1 Samuel 8:6

6 But Samuel was not pleased when they said to him, Give us a king to be our judge. And Samuel made prayer to the Lord.

1 Samuel 8:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 8:6

But the thing displeased Samuel
Not that they called him an old man, and suggested that he was incapacitated for his office, nor for observing the unbecoming walk of his sons, but for what follows:

when they said, give us a king to judge us;
what displeased him was, that they were for changing their form of government, not only to remove it from him, and his sons, but from the Lord himself, who was king over them; the ill consequences of which, many of them at least, he easily foresaw, and which gave him great uneasiness, both on account of the glory of God, and their own good; insomuch, as Josephus ^F25 says, he could neither eat nor sleep, but watched all night, and spent it in prayer, as follows:

and Samuel prayed unto the Lord;
to know his mind and will, and what answer he should return unto them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 3.) sect. 3.

1 Samuel 8:6 In-Context

4 Then all the responsible men of Israel got together and went to Samuel at Ramah,

5 And said to him, See now, you are old, and your sons do not go in your ways: give us a king now to be our judge, so that we may be like the other nations.

6 But Samuel was not pleased when they said to him, Give us a king to be our judge. And Samuel made prayer to the Lord.

7 And the Lord said to Samuel, Give ear to the voice of the people and what they say to you: they have not been turned away from you, but they have been turned away from me, not desiring me to be king over them.

8 As they have done from the first, from the day when I took them out of Egypt till this day, turning away from me and worshipping other gods, so now they are acting in the same way to you.