Cheap Knock-Off Kings

When I was around ten or eleven, I asked for a wrist-watch for my birthday. I had my eye on the one I wanted, too. It was a beautiful creation of colorful abalone shells that shimmered and shone off of every facet of the watch -- from the watch face to the circle of gold numbers to every segment of the stretch wrist-band. Absolutely perfect.

I remember my parents were a little hesitant. Wouldn't I prefer a digital watch? It was easier to tell time with just a glance. But the beautiful watch really was a work of art, and so when my birthday rolled around, I opened the small package and found the watch inside.

I was thrilled, and I slid the watch over my wrist. 

Immediately, I realized I had a problem. The watch hurt. My little arm hairs, so innocuous and inoffensive, got caught in the stretch wrist-band every. single. time. I moved, and resulted in a loud Youch! 

I loved the beauty of that watch... but after a short time with the wrist band, I didn't really want to wear it anymore. I did, because my parents had gotten it for me after a prodigious amount of pleading and begging... but every youch! reminded me that while the watch was beautiful, it left something to be desired in its effect on me. 

I got used to wearing it after a while, and the pinches and sharp tugs became run of the mill, much like rats under shock treatment. They don't seek out the shocks, but they also become used to it after a while.

Not that I'm comparing myself with a rat, but you know. :)

In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel is nearing the end of his sojourn as Israel's judge. He's getting old, he's tried to get his own sons ready to take his place as judges of Israel, but his sons don't walk with the Lord. "They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice" (1 Samuel 8:3).

Most parents' nightmare (certainly mine) is that their children grow up to reject every good principle you've tried to instill in them. And Samuel, attested and true prophet of Israel -- of all the people you think of when you think of a true servant of God -- couldn't control his own sons (much like Eli before him). 

This really has a way of humbling us enough to make us realize: We are not in control, and the only way forward is to let go of our expectations, surrendering them, releasing them -- both expectations and children -- to the Lord.

Anyway... that was a side point. Back to the story. All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel. Summarizing their request in 8:5, they said: "Sam, you're getting old, and your kids aren't much good for leading anyone. Go ahead and appoint a king over our nation, one just like all the other nations around us has."

To understand the significance of this request, we need to consider Israel's history. They are the one nation called God's people. They've had a journey that has been made famous to surrounding nations, particularly their exodus out of Egypt (the Philistines dreaded fighting the Israelites in 1 Samuel 4:8, because the God of Israel was the same God who essentially ruined Egypt with plagues when they left it). Other stories of battle would surely have made their way through the highways and bi-ways of gossip: the fall of Jericho, the stopping and crossing of the Jordan River, the sun and moon standing still when Joshua commanded them to, etc. More recently, stories may have been circulating of the sojourn of the Ark of the Covenant through the five Philistine cities, in which every city where the Ark stayed broke out in tumors and plagues. 

The enemies of Israel were almost as familiar with the God of Israel as Israel itself. God. was. Israel's. King. 

So when the elders of Israel approach Samuel and ask for a king like "all the other nations have..." 

This is apostasy, by its very definition: "Apostasy: The abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief." In Israel's case, it was both religious and political.

They wanted the shiny watch, right? They wanted the greener grass on the other side of the fence. They weren't satisfied with what they had (which was pretty flat-out amazing, by the way); they wanted more, they wanted what they thought was better. 

Samuel took their request before the Lord and said, "Lord, what should I do?"

In His sovereignty, in the way the Lord sees His Story (history) from the beginning of time clear to the end of it, He allowed Israel the abalone watch. He told Samuel: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their King. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly, and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."

So Samuel did just that. He said: "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day."

With all that in mind... why on earth is Israel asking for a king like "all the other nations have"?

Why, indeed? 

In John Bunyan's book The Pilgrim's Progress, there's a point where Christian has to pass through a city called Vanity Fair on his way to the Celestial City. The Celestial City is beautiful; it's flawless. It's the city of the Good King, and for a long time, arriving at the Celestial City is Christian's entire goal.

But when he and his friend Faithful reach Vanity Fair, they find a city that is -- to put it bluntly -- a cheap knock-off of the Celestial City. It's a city... you know, like the Celestial City... and there are desirable things in it like in the Celestial City. 

But the items in Vanity Fair are glitzy... but cheap. They're pretty... but temporary. They're attractive... but they hurt. All the abalone shell beauty of the curiosity items can't measure up to the beauty of the Celestial City, but in Christian and Faithful's sojourn through the city, they lose sight of the end goal.

Similarly, the Israelites are distracted by the glitz and glamor of the world around them, and they lose sight of their true King, rejecting Him in favor of a cheap knock-off version.

We don't have this issue today, thank goodness, right? Church? Church? Hello, is anyone there?

Do we ever place another person or thing on the throne besides God? Do we ever look for truth outside of His word? Do we ever trust and obey... the wrong leader? 

Over the last several weeks, as I've asked the Holy Spirit to show me what He wants me to see in His word, it has become almost comical how often my Bible has fallen open to passages like 2 Chronicles 20:12: "Oh God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You."

Or 2 Kings 6:17: "And Elisha prayed, 'Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."

Or Psalm 141:8: "But my eyes are fixed on You, oh sovereign Lord; in You I take refuge -- do not give me over to death."

Or Matthew 14:20: "But when [Peter] saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'"

Or Hebrews 12:2: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

So when our eyes are riveted where they should be, rather than focusing on the kings of surrounding nations and coveting the idols of culture and compromise, what King do we see instead?

I submit this one, the one described in Revelation 19:11-16: "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose Rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a Name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His Name is the Word of God (Hallelujah!!!) The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword, with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has this Name written (pay attention!!): King of kings and Lord of lords."

Y'all... why would we want any other king beside this King? Why would we want any other lord beside this Lord?

Yet, somehow... Israel got distracted by the pretty glitz. The knock-off substitutes.
And the Lord let them have their way... get this... so that His story (history) could be written.

You know, it pains me to see people throw out portions of Scripture as irrelevant or inapplicable, because every piece of Scripture, written by the Author of Time, fits exactly into the place He made it to fit. Even Leviticus and Numbers, y'all. :)

So the day that the Lord agreed to let Israel have their glitzy, knock-off king was a day He had planned, so that the true King of king could come in redemption and judgment and beauty on the final day, place His foot on the Mount of Olives and set up a thousand year reign (which gets into eschatology, and this post is already long enough). 

I wore my abalone shell watch for a good while. But it wasn't long before the shells began to chip off the wristband, and the ugly underside showed through. The band continued to pull my arm hairs, and I endured the snaps of pain for a good while.

Eventually, I switched the watch out for a slightly less pretty, much more practical watch that didn't tug on my arm hairs, that didn't chip or diminish, and that lasted me for years.

One day, all of us, believer or unbeliever, will no longer have any time left between faith... and sight. Every knee, every knee, will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth in front of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 

So if we're begging for a glitzy, glamorous, replacement king, church, let's bring that foremost to mind and heart. Who is the King of kings? 

"Lift up your heads, oh you gates,
Be lifted up, you ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
The Lord, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, oh you gates,
Lift them up, you ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in.
Who is He, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty,
He is the King of glory!" ~ Psalm 24:7-10