Samuel was provoked, but God commanded him to give the people what they asked for, a king of their desire, Saul, son of Kish, a wealthy Benjaminite. A tall, handsome, and humble man, Saul did not seek power and accepted it reluctantly. But, once in command, Saul demonstrated poor judgment and an ultimately fatal lack of spiritual discernment.
Saul made a good beginning by defeating the Philistines with the intervention of young David who killed the Philistine champion Goliath foreshadowing things to come. Almost immediately Saul became suspicious and resentful of David and kept him close by giving David his daughter Michal in marriage and by making David a commander of troops who reported to Saul (1 Sam. 18). Saul was determined to pass the throne to his son Jonathan and neglected the kingdom to pursue David for years, his reign lasting about 40 years.
A view of the excavations of the City of David led by Kathleen Kenyon.
David was the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem. He served his father as a shepherd. Samuel anointed David years before his accession to the throne, and David consistently honored the king and repeatedly passed up opportunities to kill Saul. Rather than attack Saul, David ran from him for years. As Saul's kingdom disintegrated, David grew stronger and gained a significant following.
Ultimately Saul and Jonathan were slain in battle, and David reigned over his tribe of Judah for seven years in Hebron, while the remaining tribes were led by Saul's son, Ish-Bosheth. After Ish-Bosheth's brutal assassination, David acceded to the throne of all Israel for an additional 33 years, establishing his capital in Jerusalem. He defeated Israel's enemies and established peace for his people. David was Israel's greatest king, described by God as “a man after My heart” (Acts 13:22; 1 Sam. 13:14), but failed morally and spent years in personal and family turmoil as a result. David not only had an affair with the wife of one of his most loyal subordinates, but when threatened with exposure, he engineered Uriah's death. His household never knew peace again, ultimately costing the lives of some of his children. David developed the plans for the temple and gathered the resources, but because of David's own sins, God did not allow him to complete the project.
At the end of David's life, the accession of his son Solomon to the throne was a bloody interfamily struggle. Solomon made a marvelous beginning, building and dedicating a magnificent temple. Genuinely humble, God prospered him beyond his fondest hopes. Solomon was revered for his wisdom and maintained a kingdom expanded to five times the size of the land God promised to Abraham, extending south to the Sinai and north to the Euphrates River. Solomon became one of the most significant monarchs of his era. By the end of his 40-year reign, his kingdom was strong, but his commitment to the Lord had waned, and his latter years were troubled by internal problems. Soon after his death, the united monarchy ended.
62 THE KINGDOM OF SAUL AND HIS WARS
1 Samuel 13:5-7
The Philistines also gathered to fight against Israel: 3,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven. The men of Israel saw that they were in trouble because the troops were in a difficult situation. They hid in caves, thickets, among rocks, and in holes and cisterns. Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, was still at Gilgal, and all his troops were gripped with fear.
1 Samuel 24:1-2
When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.” So Saul took 3,000 of Israel's choice men and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
2 Samuel 5:6-10
The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites had said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you,” thinking, “David can't get in here.”
Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, the city of David. He said that day, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must go through the water shaft to reach the lame and the blind who are despised by David.” For this reason it is said, “The blind and the lame will never enter the house.”
David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward. David became more and more powerful, and the LORD God of Hosts was with him.
1 Chronicles 18:13
He put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites were subject to David. The LORD made David victorious wherever he went.
67 JERUSALEM IN THE TIME OF DAVID AND SOLOMON
2 Chronicles 3:1-2
Then Solomon began to build the LORD's temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. He began to build on the second Îday? of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.