The Kingdom of Israel at Its Zenith

                The first nine chapters of the book describe the thriving kingdom of Israel. We know that the first two kings, Saul and David, were different leaders. Saul was a Tyrant and left a divided kingdom and a big mess that had to be cleaned up and organized. God raised up the hero David. Through David's hero leadership when needed and then his maintaining shepherd leadership, the kingdom is passed to the wisest man that ever lived (outside of Jesus): King Solomon. The kingdom at this time is in great shape.

            It is also very important to know that God didn't want a kingdom. He wanted to lead the people himself and warned against what a king would do!

I Samuel 10:17-19 "And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh;

And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you:

And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands."

          King Solomon reigned as a hero and a shepherd for most of his reign. He was a mental hero because he used his wisdom to build up the kingdom. His experimenting with sin ended up ruining him and the kingdom starts its downhill slide after he dies. Many of the mistakes the future kings made that followed him were the results of trying to imitate his life. Many used his mistakes as excuses to do what he did instead of benefiting by learning from his mistakes! If you are interested in more information about his life and mistakes, please see the commentary on Ecclesiastes.