Second, the tribal confederation was unable to prevent a rupture in the fab-
ric of Israelite society, exemplified by the concluding line of the Book of
Judges: “In those days, each man did that which was right in his eyes.” This
verse follows the story of a horrifying rape and murder that resulted from a
lack of hospitality. The political and moral vacuum created by a lack of effec-
tive leadership under the tribal confederation set in motion a transition to two
new, ultimately more effective forms of leadership: the king and the prophet.
In this regard, prophets played a key role in the success or failure of
Israelite kings. Although ostensibly providing a religious liaison between
God and Israel, prophets doubled as important political figures. They
defended the commitments to the covenant by scrutinizing royal policies or
actions in terms of divine law or instruction, and thus were an integral part of
the checks and balances of ancient Israelite politics. At times, this meant
affirming royal policy with divine sanction. More often, though, prophets
provided a check on royal authority by exposing its unacceptability. In the
most extreme cases, such as transition from the Omri to the Jehu Dynasty,
prophets aided in the overthrow of one Israelite dynasty by another.
The complexities of Israelite kingship, and the often tempestuous relation-
ship between king and prophet, were present already in the story of the rise
and reign of Saul, the first Israelite king, and in his relationship with the
prophet-judge Samuel. While anointing Saul according to divine instruction,
Samuel echoed and elaborated Gideon’s reservation about a temporal king
displacing Yahweh as king. Thus, Saul found Samuel to be critic more than
supporter. When Saul’s military campaign against the Philistines faltered
after some initial victories, he made two key blunders that incurred the wrath
of Samuel and ultimately led to the end of Saul’s short-lived dynasty. The first
mistake occurred during a key battle with the Philistines. Saul, awaiting for
Samuel to arrive and offer the required pre-battle sacrifice, opted to offer the
sacrifice himself in violation of biblical law in order not to lose a tactical
advantage by waiting too long to attack. Dramatically, Samuel arrived just as
Saul finished performing the ritual sacrifice, and chastised him for his lack of
faith in God. As Samuel stormed off, Saul grabbed at and tore his coat, an
incident that Samuel then interpreted as a divine decision to tear kingship
away from Saul.
In another incident, Samuel had commanded Saul to destroy King Agag
along with his followers and livestock according to the biblical instruction to
annihilate the tribe of Amalek – the biblical injunction of holy war. When
Saul balked and spared Agag and the livestock, Samuel, after uttering one of
the most chilling lines in the Hebrew Bible (“What is this sound of sheep that
sounds in my ears?”), hacked Agag to pieces, and then reiterated the demise of
Saul’s dynasty. In retrospect, Saul’s failure as king reflected the difficulty of
navigating between the demands of kingship and the regulations of the Torah.
Circumstances would mitigate this difficulty for Saul’s successor, David.
10 The world of the Hebrew Bible