The End in the Middle

"Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years."- 1 Samuel 13:1 (TNIV)

This summary of the reign of king Saul comes at the beginning of chapter 13 in 1 Samuel. However, it's placement in the story is odd. One expects to find such a summary either at the end of a story or perhaps at the beginning. Indeed, both David and Solomon have similar summaries of their reigns, but in both of their cases the summary comes after the death of the king. However, in the case of Saul, this statement appears in the middle of Saul's story. A similar thing occurs with Ish-bosheth and David in 2 Sam. 2:10-11 and 4:4-5. Here, Saul was crowned king 3 chapters earlier and had led a successful campaign against Israel's enemies. However, there is still plenty of Saul's story to go. In fact, Saul does not die until the very end of 1 Samuel.

In thinking about the placement of this statement, perhaps it is significant that, unlike David or Solomon, there is no summary statement at the end of Saul's life. Furthermore, it appears just before Saul's first major mistake as king. While waiting at Gilgal for Samuel, Saul becomes impatient and ends up disobeying God's command. Instead off waiting for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice, Saul chooses to offer the sacrifice himself. Samuel then rebukes Saul with the harrowing claim that Saul's "kingdom will not endure" (13:14 TNIV). Indeed, things continue to go downhill for Saul as he slowly loses touch with God and slowly loses his kingdom to David.

In some ways this narrative device works lie an extended flashback in movies. There are many movies that provide you with a scene and then go back to explain how that scene came about. For example, a bomb goes off in the opening scene and then the movies flashes back to the events leading up to that bombing. We already know the ending, the question is just how did we get there. Thus, whether it is Saul or David, we get a peak at the end and must await the details that are to come. However, in Saul's case, the author is signaling that this is the beginning of the end for Saul. With no second summary at the end of his reign (unlike David and Solomon), Saul's life is a steady downhill event. After chapter 13, Saul's reign is a good as done, so one might as well only summarize the totality of Saul reign here. Thus, in chapter 13, we know that the end of Saul is coming, but the reader soon discovers that the 42 years of Saul's reign were not all good years..

YHWH as King in Num. 1-4

The first few chapters of Numbers seem to be not only preparing Israel for the conquest of Canaan but also to be placing YHWH as king over Israel. The arrangement of the tribes around the tabernacle is of course partially a military formation. In this light, it can be seen that the camp arrangement of Israel is not too different than the military camps of other kings in the ancient near east. Often such encampments would place the king at the center of the camp. This would signal the importance of the king and also provide the king with protection from enemies.

Thus, such a military camp would somewhat serve like the secret service does for the President today. Just as the Secret Service is always present and surrounding the President in public areas, likewise the armies of the ancient world would camp around their leader. Yet, it is interesting that in Numbers, at least part of the camp structure was for the protection of Israel instead of protection for God. Numbers 1:53 points out that one reason the Levites were to camp closest to the tabernacle was to help prevent God's wrath from falling on the rest of the camp.

The sense of YHWH as Israel's king is heightened in the following chapters as the book describes the various tasks of which the Levites were in charge. In describing the transportation of many of the pieces of holy furniture, Numbers reports that these holy objects were to be wrapped in blue, crimson, and purple clothes--all colors of royalty. The message is clear: the God who brought Israel out of Egypt is also to be their king who will bring them into the Promised Land and is to be worshiped as their king.

The New Testament continues with this idea of God/Jesus as king over His people. One wonders if we have lost some of this sense in our modern world. One also wonders what rituals or practices that we have in our churches today either place God and Jesus in this role as king or that strip Him of such a position.