Is David the first King of Israel? Why or why not?
In first Samuel 16, we find that David is anointed as king. Despite being the youngest and most unlikely from amongst his brothers, he was still the one chosen by God to reign on the throne of Israel. However, he was NOT the first king of Israel. This is because at the time of David’s anointing, Saul was already the reigning king. The appointing of Saul can be found in three different points in the Bible:
1 Samuel 10:1
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the LORD anointed you leader over his inheritance?
1 Samuel 10:23-24
They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
I Samuel 11:14-15
Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there reaffirm the kingship.” So all the people went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.
From these passages, we can see that Saul was affirmed as king by God (through the prophet Samuel), and the people.
Some may argue that David was the first king, since it was under his reign that Israel was first wholly united. However, this does not discount the fact that although the tribes were not united, Saul had the majority of tribes under his reign. Furthermore, the remaining tribes had no king to contest the kingship of Paul, due to the fact that only a prophet had the right to anoint a king. And at that time, the prophet Samuel had already anointed Saul.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David
http://www.sundayschoollessons.com/david.htm
http://mn.essortment.com/davidisraelkin_rfvy.htm
