requirements condemned the two kingdoms. In the Northern<\/p>\n

Kingdom of Israel, the violation was the “sin” of Jeroboam I,<\/p>\n

namely, his establishment of the cult of the golden calves at<\/p>\n

Bethel…In Judah, the violation was permitting the local<\/p>\n

sanctuaries, called the hill-shrines, to continue after the Temple<\/p>\n

was built…(Headnote p. 349, New English Bible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The story in 1 Kings 1 that has Nathan talking to the dying King David\u00a0about the succession rights emphasizes the power shift from prophet to king.\u00a0When Saul went to the witch of En-dor (1 Sam. 28) and had her call up\u00a0Samuel from the dead we saw how Saul responded: “Then Saul knew it was\u00a0Samuel, and he bowed low with his face to the ground, and prostrated himself.”\u00a0At David’s death bed it is Nathan who prostrates himself before “the presence”\u00a0of King David: “The king was told that Nathan was there; he came into the\u00a0presence and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.” This yielding\u00a0image indicates in the action of prostration the shift in power relationships\u00a0between the prophets and the kings. King David enjoys the support of\u00a0Yahweh, of course, and is a king by “divine right.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David and Solomon rule over the United Kingdom for some eighty\u00a0years; the period is now known as the golden age of Israel (c1010 B.C.E. to\u00a0c931 B.C.E.). David’s capture of Jerusalem, his choice of Jerusalem as the\u00a0capital, and Solomon’s construction of the Temple in Jerusalem signal the end\u00a0of the story of the nomadic chosen people and the fulfillment of the covenant\u00a0promise for \u00a0 land. Now the Hebrews have a permanent location for the Ark of\u00a0the Covenant, a king to offer central administration, and a settled way of life in\u00a0the promised land. Solomon not only builds a Temple for the Ark but he also\u00a0fortifies many of the cities in the kingdom by building thick walls such as are\u00a0seen at Megiddo, Hazor, and Gezer. These are the golden years: we read of\u00a0the wealth of Solomon imaged in gold and thousands of concubines, in massive\u00a0building projects employing thousands of slaves, in visits to the king made by\u00a0emissaries from other countries and by the Queen of Sheba herself. But at his\u00a0death in 931 B.C.E. the unification of the Hebrew tribal groups (traditionally\u00a012 in number) falls apart – Kings David and Solomon will be the only kings to\u00a0reign over a union of all the tribes. Much of the Old Testament is written\u00a0during the years of civil strife, invasion, and exile which follows the death of\u00a0Solomon. How could a nation ruled by Yahweh’s chosen ones decline so\u00a0rapidly? What had gone wrong? These “chosen people” are led out of slavery,\u00a0purified in the desert, given a “constitution,” provided with a chosen king, enjoy\u00a0the results for some eighty years, and then tear themselves apart in internal\u00a0quarrels about shrines. Israel and Judah seem unable to agree on one reading\u00a0of the covenant text – competing readings break them apart into different\u00a0bunches, each claiming to have the Truth. This conclusion to the “promised\u00a0land” narrative is inevitable; it is to be found in the concept of “chosenness” –\u00a0choosing without reasons is destructive. Today we would call it privileging.[9]<\/a> All\u00a0of those arbitrary choices made by Yahweh throughout the stories of the Old\u00a0Testament produce an attitude of intolerant arrogance as each tribe asserts its\u00a0own special claim to be the chosen vessel of the proclaimed divine. The\u00a0united kingdom crumbles because the tribes cannot agree on where and how\u00a0to worship their god.[10]<\/a> The prophets, as opposed to the royal priests,\u00a0sympathized with the northern desire to reduce the power of the kings and the\u00a0Temple priests. As the monarchy falters the prophets return to prominence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Consider Elijah the Tishbite: a series of stories about Elijah enter the\u00a0narrative at 1 Kings 16 and relate the first stages of the overthrow of the\u00a0dynasty of Omri. Elijah appears as a mature and complete figure who\u00a0announces his authenticity to King Ahab by way of a nature miracle: he will\u00a0cause a drought to occur in Israel, a drought which will eliminate both rain and\u00a0dew until Elijah gives the word. On command from Yahweh he goes to Za-\u00a0rephath where he is told that a widow has been instructed to feed him. He\u00a0goes; he meets the widow. She tells him, in response to his request for food, “I\u00a0have no food to sustain me except a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a\u00a0flask.” Elijah tells her to make a small cake for him from the scarce supplies,\u00a0and she does. But the food is not used up, for “the jar of flour did not give out\u00a0nor did the flask of oil fail,” and “there was food for him and for her and for\u00a0her family for a long time.” After some time the son of this woman fell ill and\u00a0his breathing ceased. The woman is devastated by the loss of her son and\u00a0blames Elijah for interfering with her life and bringing this sad consequence to\u00a0her. He takes the boy in his arms, carries him to the roof-chamber, brings him\u00a0back to life, and announces to the boy’s mother, “Look, your son is alive.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Now I know for certain that you are a man of God and that the word\u00a0of the Lord on your lips is truth,” she says, having seen his power in the act of\u00a0bringing her son back to life. Immediately after this the narrative shifts to a\u00a0larger arena where Elijah will demonstrate to all of the people that he is a\u00a0prophet of Yahweh, a “true” prophet of the “true” god. In an amazing display\u00a0of verification as a means of determining truth, Elijah sets up a contest\u00a0between himself\/Yahweh on one side, and King Ahab’s prophets\/Baal on the\u00a0other. Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal answer the challenge. The test\u00a0is simplicity itself: “Bring two bulls; let them choose one for themselves, cut it\u00a0up and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it, and I will prepare the other\u00a0and lay it on the wood without setting fire to it. You shall invoke your god by\u00a0name and I will invoke the Lord by name; and the god who answers by fire, he\u00a0is God.” Here is a real test, a test that looks like a scientific test. The hypothesis\u00a0is something like this: The real god will have the power to start a fire and will\u00a0do so on a request from a real prophet. Common sense tells us that fires do\u00a0not just start spontaneously, but must be ignited by flame. No human hand will\u00a0provide the ignition, and if the fire bursts out it must be the work of a god.\u00a0Prediction: the real god will respond to the request of the real prophet by\u00a0starting a fire to consume the offering.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just before this test is conducted we read of Elijah’s power (through\u00a0Yahweh) in a series of stories which include nature miracles and a resurrection\u00a0miracle. Based on the narrative we have no doubt that we are reading about a\u00a0real and powerful prophet. He is alone against four hundred and fifty prophets\u00a0of Baal – one voice against a multitude of voices. Just to be sure that the test is\u00a0accepted as proof of the claim that Yahweh is God, Elijah stacks the deck\u00a0against himself. After the wood has been laid, the bull prepared for sacrifice,\u00a0and the trench dug around the altar, he orders the people to soak the wood\u00a0with water. Not once, but three times, they carry water to the altar and soak\u00a0the wood and the sacrifice. After the prophets of Baal have cried out to Baal\u00a0all morning and most of the afternoon to no avail, Elijah tries. He addresses\u00a0his god, “Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known today\u00a0that thou art God in Israel.” And the result? “Then the fire of the Lord fell. It\u00a0consumed the whole-offering, the wood, the stones, and the earth, and licked\u00a0at the water in the trench.” The prediction comes true at the appropriate time;\u00a0therefore there is good reason to believe that the hypothesis is true.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Does this mean that we have been given evidence for the existence of\u00a0god? It certainly would count as evidence if it happened. But, of course, this\u00a0“test,” no matter how objective and fair, is contained in a story, a story which\u00a0has as its intention the desire to prove that Yahweh is \u00a0 God. The test is so\u00a0dramatic, the result so compelling, that we would expect it to be recorded in all\u00a0sorts of documents. But, alas, none of the four hundred and fifty “prophets” of\u00a0Baal are left to testify to the miracle, for Elijah has the people of Israel take\u00a0them down to the river valley below Mount Carmel. “They seized them, and\u00a0Elijah took them down to the Kishon and slaughtered them there in the\u00a0valley.” Shortly after this successful display of power Elijah outruns King\u00a0Ahab’s chariot in a race to return to Jezreel.[11]<\/a> After a short time in Beersheba\u00a0hiding from Jezebel, Elijah is given new orders by Yahweh and sets off to\u00a0anoint a new king and to find a new prophet. He finds Elisha ploughing the\u00a0fields with twelve pair of oxen, throws his cloak over him and in that way\u00a0includes him as his new disciple and Yahweh’s new prophet. Elisha leaves his\u00a0oxen, kisses his mother and father good-bye, slaughters a pair of oxen for the\u00a0people to eat, and follows Elijah.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the beginning of The Second Book of Kings Elijah is still a “trouble”\u00a0to Ahaziah, the king of Israel. The king sends a captain and fifty soldiers to get\u00a0Elijah down from a hill-top where he is sitting. In response to the captain’s\u00a0orders Elijah says, “If I am a man of God, may fire fall from heaven and\u00a0consume you and your company!” And we are told, “Fire fell from heaven and\u00a0consumed the officer and his fifty men.” Look closely at this passage. It is\u00a0presented as a formal argument. `If P then Q’ and `Q’ therefore `P’. Or,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If I am a man of God then fire will consume you and your<\/p>\n

company. (premise)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fire consumes you and your company. (premise)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Therefore, I am a man of God. (implied conclusion)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

which can be written:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If P then Q<\/p>\n

Q<\/p>\n

Therefore, P.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

which is not a valid argument form. (The fallacy it commits is called<\/p>\n

`Affirming the Consequent’.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Elijah, the one true prophet, alone against incredible odds, perseveres\u00a0against the king’s men (in spite of his bad logic!) and fire falls to consume a\u00a0total of one hundred and two men before Elijah feels safe enough to come\u00a0down the hill. It is really not so much a matter of logical error here in the story\u00a0as it is an indication of the writer’s attitudes. These “tests” are not to be taken\u00a0as verification that god exists, but instead god’s existence is taken for granted,\u00a0is a given. We see that here, in the logical error, for at no time is it even a\u00a0question whether or not “I am a man of God” is true. The truth of that “proposi-\u00a0tion” is given in the story. Read it like this: “Given that God exists, and given\u00a0that I am a man of God then everything is possible for me. The physically\u00a0impossible is possible; the ability to destroy is possible; the ability to outrun\u00a0horses is mine.” In the confusion of the divided kingdom Elijah’s voice must be\u00a0strong and clear, and one. The centre must hold. Elisha will carry on. “[A]nd\u00a0suddenly there appeared chariots of fire, which separated one from the other,\u00a0and Elijah was carried up in the whirlwind to heaven.” The Elijah story looks\u00a0back to Moses – with Elijah leading the Israelites from the slavery of Baal as\u00a0Moses led them from the slavery of Pharaoh and with Elisha taking the place\u00a0of Joshua – and it looks forward to the Jesus story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The spirit of Elijah has settled on Elisha,” we read, and with it the\u00a0power to control natural events, to intercede miraculously in the natural order\u00a0of things, and to deliver life from death. Elijah is taken up by Yahweh in the\u00a0same geographical area in which Moses was buried (Deut. 34.5-6) tying the\u00a0two stories together in yet another way. Over and over again we read the fun-\u00a0damental story of the Hebrews: Israeli disobedience leads to Yahweh’s anger,\u00a0which leads to Israeli repentance and then to Yahweh’s salvation. The heroes –\u00a0Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha – have access to Yahweh through\u00a0visions, dreams, and messengers and relate the text of history to the people\u00a0who do not always pay close attention to the reading they are offered. The\u00a0hero is always identified in some special way – a special birth, a special sign, a\u00a0unique physical mark, a special power – so that we readers can identify the true\u00a0prophet from the false prophet. The story is based on fact; that is, a united\u00a0kingdom did exist as the high point of the Israelite experience, but it existed\u00a0for less than eighty years before falling into pieces. The chosen people were to\u00a0have the Promised Land for all time, but instead had it for two generations.\u00a0Why did the kingdom fall? The official line tells us: Yahweh offered\u00a0the promised land; he delivered; the contract demanded obedience on the\u00a0part of Israel; Israel fell apart; therefore the reason must be that Israel has\u00a0failed to keep its contractual obligations. In a word, plot. Story is made up of\u00a0events; plot offers causal connections for those events. Prophets are readers of\u00a0plot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

[1]<\/a> Footnote page 255, The New English Bible<\/em>, Oxford Study Edition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a> The Ark of the Lord is a box-throne like object that the Lord of Israel used to manifest his presence. See Exodus 25.22, Numbers 7.890, and Joshua chs. 3-4.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[3]<\/a> Dagon hasw been broken by the Ark of the Lord, and it is head and hands that are broken. Dagon\u2019s ability to formulate intention and his ability to carry out intention are destroyed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[4]<\/a> Kiriath-jearim was located between Jerusalem and Gezer just a few miles east of Jerusalem. The Philistines were also a migrant5 people who had at this time control of the coastal area between the Shephelah and the sea, part of which is now the Gaza Strip. The Philistine cities were Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. The Philisitnes gave their name to this part of the Canaannite territory as `Palestine\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[5]<\/a> Ashtaroth was a cult object representing Astarte, a god of fertility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[6]<\/a> Note also that Samuel\u2019s sons are not worthy of following him as judge. There is no other contender for the leadership.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[7]<\/a> During all of the years of the \u201ccold war\u201d we had no Secretary-General of the United Nations who came from the USA or the USSR. Someone from a \u201csmaller tribe\u201d always filled the position.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[8]<\/a> It is obviously in David\u2019s interest to maintain the principle of the divine right of the king.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[9]<\/a> The deconstructionists have pointed to the cultural and hence relative values that are bound up in some of our pairings of terms: truth\/fiction, philosophy\/literature, male\/female, thinking\/feeling. If one cannot provide a good argument for valuing one over the other then the privileging is arbitrary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[10]<\/a> In addition to religious squabbling there were economic reasons for the split. Solomon\u2019s ambitious building programs tended to \u201cchoose\u201d the southern part of the kingdom to the exclusion of the more nomadic northern tribes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[11]<\/a> The interesting a popular movie, Chariots of Fire,<\/em> gets its title from these stories in the Old Testament. The Christian runner, who will not run on Sundays for religious reasons, tells his sister that he \u201cfeels the power of the Lord\u201d when he runs, just as Elijah did when he outran Ahab\u2019s chariot. Elijah is taken to heaven by a chariot of fire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":276,"menu_order":9,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-40","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/40\/revisions\/41"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/40\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/readingthebible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}