This is the second answer submitted for this question, but this contributor has chosen
to interpose it above the first answer. To be perfectly honest, it was the experience
of reading the first answer that motivated this contributor to work on this question
at all.
-- The first king of Israel was Saul. Moses had nothing to do with it.
-- Moses' successor as military/political leader of Israel was Joshua, appointed
immediately before Moses' death, and shortly before Israel's entry into Canaan.
-- The anointing of Saul as Israel's first king took place almost 400 years later.
The question is about as reasonable as asking who George Washington chose
for the crew of Apollo 11.
We now return you to Answer #1, below the dotted line:
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Moses didn't appoint a king because YHWH (God) was technically the king of the Israelites. He did however appoint Joshua to take his place as leader of the tribes of Israel, which made Joshua the first judge of Israel.
In Samuel's old age, over four centuries after the Exodus, the people (including their Torah-scholars) felt that the time had come to take a regular government. The Torah itself permitted this (Deuteronomy ch.17); and they saw that Samuel's sons didn't seem to have reached his spiritual level (1 Samuel 8:2-3).
Samuel. The Israelites at that time were coming to the end of an era which was unique in world history. They had undertaken a grand experiment: whether a nation could govern themselves for centuries without a king or organized government.
Instead, there were the officers of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands (Exodus ch.18), and the court of Elders (Sanhedrin), who were Torah-scholars that provided Torah-rulings and guidance. Each of the leading Judges (Gideon, Deborah etc.) was a private citizen (not a head of government) who led the nation only during a brief episode of battle.
In Samuel's old age, over four centuries after the Exodus, the people (including their Torah-scholars) felt that the time had come to take a regular government. The Torah itself permitted this (Deuteronomy ch.17); and they saw that Samuel's sons didn't seem to have reached his spiritual level (1 Samuel 8:2-3).
Their usage of the expression "like the other nations around us" need not be a problem, since they were deliberately quoting the Torah itself (Deuteronomy 17:14).
What then was their mistake (why did Samuel criticize them)?
According to the Malbim commentary (on 1 Samuel), they should have waited at least until Samuel was too old to function.
According to the K'li Yakar commentary (on Deuteronomy), their precise choice of language ("for us," instead of the "over us" which the Torah had said), hinted that they wanted a king who might be affected by public pressure. See Talmud, Yoma 22b.
One more point: in Judaism we have a general rule which is called "the descent of the generations." This means that according to our tradition, the earlier a generation lived, the higher was their spiritual level (Talmud, Shabbat 112b). No Talmud-sage would dare to negate a verse of the Prophets; and no later Rabbi would dare to belittle a Talmud-sage.
For this reason, we must not judge that generation. And concerning Saul, our tradition explicitly states that he was a righteous man (Talmud, Moed Katan 16b; and Midrash Rabah 54:4); and he unified the Israelites and defeated their enemies round about (1 Samuel 14:47).
See also the other Related Links.
The prophet Samuel chose Saul as the first king of Israel, but he was not happy over it.
Saul.....replaced by David.....Replaced by Solomon
Oh BTW . . . Saul, the first king, wasn't chosen by the people.
Moses did not choose any kings. Moses in his humbleness originally tried to run away from the job of leading the people. Moses didn't choose to be the leader, but basically, G-d chose Moses and he had no choice but to accede to His will.
to free the Israelites
This is incorrect. Samuel chose Saul to be the king of the Israelites.
false
No. It was Samuel who prophetically appointed Saul to be the first king of the Israelites (1 Samuel ch.8-10). Moses lived about 400 years earlier.See also:More about SamuelChoosing the first kingMore about Moses
You got it wrong as Moses died centuries before Samuel anointed Saul as king.
no. he only led the israelites out of Egypt. and although he was not considered king, he was the greatest prophet and leader of the Jewish nation.
A:Biblical tradition is that Moses saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
No, Joshua became the leader of the Israelites after Moses died.
moses
First of all we do not have to follow Moses.
God gave them to Moses on the top of Mt. Sinai in 1498 b.c. and Moses told them to the Israelites.