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Samuel’s reluctance to appoint a king even after Yahweh sanction Israel’s request. We’re conditioned in a way to see Samuel as an altogether good character. Someone whose motives and actions are good all the time. We assume, I think, that because God chose him to speak, and because he did what was right as a child, Samuel must have a good purpose in everything else he does.
However, the text of 1 Samuel presents the aging judge in a progressively worse light. While he’s not altogether evil and does often speak God’s words, he just as often chases his own agenda. In his notes on the text of 1 Samuel, Robert Alter does an excellent job of surfacing how the language and literature of the book shows the slow descent of Samuel into self-pity (see Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 2242ff). That descent begins here in Samuel refusing to actually give the people a king on Yahweh’s timeline.
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The literary clues of Saul’s future failures as king. Despite Saul’s success, there are several literary connections between his actions to save the Gileadites (1 Sam. 11:1–11). First, the messages find Saul in Gibeah. Second, in a rage over the issue he slaughters an ox and sends a piece to each of the twelve tribes, the tribes gather “as one man” to do battle, and finally before the battle they send an ultimatum warning the innocent (rather than the guilty as in Judges 20).
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Yahweh’s rejection of Saul after failing to slaughter Agag and the Amalekites. Yahweh’s reasoning for dethroning Saul in this narrative seems a little odd at first glance. All Saul did was keep alive some of the best of the flocks and King Agag. He still defeated the Amalekites, and Yahweh’s request that Saul eradicate everyone and everything seems a little overblown.
However, what’s at stake here is Yahweh’s own reputation before the nations and it has little to do with Saul’s attitude. Yahweh instructed Saul to completely eradicate the Amalekites for their role in trying to stop the Hebrews from entering Canaan (see Numbers 14:39–45). Yahweh wanted Saul to devote the city and its people and animals to complete destruction—something that assaults our modern sensibilities, to be sure. But to do so in the ancient world (in the Hebrew, to make it all herem) meant Saul and his people would gain nothing from the military engagement. In a normal battle, the victors walk away with the wealth of the conquered—there’s an economic advantage gained. But with complete destruction, it serves no economic purpose.
Instead it simply stands as a chilling marker of the superiority of the victor’s God. For Saul to keep Agag and the best livestock alive turns the military victory into something that advances his kingdom rather than Yahweh’s reputation, which is precisely why he summarily forfeits that very kingdom.
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Yahweh’s choice of David as someone who has the right kind of heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7 when Yahweh says he looks “on the heart,” we tend to import our modern significances into the text. The word “heart” in Hebrew carries more connotations than just the location for emotions as it often does in English. The heart is the center of a person’s will—the engine that drives their decisions and actions. Sometimes those actions do arise from emotions, but more often in the Hebrew Bible “heart” is synonymous with “will.”
For example, prior to assaulting the Philistine garrison, Jonathan’s armor bearer tells the prince to “do all that is in your heart” (1 Sam. 14:7), meaning “do whatever it is you intend to do.” Jonathan’s heart in that moment was aimed at accomplishing what his father would not—defeating the Philistines and freeing Israel from their rule. Jonathan wanted to act as king. That, in a way, informs Yahweh’s words here. He’s looking for someone whose heart—whose will—is aligned with the vocation of king as Yahweh intends it.
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The success of David where Saul failed. For an excellent examination of how the author of 1 Samuel leverages the narrative of chapter 17 to make clear points about David, Saul, and the nature of kingship in Israel, see Abraham Kuruvilla, “David V. Goliath (1 Samuel 17): What Is the Author Doing with What He Is Saying?” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 58, no. 3 (September 2015): 487–506.
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David choosing women as his reward for military victory. David acquiring wives throughout the narrative of the books of Samuel acts as a kind of through-line leading us to his downfall as king after his violence toward Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah (2 Sam. 11). He shows blatant disregard for human lives with increasing intensity at each marriage in the text: First he slaughters a hundred more Philistine than Saul asks for Michal. Then he marries Abigail after he nearly slaughters her whole household. Finally he murders one single man to take the dead man’s wife.
Often in Christian circles we talk about David’s violence against Bathsheba and Uriah as his one failing. The one single thing that tripped him up. But the way the author of 1 and 2 Samuel sets up the story from the very beginning with Michal points us in the direction of Bathsheba from the start. We should not be surprised by David’s behavior here. It’s completely consistent with his character from the outset.
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Yahweh’s promise to not remove David and his children from the throne of Israel. See 2 Samuel 7:15–16. Yahweh explicitly mentions that he took the kingdom from Saul but will not do the same to David.
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Yahweh always keeps his promises. Astute readers will recognize at this point that I’ve opted for the language of “promise” over “covenant.” As I mentioned in the introduction, that’s primarily to avoid getting caught up in the nuances of theological discussion over the meaning and implications of “covenant.” But it’s also help surface the genuine commitment Yahweh has made to this people he loves.
Because “covenant” carries with it a sense of binding legality, we can too easily fall into the trap of believing that Yahweh stays faithful to Israel merely out of contractual obligation. However (and this will become apparent in the language of the prophetic books), Yahweh is deeply wounded by Israel’s rejection. His adherence to his promises (to the covenants) comes from his fierce love for the people despite their rejection.