Shmuel Alef 8:18

18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your melech which ye shall have chosen for you; and Hashem will not hear you in that day.

Shmuel Alef 8:18 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 8:18

And ye shall cry out in that day, because of your king
His power and pride, his oppression and tyranny, his heavy exactions, and intolerable yoke, and yet not be able to free themselves from them; all that they could do would be only to cry out under them as grievously distressed, and not knowing how to help themselves; and which would be the more aggravated, because they brought all this upon themselves, as it follows:

which ye shall have chosen you;
for though the choice of a king for them, at a proper time, God had reserved to himself, yet in later times, as is here suggested, they would choose for themselves, and did, see ( Hosea 8:4 ) besides, to have a king in general was at first their own choice, though the particular person was by the designation of the Lord:

and the Lord will not hear you in that day;
will not regard them, have no compassion on them, suffer them to remain under their oppressions, and not deliver them out of them; because they rejected him from being their King, and put themselves out of his protection, into the hands of another, and therefore it was just to leave them to their own choice.

Shmuel Alef 8:18 In-Context

16 And he will take your avadim, and your shifchot, and your finest bochurim, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your tzon; and ye shall be his avadim.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your melech which ye shall have chosen for you; and Hashem will not hear you in that day.
19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Shmuel; and they said, No; but we will have a Melech over us;
20 That we also may be like kol HaGoyim; and that our Melech may judge us, and go out before us, and fight milchamoteinu (our battles).
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.