Like yesterday, these chapters are listing more genealogical records, so these chapters also speak to God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promises. However, there seems to be an emphasis on God’s faithfulness to give the Israelites the land promised to Abraham. This is most strongly emphasized in chapter 6 which uses the word “pastureland” 42 times in the ESV translation! The genealogy of the returned exiles in chapter 9 would also have been a reminder that God had fulfilled His promises, specifically of a return from exile.
It is often taught that the Israelites were wrong to ask for a king, but Deuteronomy 17:14-15a says, “When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose.” So the Israelites were wrong to choose Saul as king when the Lord had chosen David to be king. After Saul’s death, David is finally able to reign uncontested as king and bring in one of the most prosperous times in history for the nation of Israel.
Israel had need of a godly king, a mediator between God and the people. This is seen in the example of the city of Jebus, later to become Jerusalem. It is amazing to me that the most iconic Jewish place, Jerusalem, was not possessed by the Jews until 400 years after Joshua’s entrance into the land who had been assigned the task of conquering the land. The Israelites needed an example and leader who faithfully depended on God and was obedient to do such a thing. In the same way we need David’s Son and David’s Lord, Jesus, as an example for obedience and for our salvation as the people of God.
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