Bible 105 essay

Huisu Kim
Mr. Crisp
BIBL 105 LUO
March 10th 2014
Essay 2 During the time of Samuel, there was no monarchy in Israel unlike the other countries around. The Israelites wanted a king for themselves where they could actually see and hear. They wanted the same protection that the other nations were getting from their kings. Therefore the Israelites asked Samuel to ask God to nominate a king for them. But Samuel did not like the fact that the Israelites wanted a king, so he prayed God for an answer. God said to Samuel in a sad way to let the Israelites have a king since they do not want me as their king anymore. Samuel told the Israelites what God has said and warned them that they would have to sacrifice part of their life for the king. Despite the warning, the Israelites desired a king who would rule them like the other nations. Due to the ardent wish for a king by the Israelites, God decided to let them have a king to look over them. Among the Benjamin, there was a man called Kish. He had a son whose name was Saul. Saul was the tallest man and the most handsome guy in Israel. One day his donkeys were lost so he went out to find them. After a long time looking for the donkeys, he couldn’t find them so he decided to ask to a man of God. He met the man of God, and he was Samuel. At the moment when Saul and Samuel met, God told Samuel that he is the one. Saul became the first king of Israel because he was chosen by God. His beginning as a king was very good. He obeyed God and did what God told him to do. As time passed by, however, Saul made poor decisions and led his kingdom to worsen his kingdom. Furthermore, Saul’s arrogation of ecclesiastical activity before the battle against the Philistines caused God to become mad and it led to the removal of Saul’s position eventually. Because of Saul’s disobedience towards God, God decided to nominate a new king for Israel. This time, God chose David, son of Jesse, because he had a great heart. Meanwhile, Israel was having a war against the Philistines. Now Israel could not win the battles due to a soldier names, Goliath. He was so huge, that no one in Israelite army could take him down. When no one was willing to fight Goliath, David stepped forward. Goliath laughed at David because David only had a sling as a weapon. Despite the intimidating scene, David assured the victory because he knew that God had his back. The two fought and the result was the victory of David. After the victory over Goliath, David became a general and led more victories for Israel. Due to all the victories he brought, people praised David by singing a song that compared David over Saul. One day, Saul tried to kill David because Saul felt threaten by David. David runs away and becomes a king later when Saul dies in a battle. God preferred David over Saul, because David put God in the center of his heart, and trusted that God was his strength. On the other hand, Saul was self centered, and pushed God away from him as time went by. After few decades, Solomon, son of David, became the king of Israel. One day God came out in his dream and asked what he wants. Solomon did not ask for any power nor any wealth, but he asked for wisdom so that he could look over his people wisely and distinguish the good and the evil. God was very happy with Solomon’s request and granted him the best wisdom that a person could ask for. Thanks to the wisdom of Solomon, Israel prospered very much. Unfortunately, Solomon loved a lot of foreign girls besides the daughter of Pharaoh and God told him not to marry the girls because they are going to make Solomon worship idols. Despite the warning, Solomon loved the girls and had 700 wives and 300 concubines and this led Solomon’s heart to leave God. As Solomon got older, he could not resist the temptations and worshiped the idols that we should not. God came up to Solomon and warned him not to worship idols but Solomon did not obey. Finally God was mad at Solomon and said that Israel is going to become separate. However, God respected what David had done, and said that the separation is going to happen at the generation of Solomon’s sons.