Saul, David, and Solomon Kingdoms - Literature review Example

Saul, David, and Solomon Kingdoms Introduction Saul was the first King of Israel followed by David and eventually Solomon. Solomon was a Benjamite while David was a Judah. Solomon was the son of Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. Solomon was a result of David’s adultery. Samuel anointed all the three kings who reigned each for a period of 40 years. Saul reigned from 1112-1072 BC. David succeeded Saul until 1032BC while Solomon succeeded David and reigned until 992 BC (Halpern 23). Research reports describe the time periods the kings served as Jubilee years as indicated in the Bible Chronology. Primary researchers in the field affirm that the present day people live in the times of King Solomon’s reign. A comparison of the three kingdoms will provide a better understanding of the purposes of God at present. The comparison offers an in-depth examination of the changes that occur in God’s dealings with His people and the world. The study relates kingdom reigns to the present leadership. The three kings differed significantly in their characters, achievements, and their relationships with God. All the three kings began on a humble ground with stronger relationships with God. Solomon and Saul sinned, a condition that led to their despondent end. David, however, died peacefully in his bed despite committing adultery as a sin. Kings Saul and Solomon’s sins were, interestingly, of a lesser magnitude compared to David’s. God is merciful and forgives His people when they repent for their sins. Steady and continued relationships with God intimately relate to the leadership qualities of an individual and significantly affect the occurrences at the end of the leadership term. The paper herein critically analyzes the three kingdoms in terms of similarities, differences, successes, and failures. Similarities Prophet Samuel anointed all the three kings. Chapter 9 and 10 of 1 Samuel narrates the accounts of Saul’s call. The Bible describes Saul as a tall and impressive man (Maxwell, NIV, 1 Sam 9:2.). Samuel was out in the company of a servant while searching for his father’s lost donkey. Their search was unfortunate, and Saul gave up and began retreating home when the servant decided to visit a local man of God, Samuel. Samuel greeted Saul with the good news that the donkey had already been found. Samuel treated Saul at the place of honor where he (Samuel) narrated Saul’s future calling (Knoppers 129). Samuel anointed Saul the following day as the king of Israel and gave him the detailed prediction of his journey home. The Bible does not provide a comprehensive calling to David as a king of Israel. The level of drama is not as intense as in Saul’s call. However, the Bible documents that Samuel went through all the sons of Jesse while rejecting them one by one. Eliab, David’s eldest brother, was tall and handsome like Saul. Samuel rejected him and said that the man will look at the outside appearance while God looks at the heart (Maxwell, NIV, 1 Sam 16:7). David came home from the fields where he attended to the sheep like Moses. David, Moses and Jesus all resemble the good shepherds in this context. The spirit of the Lord fell on David as the evil spirit from the Lord terrorized Saul. Similarly, the spirit of the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon (Maxwell, NIV, Kings Chapter 3). The Lord told Solomon to request for whatever he wished. Solomon asked for wisdom that the Lord bestowed him in addition to riches, honor, peace, and long life. God, however, promised Solomon the additional prejudices on condition that he walked in God’s path like his father, David. Both the three kings had an active and profound initial relationship with God and prayed for God’s guidance whenever confronted with difficult situations like war. All the three kings at one point in their reign disobeyed God (Knoppers 113). David gave in to the lusts of the flesh and committed adultery with Bathsheba. He also had her husband Uriah killed to cover up his tracks. However, his reaction was different from Saul’s when Prophet Nathan rebuked him (David) of his sin. David repented from his heart (Maxwell, NIV, Psalm 51). Saul, however, disobeyed God’s command. The continual repentance of David for his sins explains his happy end. Peter said that David fell asleep after serving his term. The phrase literary means David died a peaceful death in a strong relationship with God. Saul, however, failed to consult God when he went to battle the Philistines. He died a tragic death together with his three sons on that fateful day. The Bible accounts that evil spirit of the Lord befell Saul indicating that the same person can work under the influence of two different spirits. The present evangelists and healers can act in the spirit of God and devil simultaneously. Saul turned to occult in his hour of need amidst Samuel’s affirmation that rebellion was a sin of divination. Disobedience was the root of all sins in the Garden of Eden. Successful leadership reign is evidently dependent on obedience to God without which ends in lawlessness. Similarly, Solomon turned away from God and began to worship other inferior gods. Solomon’s decision caused a downfall in his kingdom 1 Kings 9:10-11 (Maxwell, NIV) accounts that Solomon gave away 20 towns of Galilee after twenty years to Hiram king of Tyre. Chapter 28 of Ezekiel accounts for the downfall of the prince of Tyre. The Bible Students interpret the picture of the prince of Tyre as the Satan himself. Solomon, therefore, gave ground to Satan. 1 kings 11: 1-3 (Maxwell, NIV) describes Solomon as loving many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon fell in love with the women of Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. The Lord had previously warned the Israelites never to intermarry with the foreign originals asserting that the foreigners could turn the Israelites’ hearts after their gods. Solomon had many wives and concubines who, finally, led him astray (McCormick and David 74). Differences The Bible describes David as visionary while Solomon is the organizer. King David perceived the Lord’s temple, but Solomon implemented its construction. King Solomon was wiser than both King Saul and David (Halpern 42). David got a challenging task while judging the honesty of Mephibosheth and Ziba. David’s son, Absalom, rebelled against him, consequently, forcing David to flee from Jerusalem. David went with Ziba leaving behind Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth servant, Ziba, replied that he remained behind to succeed David when David enquired why he did not go with them. David returned to Jerusalem after Absalom had been killed. Mephibosheth replied that Ziba could not help him saddle the donkey when David asked why he remained behind. David could not judge between the two who were honest. He, therefore, ruled that the two share Mephibosheth’s property. The ruling was unfair to either party as it led to false gain or loss to one party (Kelly 57). Conversely, Solomon provided a fair judgment when confronted with the two prostitutes who gave birth in the same house. One baby was alive and healthy while the other was dead. Each claimed the baby was hers. Solomon solved a more complex situation while David could not solve a simpler one. Solomon’s kingdom reigned in justice to God while David’s kingdom reigned in the feeble efforts of man’s unaided resources as indicated in the contextual analysis. Saul’s God-given wisdom enabled him to understand incredibly the Hebrews scriptures. Unfortunately, his wisdom did not last longer after he wrote Hebrews verse because King David’s reign was soon coming in. Solomon reigned when he was younger than his predecessors were, and that explains why he asked for wisdom to deal with the challenges that would soon face him (Stager 252). David was different from the other kings because he reigned in close connection with God and often repented for his sins until his death. Both Saul’s and David’s kingdoms got involved fighting other nations during wartimes. Solomon’s reign, however, did not include as much warfare. Successes King Saul’s kingdom won the first military conflict as described in Chapter 11 of 1 Samuel (Maxwell, NIV). The spirit of the Lord fell upon Saul and bestowed him great authority when the Nahash king of the Ammonites attacked Jabes-Gilead. Saul called the Israelites to battle and emerged victors. The Israelites rejoiced and celebrated King Saul’s victory. Samuel, however, did not rejoice in the success. He saw the victory in the sight of God and realized Saul had no strong connections with God. The contextual understanding of the triumph indicates that victories are no evidence to spiritual maturity. Leaders must know God (spiritual victory) instead of searching for physical victory. David succeeded in winning wars against the Philistine giant, Goliath. David’s firm belief in God gave him the courage to confront Goliath. Solomon’s primary success appeared when he built the previously perceived vision of David to build the temple of the Lord. David wished to build the temple, but God denied him to fulfill his ambition since he was a man of war and bloodshed. However, God permitted him to make the necessary preparations as his descendant would build it. The temple represented the actual body of Christ and functioned to bring Christians together in motives and faith (Stager 232). Weaknesses All the kingdoms had particular weaknesses that every successor tried to solve. Saul did not express faith in God when the Philistines invaded Israel in great numbers. Saul’s army panicked in fear and deserted him. Saul waited seven days for Samuel to come and proffer offerings, but Samuel failed. Saul in fear made the offering before Samuel appeared and rebuked him that his kingdom would not thrive. Saul’s fear made him step out of the office to undertake a duty not legally his (Kelly 57). Saul also disobeyed God’s commandment when he spared Agag, King of the Amalekites and kept his livestock. Saul did not repent for his sins and the primary mover in his life was the crowd. David’s weakness was his lust for the flesh that made him commit adultery and murder. However, he repented, and God forgave him. Solomon’s weakness appeared when he disobeyed God and married the foreign wives. He also turned away from God to worship other gods (McCormick and David 34). The transition marked the exodus of King Solomon’s downfall. His women misguided him amidst the God-given wisdom. Conclusion Leadership positions are God-given, and the subsequent operations should closely follow God’s guidelines. King Saul and Solomon emerged victors when they ruled in God’s guidance and terribly failed when they disobeyed and turned away from Him. God is merciful, keeps His promises and forgives our sins irrespective of the magnitude. God does not appoint his people based on the outward appearance but instead considers the heart. Often, a leader who does not rule in Lord’s ways has terrible ends. The leaders who reign in the light of God have peaceful ends. Works cited Halpern, Baruch. Davids secret demons: messiah, murderer, traitor, king. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. Print. Kelly, Samantha. The New Solomon Robert of Naples (1309-1343) and Fourteenth-century Kingship. Leiden: Brill, 2003. Print. Knoppers, Gary N. "Israels First King andthe Kingdom of YHWH in the hands of the sons of David.." The Place of the Saulide Monarchy in the Chroniclers Historiography (2006): 187-213. Maxwell, John C. The Maxwell Leadership Bible, NIV. Thomas Nelson Inc, 2014. Print. McCormick, Blaine, and David Davenport. Shepherd Leadership: Wisdom for Leaders from Psalm 23. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003. Print. Stager, Lawrence E. "The Patrimonial Kingdom of Solomon." Symbiosis, Symbolism and the Power of the Past (2003): 63-73. Read More