Politics · 18 · Hannah and Samuel
Kingship as a compromise
In his farewell speech, Samuel accepts the monarchy, but warns: if you do evil, 'you and your king' will be swept away.
The state is a means, not an end.
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Monarchy becomes a human concession, not a divine ideal, and just one late chapter in a longer national story. The Bible counts 480 years from the exodus to the temple, longer than the kingdoms lasted. Unlike Hegel's state as history's crown, here a state that becomes an end swallows the nation.
Bible reference: 1 Samuel 12:12, 25
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 298–300
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