1 Samuel 8
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CHAPTER 8
Israel Asks for a King (8:1–22)
1–5 As Samuel grew older, he appointed his two sons to serve as judges in Beersheba, a town in the southernmost part of Canaan (verses 1–2). However, like Eli’s sons, they did not follow in their father’s footsteps; they perverted justice by taking bribes, something which the law prohibited (Exodus 23:8; Deuteronomy 16:19). It’s a sad thing when the children of godly parents turn to ungodly ways. Although parents’ influence over their children is strong, each child is an independent person and must make his or her own choice whether or not to follow the Lord.
Because of Samuel’s age and his sons’ evil behavior, the elders of Israel asked Samuel to appoint a king to rule over them. Samuel surely knew that such a request would come at some point (see Deuteronomy 17:4). Israel was still not truly united; it continued to be threatened by the Philistines and other neighboring nations. The elders believed that if Israel was going to survive as a nation, it needed the political and military leadership of a strong king. Furthermore,all the other nations had kings; why shouldn’t Israel have one too? (verse 5).
6–9 Samuel, however, was displeased with their request for a king (verse 6). There was nothing wrong in the request itself; it was the reason, the motive for the request that was wrong. The main motive for requesting a king was that the Israelites wanted to be like other nations. All through their history the Israelites had sought to conform to the ways of the nations around them; repeatedly they forgot that they were God’s chosen people and that the nations of the world should be conforming to them, not the other way around! (see Romans 12:2).
A second reason Samuel was displeased was that the elders’ request for a king seemed like a rejection of his own leadership. But the Lord said it was He who was being rejected, not Samuel (see Exodus 16:8). No servant is greater than his master; if people reject the Lord, they will reject His servants also (John 15:20).
In particular, the Israelites were rejecting the Lord as their king (verse 7). They had forgotten that the Lord had been their “King,” their Ruler, from the beginning (Judges 8:23). He was fully able to fight their battles and to deliver them; He had just proven that at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:1011) and on many other occasions throughout their history. The fact was, whenever the Israelites had been defeated it had been their own fault; it had been because of their disobedience and lack of faith. The Lord had never failed them; they had failed Him!
However, instead of rejecting the elders’ request outright, the Lord told Samuel to warn the Israelites what it would be like to have a human king over them (verse 9). The people had only thought of the good things a king might do, not the bad things.
10–18 In these verses Samuel tells the people about the “bad things.” Samuel’s words accurately describe most kings of the ancient world, including Solomon himself in his later years. The people could expect their king to take a tenth of all their produce (verse 15)—in addition to the regular tithe for the Lord (Leviticus 27:30). But more than that, he would take the people themselves; the people, in effect, would become his slaves (verse 17). And then, too late, the people would cry out for relief; but the Lord would not answer them in that day (verse 18).
19–22 In spite of Samuel’s warning, the elders repeated their request for a king (verse 19), and so the Lord granted their request (verse 22).
Did the Lord change His mind? He clearly did not want them to have the kind of king they were asking for—“a king. . .to go out before us and fight our battles” (verse 20). They were really asking for a king who would replace God, and certainly that was not God’s plan.
But God had long before decided that one day Israel would have a king (Genesis 49:10), and He had given Moses careful instructions about how that king should rule (see Deuteronomy 17:14–20 and comment). Any king would have to rule under God’s ultimate authority (Romans 13:1) and obey His covenant laws. The king would be like a judge—like Samuel—a man chosen by God, directed by God, and empowered by God. It was with these conditions in mind that God granted the Israelites’ request for a king.
However, God still knew that in their hearts the people had rejected Him (verse 7). They had rejected the covenant they had made with Him, according to which He would be their protector and deliverer—their King—and they would obey His laws. The Israelites’ wellbeing had always depended on their obedience to God, not on human kings and military power. Now they had signaled that they no longer wanted to obey God or to abide by His covenant.
Why? Because the Israelites wanted to be like other people. There is a warning here for Christians today. SATAN cannot overcome us by a direct attack; but if he can tempt us to become like the world around us, he will have neutralized our witness, our power, and our faith. We will have become like soldiers without armor and without weapons (Ephesians 6:10–20).