John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: July 29

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John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: July 29

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A Constitutional King

1Sa_10:17-25

It was very important for the fair fame of Samuel that the nomination of a king should not seem to be determined by any partial favoritism on his part. It was necessary that respect should be secured for the new king, by his appointment being manifestly under the Divine direction and control. In due time, therefore, the tribes were convened at Mizpeh for the choice of a king by lot. The same process sufficed for the detection of a criminal and for the choice of a king. Achan was convicted, and Saul was chosen, by precisely the same process Note: See Vol. 2, page 263.—tribes, families, and individuals were successively taken by lot, until the right person was reached. In this case the tribe indicated was that of Benjamin, the family that of Matri, and the individual Saul the son of Kish, That individual, feeling from his previous conference with Samuel assured of the result, was yet so little ambitious to undertake this trying though honorable office—so desirous to avoid the responsibilities it involved—so attached to the peaceful rural life he had hitherto led—that he withdrew himself from notice, and remained among the baggage away from the place of assemblage. He perhaps hoped, that if he were not forthcoming when inquired for, they would proceed with the lot for the election of someone else. But so solemn a decision was not to be thus trifled with. He was sought and found, and on his being produced to the people, Samuel pointed with pride to his noble stature, towering head and shoulders above all that assembled multitude. “See ye him,” cried Samuel, “whom God hath chosen, for there is none like him among all the people.” The qualification to which Samuel directed attention, was so physically evident that the people responded to it by an enthusiastic shout of recognition, “Long live the king!”

But whatever good opinion Samuel himself may by this time have conceived of Saul, he remembered that this was not merely the election of a king, but the foundation of a monarchy, and that it was his duty to care not only for the present but future generations. He saw that the entire character of the monarchy would be determined by the steps which might now be taken; and that this or never was the time to subject the sovereign authority to such conditions, and place it on such a basis, as might prevent it from becoming a mere secular despotism, such as the neighboring nations exhibited. On the first establishment of the monarchy—on the free election of a sovereign who had no natural claim whatever to the crown—it was possible to make conditions and to impose restrictions, to which any future king, royal by birth, and on whom the crown devolved by hereditary right, would not very willingly submit. There can be no doubt that the people, under the infatuation which now possessed them, would have put themselves under the monarchy without any conditions whatever; and it is entirely owing to the wise forethought of Samuel, acting under Divine direction, that this great evil was averted, and the kings of Israel did not become absolute and irresponsible masters of the lives and properties of their subjects. Some of the future kings indeed advanced far enough towards making themselves such: but they did so under such evident violation of the principles of the monarchy as established by Samuel, as always gave their subjects the right of protest and complaint, and even of resistance, as against an unlawful exercise of power.

Samuel then addressed the people, explaining to them “the manner of the kingdom,” setting forth that the king was not to possess unlimited authority, and expounding the royal rights and privileges, and the limitations to which they were to be subject. Although institutions thus promulgated, in the presence of many witnesses, and accepted by all the parties concerned, were binding ordinances in an age before seals and writings were required to give validity to every transaction, Samuel neglected nothing which might give security to the people; and instead of setting up a stone as a witness, as would have been done in a somewhat earlier age, he committed the whole to writing, and laid up the manuscript “before the Lord”—by which we may suppose he consigned it to the keeping of the priesthood, to be deposited with the most sacred muniments of the nation. Thus, under Divine sanction, and amidst the despotisms of the East, arose the earliest example of a constitutional monarchy.

It may be regretted that we are not acquainted with the precise terms of the limitations and responsibilities under which the crown was accepted by the first Hebrew king. But the real conditions may without much difficulty be collected from the subsequent history itself, and from the writings of the prophets. It is also to be borne in mind that the idea of such limitation did not originate with Samuel, although it devolved on him to give them practical effect, and probably to enforce them by new conditions. Moses himself had laid down the principles of the Hebrew monarchy, whenever it should be established—and whatever other conditions were added when the time came, there can be no doubt that these essential principles were included.

It had been foreseen that the time would come when the Israelites would insist on having a king. To resist this wish absolutely might tempt them into open rebellion against the authority which opposed the attainment of their desires—and having accomplished their object in distinct opposition to the declared will of God, and thrown themselves into rebellion against their divine King, they would feel that they had cast themselves loose from the theocratic institutions, and would no longer recognize their obligations to it, or submit to the restrictions it imposed. This would have been to ruin the entire object for which the nation had been established, preserved, and made a peculiar people. This could not be allowed. It was therefore provided, even from the time of Moses, that their wishes should be so met as to keep the management of the whole operation in the hands of the Lord’s servants, and so guided as that the new government should, as far as possible, be interwoven with, and rendered subservient to, the great theocratic institutions.

As a clear view of this matter is essential to the correct understanding of many points in the history of the Hebrew monarchy, we shall devote a day to its consideration. Note: See Thirty-First Week—Monday.