Chapter 5 - Conquest, Other Gods, Here Comes the King

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The relationship between God and Israel is complicated. Last week we heard how God and the people made a covenant with one another at Mount Sinai. Next thing you know, Israel breaks that covenant by building a golden calf: They create a god for themselves. This breaks the first commandment as well as God’s heart.

Initially God is so angry he wants to kill the whole nation. Moses pleads for mercy, and God once again proves his grace by not doing it. However, God does determine that this particular generation of people should not be allowed to enter the Promised Land. As a result, Israel ends up wandering around the desert for 40 years.

Then finally, under the leadership of Moses’ successor Joshua, they reach the Promised Land!

But, lo and behold, the land is not empty! There are people living there, the Canaanites. Now what?

Now Joshua jumps into action as general. He organizes the militia and leads the troops into battle. First, they conquer the central portion of the Holy Land, then turn south to conquer Judah, and then north to conquer everything up to Galilee. The famous battle of Jericho is part of this campaign. In all of these fights, God leads the people; they carry with them the ark of the covenant that stands for God’s presence. God is the commander in chief; Joshua is God’s general. The people stand united behind them and carry out a swift and complete conquest of the Holy Land.

The land is conquered, the tribes are settled, and everyone lived happily ever after. At least, that’s what the main story line in the Book of Joshua wants you to believe.

However, if you read the small print, you will discover that there are several lists of cities and territories Israel did not manager to take over. Canaanites continued to live there. This made things complicated.

When Israel lived in Egypt, they lived along the banks of the Nile. Water was easily accessible for their fields and gardens. Now they find themselves in an arid landscape they have no experience with. Naturally, they turn to their native neighbors for advice.

“This is what you must do,” they might have said. “First, you bring sacrifices to Baal so he blesses your seed. Then you scatter the seed. Next you sacrifice to Asherah so she will bless your fields with rain and growth.” And so on. The Canaanites had many gods who determined every aspect of their lives. If you gave the gods what they demanded, you could manipulate them into giving you what you wanted: a good harvest, many children, security, health.

These other gods prove to be an ongoing temptation for Israel for hundreds of years. Again and again, these gods become popular: you could see them for they had little statues; you could manipulate them; as long as they got their sacrifices, they didn’t demand any particular way of life from you; it’s tough to be the only nation with only one God when everyone else has so many!

Once the tribes of Israel have settled in the land, a certain pattern evolves. It is reflected in our reading from the Book of Judges. It can be remembered with the letters A B C D:

A – Apostasy: Israel turns to other gods and sins and breaks the covenant.

B – Battered: God disciplines the people by letting a neighboring nation oppress them.

C – Cry: The people cry to God for help. (Suddenly they remember God!)

D – Deliverance: God raises up a charismatic leader, called a ‘judge’, who rallies the tribes and fights off the oppressors and frees his people. Then everything would be good for a while, until that generation has passed on and a new generation comes along and repeats the same pattern all over again. It repeats a dozen times in the Book of Judges.

And honestly, it is still repeating today. We are constantly tempted by other gods, by philosophies that are easier, by a way of life that is less demanding, by things that promise us safety and health and wealth. We deceive ourselves into thinking that we can manipulate God and the universe to our liking.

But then something terrible happens, like a war or a depression or cancer or bankruptcy or a pandemic. Suddenly we want to be close to God again. We return to God and cry for help to the Lord. And our amazing, gracious God listens to our prayers and receives us back into his love and offers us support and hope.

The twelve tribes of Israel are settled in the land, each doing their own thing. There was no overarching government structure, no central rule. Whenever there was crisis because a neighboring nation attacked, God would anoint a judge. That judge would then send messengers to all the tribes and call the troops together to fight off the enemy. Then the judge would disappear from the scene.

This was not a very stable situation for the nation. It was laborious. It depended on God raising up leaders. The tribes did not always respond to the summons. Several times in the Book of Judges, we read the line, “In those days, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (e.g. Judges 17:6)

Now the last great judge, Samuel, is aging, and everyone is afraid of what might happen after his death. Who would lead the nation?

On top of that, all the other nations have kings. Why doesn’t Israel? If you read the section right before our Bible reading from 1 Samuel, you can hear how petulant the people sound, like pouting children: “Everyone else has a king. Why don’t we have a king? We want a king like all the other people!”

In the midst of uncertainty and lawlessness, the people are clamoring for a king. I admit that I can understand this desire. There have been times when I thought how great it would be to have an emperor for a season. That emperor could clean up the government and rid it of corruption and hypocrisy. He could push through necessary but unpopular policies because he doesn’t depend on votes. He would be impervious to lobbyists and campaign donors and rule for the good of all people in the realm. Then he could abdicate and hand things back to congress.

A tempting thought, right? I can understand the people yearning for a strong leader who could bring order to their lives and their nation. That same desire is currently playing out all around the world. Think of all the countries that have recently elected populist leaders, strong men who promised law and order. Yet how often did they end up favoring their cronies and neglecting their duties towards the poor.

This is exactly what Samuel warns the people about. Once you have that strong powerful leader, he can do what he wants. And what he in all likelihood wants is what serves him and his buddies. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” the saying goes. When you give that much power to one person, Samuel warns, he will take advantage of it. He will take your sons to serve him in his palace and to staff his army and to fight his wars. He will take your most beautiful daughters for himself. He will take your women to be cooks and bakers. He will demand high taxes. He will take your best land and your best livestock. He will take, take, take. In the end, you will be the king’s slaves.

One would think this last warning would make the people sit up and take notice. Slaves? Israel become slaves? Every year the people remember how horrible life had been under slavery in Egypt and how God had gotten them out of there. Do they really want to chance that again?

Yup, they do. Their desire for the short-term, having order and having what all the others have, makes them risk becoming slaves again.

Israel is God’s nation. The people have a covenant with God that sets them apart from all other nations. They are special, with special blessings and a special calling. God is their Lord, their Commander in Chief, their King. By asking for a human king, they are rejecting God’s leadership. They are saying God isn’t good enough, even though God has done so much for them.

Listen to God’s statement of sadness or disappointment or anger to Samuel: “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods.”

Often, we compare God to a parent. Here God does what many parents have done when their children insist on doing something they know will backfire: Through Samuel, God warns them what the outcome will be; when they still want it, God lets them have it; but God also tells them that they will suffer the consequences: “And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

The people still want a king, and a king they get. The first one is King Saul. He is elected why? Not because he has great leadership skills or because he is particularly faithful, but because he is the tallest and most handsome man around. Seriously?! But then, I have read somewhere that in presidential elections it is usually the taller person who wins. I guess we have not learned from history.

For King Saul proves to be a poor leader. He is what the people wanted: a king, tall and handsome. But he is not what the people needed. Under him, wars continue, the nation drifts apart into north and south, and finally Saul and three of his sons die in battle.

He is succeeded by King David and then King Salomon, under whom everything, everything Samuel predicted will come true. However, by then the royal dynasty is firmly in power and will remain so for almost 400 years. We will look at that time of the kings next week.

3,000 years after these events, a descendent from King David, Jesus of Nazareth, will enter Jerusalem under shouts of hosanna. Once again, the people think they know what kind of king they want: Someone who is powerful and mighty and will drive out the Roman occupation.

And once again, God has other ideas about leading his people: Jesus will rather die than fight. Jesus brings hope not through law and order, but through love and healing and blessed community. Jesus will deliver his people, not through the sword, but through his death and resurrection, and through his forgiving love.

Imagine the world if we could break the cycle of falling for other gods and returning to God crying when disaster befalls us; if we could overcome our longing for a strong man and instead follow our servant king in his gentle reign of love. Imagine.

Amen.