After Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land of Canaan it was substantially under the control of the Israelites. The Israelites moved into their Promised Land, settling-in and raising families in their land that was their promised gift from Yahweh, the God of Israel.
David’s ancestors, such as his great-great-grandparents Rahab and Salmon, lived during the notable time of Joshua’s armies obtaining control of the land of Canaan. Both Rahab and Salmon were instrumental in the conquest of Jericho, leading to Joshua’s successful take-over from the indigenous groups of Canaanites that occupied the land.
Even though Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute, she holds honor with the Israelite people, as she was instrumental in Joshua’s army’s success. Working with the love of the Lord in her heart, Rahab protected the spies that came to scout out the ‘impenetrable’ city of Jericho. Because of Rahab’s courage to stand with the Israelites, Joshua and his men were able to conquer the city of Jericho and then move forward with future successes in Canaan.
Eventually some years later after Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, rule over the land evolved into a period of time known as the ‘Judges’. This era received its name due to the rule by as a series of judges who were chosen by God to govern His people. David’s great-grandparents, Ruth and Boaz lived in Bethlehem during this period of time, and were known for their extreme faith and dedication to the Lord.
During the time of settling the Promised Land, Israel did not have friendly neighbors around its borders and was surrounded by many pagan nations. Even within the Promised Land, pockets of indigenous pagan Canaanites still existed in and among the Israelites who had settled after Joshua’s conquest. With this ‘incomplete conquering’ of Canaan and its inhabitants, the Israelites were exposed to many cultures, all who worshipped pagan entities.
Many Israelites intermarried with the native pagan Canaanites, even though this was against God’s commandments. As a result of this intermarriage, many Israelites adopted the Canaanite pagan culture and religion. This eventually led to many of the Israelites to turn away from God and to become idolatrous, pagan worshippers in order to ‘fit in’ with the people among them.
The pagan cultures surrounding the Israelites were wealthy and powerful. This especially seemed intriguing to the Israelites who had recently served as slaves in Egypt, prior to their exodus to the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses and Joshua.
The Israelites therefore tended to admire the other nations and cultures around them as these pagan cultures flourished with decadence and power. Seeing that these surrounding nations were governed by kings who exuded prestige and opulence, the Israelites came to envy their way of life.
The period of Judges was characterized by the Israelites’ disobedience to God. The era described in the book of Judges had the typical, cyclical pattern of the Israelite people’s disobedience in their turning away from God, which resulted in God delivering them into the hands of their enemies who surrounded them.
The oppression that resulted then caused people to repent and temporarily turn back to God, but only for a while, as soon they would again become disobedient.
These cycles of turning away from the Lord, then back to Him again when oppression overcame them, is referred to as Deuteronomic cycles. This cyclic pattern was predicted and warned about in the Book of Deuteronomy.
During this period of time, God’s chosen judges attempted to govern and lead His people in order to avoid the havoc that resulted from the peoples’ disobedience.
However, as soon as a Judge would die, the people would again become disobedient and as a result turned further away from the Lord.
Being governed by Judges was not an ideal situation as far as the Israelites were concerned, and the people longed for a different kind of leader. Rebellious and envying other nations, the Israelite people turned from the Lord and longed for a monarchy. The Israelite people desperately wanted a king to rule over them.
Samuel was the last in a long line of the Judges, and also served as God’s prophet to listen to His people. As Samuel became older, the people of Israel asked Samuel to give them a king to replace him to rule over them so that they could be similar to the other nations encompassing their borders.
Even though God knew that this would eventually be destructive to the nation of Israel, He complied with the people’s wish to be governed by a human king.