Comparing Three Old Testament Kings - Essay Example

Religion and Theology 12 April, A comparison of Three Old Testament Kings: Saul, David, and Solomon This paper gives a comparison of three Old Testament kings, i.e. King Saul, David, and Solomon. The comparison lays bare the similarities and differences among the three Old Testament kings. The comparison involves an analysis of five features of the three Old Testament kings. The five analyzed features of the three Old Testament kings are: the kings’ historical background and their beginnings, their loyalty and faithfulness to God, their disobedience against God, their successes, and their failures. Let us begin by analysing and comparing the historical backgrounds and the beginnings of the three Old Testament kings. The first king of the united kingdom of Israel was Saul. Saul was born in 1079 BC, at Gibeah in Judah (History of Israel Kings, n.p). He was a farmer from the tribe of Benjamin, and was not expecting to be king of Israel because he was a Benjamite, the least tribe of Israel, and his family was the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin (1Samuel 9:20). Saul was a tall handsome young man (1Samuel 9:2). He was appointed the king of Israel when the Israelites demanded for a human whom they could physically approach and relate to (1Samuel 8:5, JKV). Saul reigned in the period between 1050-1010. David on the other hand was a heard boy from the tribe of Judah the Judah; David was born at Bethlehem in Judah. David was born in the year 1040, when Saul was the king of the united kingdom of Israel (History of Israel Kings, n.p). Just like Saul, David was not expecting to be the king of Israel because he was a little boy, and Saul was still in power as the king of Israel; David was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse and he was handsome (1Samuel 16:11-12). King David ruled Israel between 1010-1002. Un like King Saul and King David, King Solomon was raised in a royal environment and he was a prince; King Solomon was the son of King David (1 Kings 2:12). King Solomon therefore was destined to be king of Israel unlike Saul and David. But just like King Saul and King David, King Solomon was from Judah, he was born at Jerusalem in Judah. Solomon reined Israel between the years 970 -931 BC (History of Israel Kings, n.p). Having analyzed the historical background and the beginnings of kings Saul, King David and King Solomon, let us now look at how these three kings of the united monarchy of Israel were loyal and faithful to God. When Saul was appointed the king of Israel, he was loyal to God and God had destined him to liberate the Israelites from their enemies, the philistines (1Samuel 9:15, JKV). When prophet Samuel anointed Saul as the king of Israel, the spirit of God filled Saul and Saul started prophesying through the power of the Holy Spirit (1Samuel 10: 10-110, JKV). Saul therefore was initially very loyal to God and the Spirit of God was upon him, but, Saul did not remain loyal to God for long time, his impatience and lack of faith made him to turn away from God (1Samuel 13: 9, JKV). Unlike King Saul, who was impatient had had little faith in God, King David had strong faith in God and waited patiently upon the Lord. This fact is evidenced by how King David trusted in the help of the Lord, and through the help of the Lord he managed to kill Goliath (1 Samuel, 1749). Also, unlike King Saul who did not remain faithful to God for long time, King David remained faithful to God throughout his life. Although, of course, King David sinned to God in many ways as we shall see later in this paper, King David remained faithful to God throughout his life and whenever he sinned against God, King remorsefully repented his sins and God heard him (2Samuel 24:10, JKV). King David also worked in the name of the Lord. This is a clear sign that King David was loyal and faithful to God (1Samuel 17: 37, JKV). King Samuel therefore was a righteous man who endeavoured to live according to the will of God. King Solomon, on the other hand, also endeavoured to follow the way of the Lord, just like King David. However, unlike King David, the pursuit of worldly power and pleasures often took King Solomon’s heart away from the ways of the Lord. A good example to show that Solomon endeavoured to follow the ways of the Lord is Solomon’s asking for wisdom from God, so that he would be able to discern the ways of the Lord, and to lead God’s people in accordance with the will of the Lord (1Kings 3:1-15, JKV). Also, through his great faith in God, Solomon built a temple for the Lord at Jerusalem. These facts therefore shows that King Solomon was, indeed, more faithful to God than King Saul. However, King Solomon wasn’t as faithful to God as King David. This is because King Solomon’s love for wealth and women led him to drift away from the ways of the Lord. On their successes, these three Old Testament kings achieved notable accomplishments through their faith in God. To begin with, through the command and the help of God, King Saul was able to defeat the nation of Amalek in the war between the Israelites and the Philistines. God had actually appointed Saul as the king of Israel so that through him, He could liberate the Israelites from their enemies, the Philistines. But since King Saul did not remain faithful to God for long time, King Saul did not accomplish many commendable things in his reign. King David, on the other hand, accomplished many outstanding things through the help of God because he was a righteous king and he endeavoured to live according to the will of God. One of the outstanding achievements of King David was the killing of Goliath (1 Samuel 17, JKV). King David also mad managed, through the help of God, to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2Samuel 5:7, JKV). Through the faithfulness of King David to God, God made a covenant with him in which He promised him that his kingdom would last forever (2Samuel 7:16, JKV), this can also be viewed as a significant success of King David. King David therefore was able to accomplish many things through his faithfulness to God. King Solomon also, just like King Saul and King David, accomplished many good things through his faithfulness to God. One of the main achievement of King Solomon is that he had great wisdom, through which, he was able to lead the people of God well (1Kings 4:32, JKV). King Solomon also had great wealth as the result of his faithfulness to God (1Kings 10, JKV). King Solomon’s achievements, however, wasn’t as great as David’s achievements. However, King Solomon’s achievements were greater than Saul’s achievements. The other important feature of these three kings’ lives is on how they disobeyed God in different ways. To begin with, King Saul disobeyed God by offering sacrifices to God, a task that was supposed to be performed by the prophet of God, Samuel. According to (1Samuel 10:18, JKV), Prophet Samuel had warned Saul against offering God sacrifices, and he had called upon him to wait for further instructions from him within a week. However, when Prophet Samuel failed to arrive after a week, and with the people pestering him, Kind Saul decided to offer sacrifices to God, in preparation for battle against the philistines. This act was clearly an act of disobedience against God. Also, when King Saul defeated the nation of Amalek through the help of God, King Saul disobeyed God by failing to destroy everything that he had captured as it was required of him (1Samuel 15:1-3, JKV). On the other hand, King David also disobeyed God, just like King Saul. King David’s disobedience to God was through committing adultery through Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. King David also orchestrated the death of Uriah so that he could take over his wife (2Samuel 11, JKV). This clearly was an act of disobedience against God, and God punished King David for this sinful act (2 Samuel 12, JKV). Unlike King Saul, however, King David had remorsefully repented to God for this sinful act. King Solomon also, Just like King Saul and King David, sinned against God. Solomon disobeyed God through marrying foreign wives who influenced him to introduce idolatry in Israel. King Solomon had 700 wives, and some of these wives came from the tribes that were enemies to the Israel (1Kings 11, JKV). Introduction of idolatry in Israel was clearly disobedience against God because it is against the Sinai covenant that the Israelites had made with Yeah. This fact therefore shows that King Solomon’s disobedience against God was graver than King Saul’s and King David’s disobedience against God. This is evidenced by the fact that the Solomon’s disobedience against God led to the division of the United Kingdom of Israel into the northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, during the reign of Rehoboam, who was King Solomon’s son(1Kings 12, JKV). On their failures, these three kings also failed in their God given responsibilities as the result of their disobedience to God. The failures of these three Israelites kings are related with the disobedience of the kings to God. For instance, when Saul disobeyed God by taking up the place of God, i.e. offering God sacrifice instead of Prophet Samuel, God gave the kingdom of Israel to another family, who were faithful to him (1Samuel 13, JKV). King David’s disobedience on the other hand led to punishment, God punished David for killing Uriah (2Samuel 12, JKV). Solomon’s disobedience on the other hand led to the division of Israel Kingdom into two, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Works Cited History of Israel Kings. Web. http://rediscoveringthebible.com/Kings.pdf JKV Bible. Web Read More