Why are the last people who should lead, the ones who volunteer first?

The foolish, the violent, the self-obsessed?

Why are the ones most likely to abuse power, least likely to give it away. An unfortunate correlation to be sure.

This is a story about a man who desperately wanted to rule. A man convinced he was owed a place

of power who would stop at nothing to get it and to keep it.

And it's a story about a God who doesn't let that kind of greed go unanswered.

I'm Justin Gerhardt.

Welcome to Holy Ghost Stories. Fire flickers on faces, yellow, orange, red.

The gathered murmur to one another, seated in a circle, waiting for the one who called

this meeting to speak.

And while they don't know what he's going to say, they've seen the ambition in this man's

eyes, itself a fire, so they have some

sense, surely, of what they've come to hear.

He is no stranger, you see.

Finally, the man looks up and begins, something like this.

Seventy rulers? You all know this is not ideal. I've seen hives with

fewer bees. If Israel is to compete, to be respected, there must be one person in charge.

It should have happened with my father. People wanted it, but he was too...

The man's face settles into a look of dark resolve.

Well, I will do what he would not.

He flashes an insider's only look now and leans in.

Generations, we've been here in Canaan,

...