In 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13, we find a grieving Saul and a grieving God searching for a new king. Even though God still doesn’t want the people to have a king; even as there is a king still on the throne.
Even with our lust for power, we’re still driven to love.
Proper 6B | 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
God said to the people: I don’t do kings. God really could not have been any clearer on that. No kings.
But the people so wanted one. Of course, we know the feeling. When we feel trapped or confused. Surely someone can come along and fix us. Save us. Whatever. Same difference.
There’s a stickiness to such a situation. When we get stuck and we start grabbing and the dirt sticks to our hands, getting dirtier and dirtier, but we’re not getting anywhere; we can’t dig ourselves out. We’re getting covered and yet we aren’t any closer to getting free or clean.
Or like everything is like a nest of tangled strings or shoelaces or earbuds and you can’t find the end and when something comes loose, it just tangles you up more.
The need for a quick fix and a powerful restoration of order is really compelling. When we’re stuck, we want out.
But it isn’t just when we’re stuck. It’s when we feel stuck. Which can be when we feel comparatively stuck. We know this feeling too. It’s called “keeping up with the Joneses.” Of course, it doesn’t have to be the Joneses. It could be Smiths or some other neighbor; some other family which is better off than we are.
I always feel bad for the Joneses, actually. Everybody’s always trying to keep up with them. Maybe they’re really good marathoners and just can’t find anybody who can keep up. That’s got to be hard too.
We know it’s not a race, right? Life isn’t a competition, but we make it one. One “they” are always winning.
“Everybody Else Has One!”
It’s been thousands of years and they’ve never had a king. And God doesn’t want them to have one. It’s like a preteen begging for an iPhone. All my friends have one!
And here’s the thing. God’s a good parent. God knows they really all do have smartphones! It’s not like the kid’s wrong about that. All those other 11 and 12 year-olds are running around with smartphones and God has said over and over again
You can’t handle one. That’s not to say you’re less mature than all those other people. It’s to say they can’t handle one either! And I’ve made it so you don’t need one.
And just like any kid, they beg forever for one anyway. Only they’ve made this an intergenerational affair. For centuries they begged for a king. I know my kids think that’s how long it’s going to take before they get a phone. But I assure them it’s not.
Really, from the moment they set foot in the holy land, the people are like, OK, here we are! Let’s build that kingdom! They escape Egypt and Pharaoh and demand God give them a new Egypt and Pharaoh.
And God is just shaking that head, did you guys learn nothing?
The Love Affair
I like to talk about God’s relationship with humanity as this big love affair. And God keeps trying over and over again to get the people to stop looking at all those other fish in the sea and just chill on the couch with God, maybe watch some Netflix.
And all those stories set up this relationship of a God trying to help these people get what it really means to love. To the point that God frees them from slavery in Egypt and helps them find a home together.
Yes, they wander, but it’s in this wandering that God helps them see what a true home would look like, how it would be ordered, and what to do when they get there. They won’t need a king because they’ll have God. They don’t need a million laws, because God’s got their bases covered already with a few hundred.
Besides, they’re going to love each other. They don’t need that other stuff, because God’s dream is perfect. We won’t want to take advantage of each other, but if someone does, we’ll fix it together.
How We Screwed Up
But immediately the people are just not into it. It’s like they think God is perfect, but these crazy ideas of loving our neighbors and yet not exploiting them is all just too much. We love everything about you God except for everything you want. So they beg and beg and beg. Until finally, God goes
OK, I’m still not cool with kings, but I’ll give you some help.
So for 12 generations, God gives them judges. These were holy men and women who had power but didn’t control people. So they were brought in to help build up the heavenly kingdom on earth.
But still… Stubborn people.
So God finally breaks down and says OK. I’ll give you a king, BUT I’m telling you now that I’m gonna be telling you so!
And so the people get Saul.
But Saul Is Pretty Hot
Saul totally looks the part. He’s big, strong, and hot. Everybody loves him. He’s perfect.
Except for the paranoia…the violence…the jealousy…the fact that he’s a great general but a terrible ruler. He’s a hammer and all the people, including those poor people he’s supposed to protect, they are nails.
God doesn’t want the people to have kings because kings aren’t good for us. They give us power and fulfill our dreams for control, certainty, and order. But they don’t help us fulfill God’s dream; they replace it. And they replace God.
God keeps telling them: you can’t have a king and still have me. And they keep asking for one anyway. Imagine how God feels about that.
So we shouldn’t wonder why it says in the reading that Samuel and God were grieving. Because God sacrificed the perfect dream for what the people wanted and God regretted it.
But God doesn’t only ever have one ball in the air at one time.
Another Plan
There’s another thread, a complementary thread, running through the story, too. It has to do with keeping up with the Joneses and begging for that new, shiny iKing like all the other kids have. It’s about desire, competitiveness, and knocking each other down.
God has been trying to get us to see it for thousands of years. We aren’t supposed to be powerful! God favored Able before Cain, Isaac before Ishmael, Jacob before Esau, Judah before Reuben; younger brothers going first.
But it’s more than God loving baby brothers, right? Though as one, I’d totally be down with that. It’s about the lower status. The ones with less power. The ones who would never be king in a monarchy.
Disarming For Love
God’s purpose for humanity undermines the very nature of a monarchy from the beginning. Even David. Notice God doesn’t want anyone taken by someone who looks the part. But even David is handsome. And we’ll soon learn, very charismatic and popular.
This is our trouble with kings; powerful men with unlimited authority; the military generals and tribal chiefs; the hammers who are taught to pound nails. They don’t fill the hole in our hearts, the longing and loneliness, the emptiness of our cold culture. Kings don’t protect us; they hurt us.
This idea showed up this week in a strange voice: an interview about birds and Darwin.
According to evolutionary ornithologist Richard O. Prum, unlike other primates, humans didn’t select mates for protection—the strongest, manliest hunks of meat. We’ve evolved to this moment because we pick the ones who won’t hurt us.
In all other primates the males (and only the males) have sharp canines and dominate the females and kill babies, but humans don’t. In evolutionary terms, males “disarmed” themselves to be better mates and better fathers. Fascinating right?
We are here the way we are because our ancient male ancestors wouldn’t kill and our ancient female ancestors chose those males who wouldn’t kill when other options were on the table.
So the evolution of the human mouth proves that deep down, we are more in love with God’s dream than we realize. Because our natural selection came from choosing love over violence, support over protection, and community over isolation.
Regardless of our desire for power, our very nature, our bodies, even our evolutionary priorities have not been to build up power, fortify, and find a king.
We’re a lot more like God than that.
Like God, we’ve chosen love, compassion, and invitation over force and demanding our way.
We’ve chosen, like God. The God who found a boy to bless while there was already a king on the throne. The God who found someone to favor who was out in the field tending sheep, rather than waging war.
And knowing that even this boy, will grow up and become a king, becoming like all the rest. His being king, even the best king will never be enough. Because he can’t be God.
So God keeps working, looking, blessing what we’re all too blinded by power to even notice. The baby brothers and sisters: favorites found fallen through the cracks; musicians making astounding works; shepherds keeping watch; all around us. God is finding the beauty inside every one of us, that spark to love and like a good father, helps coax it out to beautify the world.