So I wrote about how human government in the bible started with
Properly defined, a
Other than the first king in the family, kings didn’t earn their position, didn’t merit it… or, bluntly, steal it through conquest or coups. They inherited it, ’cause their dads were the previous kings, designated them as successor, and the kingdom became their birthright. They could be utterly unfit to govern others… as is usually true throughout human history. Designated successors (or as we nowadays call them, crown princes) had the awful habit of not thinking of the kingdom and its people as their duty, and their leadership as service, but as possessions and slaves. It’s 180 degrees different from God’s attitude
How Israel got its kings.
Ancient Israel began as a patriarchy, with Israel himself as the head of his family. Then he died and Joseph became patriarch; then Joseph died and arguably Manasseh became patriarch; and of course by that point the family was too huge for any one patriarch to govern all, and by Moses’s day
The position Moses ben Amram took was that of
Since there were judges, Israel didn’t need any kings. Ordinarily the Hebrews would govern themselves (or their patriarchs, i.e.
Until the Hebrews grew tired of the Cycle, and decided the solution… was not to follow the Law, nor invent
Duh; ’cause God’s their king, as the judge Gideon Jerubbaal ben Joash pointed out:
Judges 6.22-23 KWL - 22 The men of Israel told Gideon, “Reign over us—both you, your son, and your grandson—
- for you saved us from from Midian’s hand.”
- 23 Gideon told them, “Neither I nor my son will reign over you:
- The L
ORD reigns over you!”
Not that Gideon’s son Abimelech didn’t give it a try. But Gideon was right: The L
Jump forward about 200 years and Samuel ben Elkanah’s the judge. This time, the Hebrews didn’t come to Samuel to ask him to be king. They wanted him to pick some other guy to be king.
1 Samuel 8.4-18 KWL - 4 All the gathered elders of Israel came to Samuel at Ramoth,
- 5 and told Samuel, “Look, you’re old. Your sons don’t walk in your ways.
- Now put a king over us to judge us, like all the other nations.”
- 6 To Samuel’s eyes, the word they said—“Put a king over us to judge us”—was evil.
- Samuel prayed to the L
ORD .- 7 The L
ORD told Samuel, “Hear the people’s voice? All they tell you?- It’s not you they rejected; they rejected me from reigning over them.
- 8 All the works they’ve done, from the day I brought them from Egypt to this day:
- They abandoned me. They served other gods. They’re doing it to you too.
- 9 Now hear their voice. But when you do, warn, warn them.
- Tell them the nature of a king’s judgment, which’ll be king over them.”
- 10 So Samuel spoke all the L
ORD ’s words to them, to the people who asked him for a king.- 11 Samuel said, “This is how a king judges when he’s king over you.
- He takes your sons. He sets them in his chariots, on his horses, and as runners before his chariots.
- 12 He sets up chiefs over armies, chiefs over companies.
- Some are to plow his plowing and reap his reaping.
- Others are to make his war-weapons and chariot-weapons.
- 13 He takes your daughters to make perfume, cook, and bake.
- 14 He takes your fields. Your vineyards. Your olives.
- He gives the good stuff to his slaves.
- 15 He tithes your seed and vineyards, and gives it to his eunuchs and slaves.
- 16 He takes your slaves, maids, the good young men, the donkeys, and makes them do his work.
- 17 He tithes your flocks. You’re slaves to him.
- 18 On that day, you’ll cry out from the presence of your king whom you chose for yourselves.
- On that day, the L
ORD won’t answer you.”- 19 The people refused to hear Samuel’s voice. They said, “No—
- because if we have a king over us, 20 we can also be like other nations!
- Our king can judge us. He can go out before us, and fight our wars!”
- 21 Samuel heard all the people’s words and spoke them in the L
ORD ’s ears.- 22 The L
ORD told Samuel, “Hear their voice? Set up a king for them.”- Samuel told the men of Israel, “Every man, go to your city.”
Why on earth did the ancient Hebrews ignore Samuel’s warnings and demand a king anyway? Bluntly, ’cause Samuel sucked as a judge.
Yeah, the Sunday-school stories tend to make Samuel sound like a good guy, ’cause he was a boy prophet, and ’cause he anointed David ben Jesse. They tend to skip the 50 years in between. Samuel appointed his sons to succeed him as judges, but they were easily bought off. That’s why the Israeli elders demanded a king instead.
And the other reason, as the L
The elders figured kings would provide the nation stability.
They didn’t realize if they had a permanent king, they’d wind up needing someone to save them from him. Kings are worse than any foreign invader. They plunder and destroy from within. And if you dare stand up to kings, as many of the L
Anyway Samuel got ’em a king, Saul ben Kish, who made kind of a good start and won some battles, but eventually blew it because he’d rather be popular than follow the L
| KINGS OF ISRAEL | LENGTH | WHEN | GOOD? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saul ben Kish Eshbaal ben Saul | Not sure 2 years |
Late 1000s " | Went nuts Doesn’t say |
| David ben Jesse Solomon ben David Rehoboam ben Solomon |
40 years 40 years 17 years | Early 900s Mid-900s Late 900s |
Best ever Went wrong Nope |
David thereafter became Israel’s third king. Samuel had anointed David as Saul’s successor, and the scriptures basically treat David as an exemplary king. Even though David made some spectacular errors in judgment; particularly stealing the wife of one of his greatest, most loyal soldiers, and then murdering the soldier. Pretty heinous—and that’s the act of Israel’s greatest king. But what made David great was he loved the L
David was succeeded by his son Solomon, who’s known for building the L
Y’notice I include charts which list the kings. Why don’t I use exact dates? Because we don’t have exact dates till the events of the bible start syncing up with neo-Babylonian history. All the “exact dates” you find in encyclopedias and bible handbooks are educated guesses. Me, I figured I’d leave it inexact so you’d know how inexact it actually is.
Two nations, multiple dynasties.
| KINGS OF SAMARIA | LENGTH | WHEN | GOOD? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeroboam ben Nebat Nadab ben Jeroboam | 22 years 2 years | Late 900s " |
Nope Nope |
| Baasha ben Ahijah Elah ben Baasha | 24 years 2 years | Early 800s " |
Nope Nope |
| Zimri | 7 days | " | No |
| Omri Ahab ben Omri Ahaziah ben Ahab Jehoram ben Ahab |
12 years 22 years 2 years 12 years |
" Mid 800s " " |
Nope The worst Nope Nope |
| Jehu ben Jehoshafat Jehoahaz ben Jehu Jehoash ben Jehoahaz Jeroboam ben Jehoash Zechariah ben Jeroboam |
28 years 17 years 16 years 41 years 6 months |
" Late 800s Early 700s " " |
Not enough Nope Nope Nope Nope |
| Shallum ben Jabesh | 1 month | Mid 700s | Nope |
| Menachem ben Gadi Pekahiah ben Menachem | 10 years 2 years |
" " | Nope Nope |
| Pekah ben Remaliah | 9 years | " | Nope |
| Hoshea ben Elah | 20 years | " | Nope |
Properly “Ephraim,” which
The first Samarian king, Jeroboam ben Nabat, worried his people might defect to Jerusalem when they went to temple, created two northern temples of the L
Samaria was finally conquered by the Assyrian Empire in 721
| KINGS OF JERUSALEM | LENGTH | WHEN | GOOD? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abijah ben Rehoboam Asa ben Abijah Jehoshafat ben Asa Jehoram ben Jehoshafat Ahaziah ben Jehoram |
3 years 41 years 25 years 8 years A few months |
Late 900s " Mid 800s " " |
Nope Nope Yes Yes Nope |
| Athaliah bat Ahab | 6 years | " | Bad |
| Jehoash ben Ahaziah Amaziah ben Jehoash Uzziah ben Amaziah Jotham ben Uzziah Jehoahaz ben Jotham Hezekiah ben Jehoahaz Manasseh ben Hezekiah Amon ben Manasseh Josiah ben Amon Jehoahaz ben Josiah Jehoiakim ben Josiah Jeconiah ben Jehoiakim Zedekiah ben Josiah |
40 years 29 years 52 years 16 years 16 years 29 years 15 years 2 years 31 years 3 months 11 years 3 months 11 years |
Late 800s Early 700s Mid 700s " " Late 700s " Early 600s Mid 600s Late 600s Early 500s 598–597 597–586 |
Okay Yes Okay Yes Nope Yes No but repented Nope Really good Nope Nope Nope Nope |
“Judah” was the kingdom of Jerusalem, supported by the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and those Levites who lived in the south. The Historian identified some of ’em as good kings, and the rest not, using David as a baseline: If they followed the L
The dynasty of David ruled it for about 13 centuries, with one hiccup when Ahaziah ben Jehoram’s queen Athaliah took advantage of his death, killed all his kids but one, and reigned four years. But once she was overthrown, the Davidites reigned till the Babylonian Empire overthrew Jerusalem in 587
| HASMONEAN & HERODIAN KINGS | WHEN |
|---|---|
| Simon Maccabee/Thassi John Hyrcanus 1 Aristobulus 1 Alexander Jannaeus Salome Alexandra Hyrcanus 2 Aristobulus 2 Hyrcanus 2 (again) Antigonus |
141–135 134–104 104–103 103-76 76–67 67–66 66–63 63–40 40–37 |
| Herod Antipater Archelaus Agrippa 1 |
37 4–6 41–44 |
After the Persian Empire allowed Israelis to return to Jerusalem around 538 and establish Judea as one of their provinces, the resettled Jews went without a king for about two centuries. That is, till the Maccabees overthrew the Seleucid Empire, made Simon Maccabee both head priest and king in 142
After that is where Herod came in: He married into the royal family, used his influence with the Romans to overthrow Antigonus, and got himself appointed king in 37
Of course when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70
And for fun I’ll bring up the European kings of Jerusalem. During the first crusade, French generals took the city from the Seljuk Empire in 1099 and declared themselves its kings, starting with Godfrey of Bouillon. Saladin took back the city in 1187, so the French relocated their kingdom to Tyre, then Acre. After the Mamluks conquered Acre in 1291, the kingdom was officially dissolved… although that hasn’t stopped various European nobles from claiming they still held claim to the title “king of Jerusalem.” Currently King Felipe 6 of Spain ceremonially calls himself that… plus king and duke and count and lord of a lot of lands which Spain has no valid claim to. But that’s kings for you; they love to collect titles, even ones with no real meaning.
Kings suck. Except Jesus.
Because of how thoroughly corrupt human kings have been, some Christians are uncomfortable with even describing God as our king. Even though the bible calls him that. Even though Jesus’s titles Christ and Messiah mean “king”—’cause he’s the king of God’s kingdom.
I have no problem with it at all. Because I consider Jesus our only rightful king. Only he deserves to rule. Only he can wield power without it corrupting him. He governs morally, rightly, and fairly. Every other king and queen on earth is usurping his title—and of course botching the job. Even the very best kings, like David ben Jesse, murdered and stole and adultered and broke God’s commands, and in so doing prove the folly of giving humans so much power.
But hey, God did warn the Hebrews—and us—not to do it.
The L
