Give us a King   Since the creation of man YHWH has desired a direct and intimate relationship with His children. Sadly, mankind has continually constructed walls to separate himself from his Father. When He desired to converse with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 20:19) they, out of fear, asked Moses to speak to YHWH for them. Because of their desire for a mediator they separated themselves from YHWH. When you walk closely with the Father, without anything or anyone between you and Him, you walk a straighter path and are able to hear His voice clearly. The further you step from Him the easier it is to stumble.   YHWH, in His continual love and mercy, called the children of Israel back to Himself when they stumbled away from Him by raising up judges and prophets to lead them. While this would work for a short period of time it never failed that the faith and obedience of the people invariably died with the prophet. One of the reasons for this may be that the people, having distanced themselves from YHWH, were putting faith in the Judge or Prophet and not in YHWH. We see this happening with many Christians today. In our generation we have witnessed the birth of Mega Churches, with memberships in the thousands or tens of thousands. Many people sit in pews ever Sunday and listen to one man’s opinion of the Scriptures, rather than reading them for themselves. Shouldn’t we be more interested in what YHWH has to say then what any man says, no matter how gifted he may be?   As the children of Israel averted their eyes away from the Father still farther, they looked about at the nations around them. Instead of being horrified at the wickedness of the world, they were drawn to it. The more they watched their neighbors, the more common place and natural the world seemed.  The Israelite’s desire to emulate them grew to the point of asking for a king, just as YHWH said they would in Deuteronomy.   “When you enter the land YHWH your Elohim is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you the king YHWH your Elohim chooses.” Deuteronomy 17:14-15   The Israelites felt that if they had a king then they would be like all the other nations. YHWH saw this as a rejection of Him (1Samuel 8:7) and warned them about the trials of having an earthly king.   “’As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.’ Samuel told all the words of YHWH to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, ‘This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots.  Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still other to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and YHWH will not answer you in that day.’ But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.’” 1st Samuel 8:8-19   The children of Israel were not concerned by YHWH’s warning but persisted in their desire for a king. Since the people did not relent YHWH gave them what they requested; a king by the name of Saul.   Saul became king over Israel when he was 30 years old. As king he had rules, given by YHWH, by which he had to rule and reign.   “He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for YHWH has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere YHWH his Elohim and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not considered himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”  Deuteronomy 17:14-20   Saul reigned over Israel for 42 years, but much of his reign was under a shadow. He ruled the Hebrew children knowing that his crown would be taken from him and given to another because of his own disobedience. King Saul and his Hebrew army attacked an outpost of the Philistines. In retaliation the Philistines assembled an army of soldiers “as numerous as the sand on the seashore,” to attack Saul and the remainder of his army in Gilgal. Samuel had told Saul he would arrive in seven days; Saul was to wait for Samuel.   “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.” 1st Samuel 10:   Saul was to wait until Samuel arrived and offered sacrifices to YHWH, after that Samuel would be able to tell Saul YHWH’s will in the current situation. Unfortunately the imposing number of Philistine solders struck fear in the army of Saul.   “Samuel remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. So he said, ‘Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings. And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.   ’What have you done?’ asked Samuel.”    “Saul replied, ‘When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought YHWH’s favor. So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.’”   “‘You acted foolishly,’ Samuel said. ‘You have not kept the command YHWH your Elohim gave you; if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; YHWH has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him leader of His people, because you have not kept YHWH’s command.’” 1st Samuel 13:7-14   Most people today would find Saul’s punishment too severe for the transgression committed. Exactly what did Saul do that was so unforgivable that it would cause him to one day lose his kingdom?   He did not continue to wait for Samuel. He performed the sacrifices himself knowing he had not been trained as a priest. He became frightened by the physical circumstances. He doubted YHWH. Samuel was very specific with Saul. He told him to go to Gilgal and wait for him. When Samuel arrived the sacrifices would be made to seek YHWH’s favor for the battle and Samuel would inform Saul as to what he was to do. Samuel told Saul he would arrive in seven days but as the seventh day began to come to an end Saul stopped waiting and took action. We are told in Psalm 37:9 that those who wait upon YHWH will inherit the land. Saul refused to wait for YHWH’s timing, trying to make things happen by his own power and will, not YHWH’s; therefore the land and crown could not be his inheritance.    Saul knew the Torah (the first five books of the bible); therefore he knew that only a priest or a prophet called by YHWH could offer sacrifices, yet he chose to disobey YHWH’s commands and offer sacrifices himself. Although he tried to justify his actions to Samuel, and probably himself, he was still being rebellious to YHWH. YHWH tells us in His word how we are to approach Him; to approach Him in any other way is to rebel against Him and His word.   When Saul took his eyes off of YHWH and looked at the physical world around him he became frightened. The forces assembling against him and his rapidly dwindling and scattering army seemed insurmountable. He took his focus off of his Creator and put it on himself and that which surrounded him.   He lost faith and doubted YHWH. Samuel told him to wait for him and he would come to offer the sacrifices. When he realized the Philistines were assembling against him he did not trust in YHWH to keep him safe until Samuel arrived and properly offered the sacrifices. Because of Saul’s lack of trust he felt compelled to violate the Torah.   This would not be the last time he would break the Creator’s commands. He consulted a medium (witch) in 1st Samuel 28 and in chapter 15 he and his men kept the plunder YHWH had commanded them to destroy. Saul continually disobeyed YHWH, rebelling against the word he was to keep. Therefore we can see that Saul did not have a yielding, obedient heart for YHWH. Saul wanted to do things his way and worship and live as he chose, refusing to completely submit. For this reason YHWH replaced Saul with a man who had a heart for YHWH, a man named David.   Through the distance of time we are able to look back at Saul’s actions and many times wonder how he could have doubted and rebelled in such a way as to lose his kingdom. Are we and our current church system that different from Saul? Do blindly follow our Lord and Savior or are we also trying to do it ‘our’ way? Many people today are waking up to the fact that YHWH gave us the entire Bible for a reason. The Old Testament is relevant for today and not just a collection of stories. There are those in this generation, very possibly the last generation, who desire to be more like David than Saul, to be called a friend of YHWH.     Click here to learn more about David in ‘The United Kingdom of Israel.’