Links for today’s readings:
Read: 1 Samuel 12 Listen: (4:19) Read: Jude Listen: (4:12)
Scripture Focus: 1 Samuel 12:13-15
13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.
Reflection: Monarchies Are Manmade Constructs
By Erin Newton
Royalty is a manmade construct and antithetical to the desires of God. Yet today royalty is the object of tabloids and paparazzi, whether they are royal heirs or celebrities with royal status.
Royalty is the outworking of othering. It is created once the distinction has been made between them and us.
In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh was thought to be the embodiment of a god. The king’s voice was god’s voice. He held absolute power and inevitably exploited it.
Despite God’s warning through the prophet Samuel against requesting a king, Israel was set on being like the world around them. The set-apart people demanded conformity.
Samuel laments their decision and recounts the ways in which Israel had called out to God for deliverance only to fall back into sin and error pleading for redemption again. Like a parent who has watched a child go against their advice only to find themselves at risk of disaster, Samuel gives the only advice left: This can only succeed if you (king and community) follow God faithfully. But the reality of human nature looms large. Failure is not only warned against, it is expected.
From this moment forward, the judgment of God is on a tenuous delay. We will continue reading Israel’s history, watching as the first king, Saul, embraces sin. Israel’s second king, David, does the same through the abuse of Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. The downward spiral culminates when God delays no longer.
We are all guilty of wanting to conform to the world. We sometimes look to political or religious leaders with the false sense that this one will solve all our problems. Likewise, leaders often fall into the temptation that their words are as good as God’s. They speak in absolutes, daring anyone to disagree.
Samuel, as a prophet, stands to speak against the foolishness of his own community. And the prophets will continue to take center stage (at least in the arrangement of our Old Testament books). In reality, they were the minority voice among a community that enjoyed their worldly conformity. How different are we today?
Leaders are not gods, but we’ve blasphemously given them labels like “savior” or “messiah.” The sharp contrast necessary to maintain a hierarchy of people—a few at the top, many at the bottom—is nowhere indicated as good in God’s creation.
Our job now is to be like Samuel, interceding for our community despite our collective error.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; love and truth go before your face. — Psalm 89.14
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: Dethroning Kings and Powers
Joshua threw down kings but did not take their place. God was the only king or power Israel needed.
Read more: Forces and Powers
We don’t resist the world’s powers with worldly weapons or resist demonic powers by attacking humans.