The election idea occurs frequently in the literature describing the early monarchic events. In this period we see the activities of Sam- uel and David, the preeminent worshipers of Yahweh. The idea of Yahweh’s election of Israel seems to have been the foundational ideology which united the tribes and led to the building of the Temple.
(1) The Activities of Samuel
After the collapse of Eli’s family, Samuel assumed the religious leadership of Israel. Unlike his predecessor, he was totally Yahweh- centric, and the people of Israel listened to his voice. Since he up- held worship of Yahweh alone, he urged his people to remove the alien gods from among them and return to Yahweh with alI their heart (1 Sam. 7:3-4). Therefore, the convention at Mizpah was seen as a kind of return-to-Yahweh movement in the eyes of the author of this book.37 They fasted on that day and repented of their polytheism.
This national convention precipitated a national crisis, how- ever, because the Philistines heard the news and went up to attack Israel. The Israelites were afraid and they asked Samuel to pray to Yahweh to help them. Thus, Samuel took a suckling lamb and of- fered it for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh and cried out to him on behalf of the nation. As the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, “Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel” (!%lVW 131fS1P~;ls1D9~WW7Y N1;1;1 Dl9 Wl~~h~~;11Vt3Y191,
1 Sam. 7: 10). The battle, therefore, ended with Israel’s victory. The intervention of Yahweh for his people by means of thunder is a characteristic phenomenon of a holy war. In particular, the verb
37. Many scholars agree that even though the language of this passage may be younger and Deuteronomistic, the idea is not. According to M.C. Lind, this passage “deals with the first commandment, which is fundamental to the earliest
‘rib’ poetry, in which Yahweh’s case against the people is presented, and to the
‘rib’ oracles of the ancient prophets.” Furthermore, the intercession of Samuel is linked with that of Moses, and the role of Samuel as a judge is concerned with Israel’s sin and her relationship with Yahweh. See Lind, Yahweh Is a Warrior, p. 98.
THE DIVINE ELECTION OF ISRAEL
OKI, which means “to throw into confusion and panic,” is usually found in a holy war context (Ex. 14:24; Josh. 10~10; Judg. 4:15).
Once again, Israel experienced the miraculous help of Yahweh in the war, an immediate result of their return to him.
We do not see any specific war leader here. Samuel only prayed and Yahweh answered. Even without any human leader in battle, Israel could win and overcome a national crisis. Israel viewed this event differently, however, for they thought they needed a visible human war leader. The main reason for requesting a king was to have a warrior who could lead them out to war and fight their battles (1 Sam. 8:5, 20). So they demanded a warrior-king. Samuel was displeased at their request for a king. Yahweh also regarded it as the rejection of his kingship over Israel (8:7). However, Yahweh listened to them and commanded Samuel to give a king to them.
Thus, Saul was anointed as the first human king of Israel, and he was, eventually, acknowledged by the people as such when he de- feated Nahash the Ammonite (chap. 11).
After this, Samuel again called for a national convention at Gilgal (12: l-29, which is known as the occasion for his farewell address. In his speech, Samuel first recounted his honesty and fi- delity (vv l-5), and second, he repeated the absurdity of Israel’s request for a king in spite of their experience of Yahweh’s kingship over them (vv 6-12).38 Thus, he said,
,L, mm &7y x2 him-‘22 $m m-3 imni
:o33h DXI~~ mi ir?y 1372~ ih3-9 ~5 When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, “No, but a king shall reign over us,”
although Yahweh your God was your king. (1 Sam. 12: 12)
38. J.R. Vannoy comprehensively summarizes the divergent opinions of the literary criticism concerning 1 Sam. 11:14-12:25 in Covenant Renewal at Gilgal (Cherry Hill: Mack Publishing Co., 1978) pp. 95-126. While not denying Deuter- onomistic influence in the narrative, he argues that it is not to be considered the result of late editorializing, or exilic or even postexilic authorship, but rather the reflection of a vital theological dynamic operative in and contemporaneous with the events which are here described (PP. 237-38). D.J. McCarthy assigns 1 Sam.
12 to a pre-Deuteronomistic stage, “because it is not quite deuteronomistic.” Ac- cording to him, “a phrase not exact!v deuteronomistic must simply be non-deu- teronomistic, for example, ‘dwell in safety (v. 11 b: nU1)’ for deuteronomistic ‘quiet
@pm),’ ‘making a people for yourself (v. 2%) for deuteronomistic ‘be a peo- ple . . .,’ or ppa for ‘land’ (v 8b) and not deuteronomistic ‘Temple”’ (“Compact and Kingship: Stimuli for Hebrew Covenant Thinking,” in Stud& in the Period of David and Solomon and Other Essa?x ed. Tomoo Jshida [Winona Lake: Eisen- brauns, 19821, pp. 89-90).
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEA OF EL E C T I O N
Therefore, Samuel called for a demonstration of thunder and rain, showing them that Yahweh was still their king over and above any human king. Thus Yahweh’s thunder and rain manifested here in the harvest season were not salvific (as they were at Mizpah);
rather they were to awaken the sons of Israel who had asked for a king besides Yahweh (v 17). Responding in terror, Israel repented and asked Samuel to pray to Yahweh for them.
Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king. (1 Sam. 12:19)
In response to their repentance (vv 20-25), Samuel exhorted the people to serve Yahweh in truth with all their heart. Quite sig- nificantly, he stated,
For Yahweh will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because Yahweh has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. (1 Sam. 12:22)
Here we see an unusual rejection term as well as an important election formula. Itrb~ is a rejection term meaning “pluck up” or
“throw off “39 and it was especially utilized by Jeremiah in the re- jection context (Jer. 12: 14,15,17; 18:7,14; 31:28,40; 42: 10; 45:4). The verb fit&? in its participial form is sometimes used for Yahweh as the Maker of Israel (Ps. 95:6; Is. 44:2; 51: 13; 54:5; Hos. 8: 14). How- ever, its use here in an election formula is unique. The combination of the love term >%1;1 with the election term suggests the later origin of this usage.
The institution of kingship seemed to have been socially indis- pensable if Israel was to survive in its hostile surroundings. The struggle between the prophetic defense of Yahweh’s kingship and the people’s demand of a human king resulted in the people’s vic- tory. In the process of asking for and choosing a king, however, they had to realize that Yahweh was still their king who fought for them.
The keen concern of the people of Israel during the days of Samuel seemed to have been directed at finding a real human king for
39. See Chap. III below, p. 205.
THE DIVINE ELECTION OF IS R A E L
them.40 The social need created a new image of Yahweh as their king. Thus, the image of Yahweh as a warrior-king who was to rule Israel and fight for them was the product of this transitional period from the age of the Judges to the monarchy. However, this image of Yahweh as a warrior-king is alluded to in the Song of the Sea.
(2) The Battles of David
David seems to be one of the most zealous worshipers of Yahweh throughout biblical history Even though David was anointed by Samuel ( 1 Sam. 16: l-13), he did not receive any national attention until he killed Goliath, the Philistine. When he returned from kill- ing the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing with tambourines and other musical instru- ments, saying:
Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
(1 Sam. 18:7) Since this song was known even to the people of Gath, when David fled from Saul to Achish king of Gath, the servants of Ach- ish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thou- sands, and David his ten thousands”‘? (1 Sam. 21: 11).
Again, when the allied forces of the Philistines gathered to- gether against Saul, the commander of the Philistines did not like David’s joining with them and reminded Achish of this very song (29:5). This indicates that the killing of Goliath and the ensuing victory over the Philistines gave David international fame. The 40. Since “in the Assyrian enthronement ritual the kingship of Ashur is sig- nificantly proclaimed prior to the crowning of the human king (K.E Miiller, Das assyrische Ritual I [MVAG 4113, 19731 8-9 line 29),” and since “the Babylonian view is well reflected in the prologue to the Code of Hammurabi (i l-52, v 14-24)”
J.J.M. Roberts asserts that Israel followed the lines of Assyria and Babylon in viewing Yahweh as the real king, with the human king as his earthly representative or regent, “elected by the deity to carry out his earthly tasks” (“Zion in the The- ology of the Davidic-Solomonic Empire,” in Studies in the Period of David and Solomon and Other Essays, ed. Tomoo Ishida [Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 19821, p. 99).
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDEA OF EL E C T I O N
background of this song (chap. 17) suggests some very important clues in our understanding of the concept of election.
In the narrative section of David’s confrontation against Goli- ath, David himself calls the army of Israel “the armies of the living God” (0~ o~;I?K NBlYn, 17:26, 36). And when he went out to meet the Philistines, he said:
You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day Yahweh will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is Yahweh’s and He will give you into our hands.
(1 Sam. 17:45-47) Here, David again calls Yahweh “Yahweh of hosts” and “the God of the armies of Israel.” The battle is Yahweh’s, and the battle is entrusted to David by Yahweh, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all Israel may know that Yahweh does not deliver by sword or by spear. According to these words, Israel is an army of Yahweh, and David himself is a commander of this army who is about to fight for Yahweh and his honor.
These ideas seem to be prevalent among the Israelites after the war. Saul offers his daughter Merab to David to be his wife on the condition of his being a valiant man and fighting “Yahweh’s battle”
(;11;1~ nmh, 1 Sam. 18: 17). Even though Saul had a cunning design to kill David through the hand of the Philistines, he recognized David as a man who waged the wars of Yahweh. Also, Abigail the wife of Nabal spoke similar words about David when he came to destroy the whole family of Nabal in vengeance for the latter’s contempt.
THE DIVINE ELECTION OF ISRAEL
Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for Yahweh will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fiiting the battles of Yahweh, and evil shall not be found in you all your days. (1 Sam. 25:28)
Abigail believed that since David was fighting Yahweh’s battle, Yahweh would build an enduring house for David.41 Therefore, we can see here that the idea of Israel’s being the army of Yahweh took on a more concrete form in the days of David. This idea is also present iu the psalms of David.