Before the Monarchy

Life in Israel before the institution of the monarchy was completely different than anything that the people of Israel had ever experienced before.

Up to this point, they had been under the rule of Pharaoh and grown as a nation in that way. Through the direction of God, Moses led them from that bondage and into the wilderness where they would, of their own doing, spend the next forty years.

As we come upon the scriptures of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, we see the way in which the people that God had led out would have to begin to live.

“In all of this Israel had the promise that God had already given them everything that they would gain. the fact that the land is something Yahweh is “giving” or “has given” to Israel (vv. 2, 3, 11, 13, 15), or that Moses already gave them (vv. 14, 15)” (Hamilton p. 19). 

Hamilton mentions this certainty when he shows that the promises of God, are “a perfect of certitude, a perfective of confidence, a perfective future—a means of expressing a vivid future when the action is considered “as good as done.” God’s promissory word is “as good as done”. (Hamilton p. 31).

One of the first issues that we see the children of Israel encounter is their responsibility in these promises. As mentioned, up to this point Israel had everything done for them. In Egypt they had a Pharaoh to “tell them what to do”, and in the wilderness, they walked around being led by a pillar and by Moses. (Exodus 13:21)

At the entry of Canaan, they were now in a place where they would have to be, not only accountable for their actions, be responsible for their advancement. The promises were assured, but “the promises of God do not negate human responsibility; rather, they advance it”. (Hamilton p. 22)

The second problem that the Israelites encountered came into an alarming realization at the death of Joshua. When their leader Moses dead, he had set in place a successor but when Joshua passed there was no figure of authority in place, leaving them to “fend for themselves”.

Hamilton explains that “Unlike the era of Joshua, no one individual is dominant enough to cast a shadow over the entire book. In fact, what does cast a shadow over Judges is the absence of such a leader”. (Hamilton p. 97)

This vacuum of leadership created by the death Joshua led to all sorts of challenges. Part of this lack of leadership ends up turning the once unified people into people that are constantly at odds with one another. We can see this vividly by looking at the bookends of the book of Judges. “A book that starts with a reference to an offensive war by a united nation against a common enemy end with a reference to that same nation at war with itself’. Hamilton goes on to show the extent of this damage by pointing out that, “Benjaminites, part of the family of God, have become Canaanites”. (Hamilton p. 101).

In a sense, we can see this life they found themselves in as the physical effect of a spiritual problem. Without the clear authority in their lives we see, “a picture of a nation deeply fractured. 

To use the New Testament language (Romans 8), a part is living life in the Spirit, and part is living life in the flesh. One expels the enemy; the other cohabits with the enemy. One is incisive; the other is tolerant”. (Hamilton p. 104)

It becomes clear that the children of Israel left to themselves would begin to implode. God would intervene, but a soon as the physical figure would pass from the scene, they would continue to “do that which was right in their own eyes”. (Judges 21:25)

The promises fulfilled were not enough to keep them in obedience to their God. The security that they could have was not enough, and even the ability to see His faithfulness was not enough. We can see in much clarity that this people of God needed something that mortal man could not provide. They needed a change of heart.