Test for Christians: Who was the first king over the Israelites?

Question

before Cushan-Rishathaim

Answer 1

Saul was the son of a distinguished Jew by the name of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin.

Answer 2

thats a good question..because alot of people will get this wrong, however...I must point out that you yourself are only half right...the answer is Abimelech...however...Saul was the first proper King, because he was anointed by God. and Abimelech was only selected by one city.......

Answer 3

Saul. (1 Samuel 9)

Melchizedek, but he was not king of Israel, only Salem.?

Pharaoh is never described as king.

1 Samuel 8:5 explains that Israel had no king before Saul. You should check it again.

Before Saul were only Judges, not kings.

Answer 4

It is indeed Abimelech, son of Gideon.  Though he killed his whole family to usurp the throne.  

Answer 5

Would it have been Pharaoh of Egypt, since the question was " over the Israelites"?

<edit>"It is indeed Abimelech, son of Gideon. Though he killed his whole family to usurp the throne.  Atheist, sorry, couldn't resist. :)"

100 million people died under communism (atheism) which is more that died in the name of all the so-called "Holy wars" combined, so atheists don't have the moral high ground to play  the "Christians Are Just A Bunch of Killers" game.

<edit> Wow, this is a hard one.

Answer 6

MELCHIZEDEK is identified as a king. But not of all Israel. He was the

King of ancient Salem. Ancient Salem is understood to have been the  later city of Jerusalem, and its name was incorporated in that of Jerusalem, which is sometimes referred to as “Salem"

Answer 7

I take it this is a reference to Abimelech in Judges 9.

Answer 8

Oooo Oooo me me, can I get the points...

How about Cushan-Rishathaim?

"The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years."

Judges 3:8

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OK so not Cushan-Rishathaim then... Perhaps you are referring to Moses! You are a sneaky so and so - chosing a question where the answer could not be found by hunting biblegateway alone... ;o)

"He was king over Jeshurun when the leaders of the people assembled, along with the tribes of Israel."

Deuteronomy 33:5

In commentary of this passage:

"He (either God or Moses)...19 In this verse, the title Jeshurun cannot be separated from the tribes of Israel as a united people, accepting the sovereignty of the Torah mediated by Moses and authored by God, who is ultimately King.

...

19 That it was Moses who was king over Jeshurun is the view of many midrashic passages..."

Interpretations of the Name Israel in Ancient Judaism and Some Early Christian Writings by Robert Haywood, Oxford University Press, p100.

Oh and the NIV text footnote says:

"Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel"

So according to midrashic tradition, Moses was the first King of Israel.

** Takes a bow, far too pleased with himself for resolving the conundrum **

Can I get the points now?

Answer 9

Jesus was the only king. The king of Kings for all time.

Answer 10

The "official" answer is of course Saul the son of Kish, but there was an earlier guy who set himself up as king - probably not as king over the whole of Israel, but as a petty local king.  Now - who the heck was he?  

Aha!  'Twas Abimelech a son of the hero (judge) Gideon, or Jerubaal, who was made king at Shechem.  Abimelech reigned for three years.   Abimelech was not actually "king over the Israelites".  According to the Bible he was a petty local leader who got himself made king over the people of Shechem (one "city") and a few of their allies.  

The Old Testament scholar, Alberto Soggin, writes that Abimelech was the ruler of a Canaanite city state, for which there is evidence outside the Bible (the 14th century BCE el-Amarna letters discovered in Egypt).  The biblical narrative connects him with the Israelite hero, Gideon, but he ruled over what was a non-Israelite city at that time. "He never held any position in Israel".

Edit:  Before Abimelech, you say.  A's father, Gideon, was invited to become king and he refused.  So before Gideon .....?  

There isn't one.  The book of Judges records that a varius times the newly settling Israelites were subject to local rulers, such as Eglon the king of Moab, Jabin "the king of Canaan, and (surprisingly) Cushan-rishathaim the king of Mesopotamia, but these can hardly be considered "king/s over the Israelites".

No doubt you will enlighten us in due course.