3,000 Year Old Warning From the First Book of Samuel Pertinent to Us Today

BUT SHOULD WE?

          I am a member of the Temple Emanuel Board of Trustees.  We open each Board meeting with a D'var Torah, typically a reading of a biblical passage followed by an interpretation of it.  Last night's meeting was the last one before the 2016 election.  I was asked to do the D'var Torah.  So I thought some passage or passages relating to leadership might be appropriate.

          So, initially,  I thought I would discuss the strengths and weakness of Israel’s famous kings: Saul, David, and Solomon.  I started my research with the First Book of Samuel, in which Samuel is instructed by the Lord to pick a king for Israel.  But in reading Chapter 8 of that book, I was struck by the biblical report of what led up to the decision to appoint a king, so I based my D'var Torah on Chapter 8 of the First Book of Samuel.  I presented the following: 

           Remember that in the years after the return of the Israelites to the “promised land” the Jewish tribes were loosely held together by judges who would adjudicate disputes among the people and would rally the people when threatened by other, non-Jewish, tribes in the region.  Samuel was the last of the great judges.

           In the era of the judges, the Jewish people seemed to have essentially governed themselves, trying to act in accordance with the rules handed down by Moses. Much, I suppose, like the U.S. Constitution, which are the rules by which we, as Americans, govern ourselves.  Israel of the judges was a self-governed society based on a set of principles.

          But Samuel grew old, and his sons who began to serve as judges proved inadequate,   

"4 [So] All the elders of Israel . . . came to Samuel . . .

"5 And they said to him: 'You have grown old, and your sons have not followed your ways. Therefore appoint a king for us, to govern us like all other nations.'

"6 Samuel was displeased that they said, 'Give us a king to govern us.' Samuel prayed to the Lord.

"7 And the Lord replied to Samuel: Heed the demand of the people in everything they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected; it is Me they have rejected as their king. . . . , 

"8 forsaking Me and worshipping other gods. . . . 

"9 Heed their demand; but warn them solemnly, and tell them about the practices of any king who will rule over them.'

"10 And Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people, who were asking him for a king.

"11 He said: 'This will be the practice of the king who will rule over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them as his charioteers and horsemen, and they will serve as outrunners for his chariots.

"12  . . . .  or they will have to plow his fields, reap his harvest, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots.

"13 He will take your daughters as perfumers, cooks, and bakers.

"14 He will seize your choice fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his courtiers.

"15 He will take a tenth part of your grain and vintage and give it to his . . .  courtiers. . . . 

"17 He will take a tenth part of your flocks; and you shall become his slaves.  

"18 The day will come when you cry out because of the king whom you yourselves have chosen; and the Lord will not answer you on that day.

"19 But the people would not listen to Samuel’s warning. ‘No,’ they said. ‘We must have a king over us,

"20 that we also may be like all the nations: Let our king rule over us and go out at our head and fight our battles.’

"21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he reported it to the Lord.

"22 And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed their demands and appoint a king for them.’ "

 [When I read this passage, I emphasized the words I bolded and underlined above, and gave a big sigh before the phrase in Verse 22, "Heed their demands. . . . " in order to demonstrate my interpretation.]

          So Saul was appointed King of Israel.  With mixed results.  And, following a civil war, David became king; with better, but still decidedly mixed results. Then David’s son Solomon became king, with reportedly excellent results while he lived, but upon his death, the central government collapsed, Israel was divided into two countries. The northern tribes were conquered and the inhabitants dispatched to who knows where.  The southern kingdom limped along until it was conquered by the Babylonians, and the rest of the Jews were carried off into exile.

            Now, more than 3,000 years later, many in our own land seem to want to put their futures in the hands of a putative leader who disregards standards of human decency, and seems to have no regard for the underlying rules by which our democracy has governed itself for generations.  The Israelites disregarded the Lord’s and Samuel’s warnings 3,000 years ago.  Will we make the same error now?