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  • From: JBarach AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The 'need' for a king?
  • Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:37:22 EDT


In a message dated 8/14/2007 9:26:03 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
rosewalk AT concentric.net writes:

And, the reason that Samuel responded to our request for a king with
disappointment and anger, is because we requested a king only " so
that we could be like all the surrounding nations" - instead of
asking for a righteous king who would lead us, inspire us and set an
example of selfless and wholehearted service to G-d, we asked only to
imitate other nations - THAT is why Samuel got angry


But in Deuteronomy 17:14-15, it seems to allow the people to want to set a
king over them like the nations around them.

When you come to the land which YHWH your God
is giving you, and you possess it, and you dwell
in it, and you say, "I will set a king over me like
all the nations that are around me," you shall
surely set a king over you whom YHWH your
God chooses....

In that passage, it doesn't sound as if the desire to have a king like the
nations around Israel is necessarily a bad thing. Rather, Israel is told
that
when they want a king like the nations, they must pick only the king that
YHWH chooses, a brother, not a foreigner, and the king must act in a certain
way, not multiplying horses or causing the people to return to Egypt to
multiply horses, not multiplying wives, not multiplying silver and gold, but
one who
writes out the law, and so forth.

I've been inclined to think that desiring a king like the nations was the
problem in 1 Samuel, but as I read Deuteronomy 17, I'm not sure that that
interpretation will stand.

John


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