1 Samuel 8 Footnotes

8:5-7 In the law of Moses, God had spoken of a time when the Israelites would have an earthly king (Dt 17:14-20), even though the Lord was already their King (Nm 23:21; Dt 33:5; Jdg 8:23) and would remain so in Israel’s worship (e.g., Ps 47:2; 89:18; 95:3; 99:4; Is 33:22). The structure of Israel’s covenant was that of a king making a treaty with subordinates. The Lord made provision for the earthly office of king in Israel, but this was a concession to human weakness and not his ideal for the nation. The instructions of Dt 17 set limits on Israel’s kingship, and did not give it a blanket endorsement.

In this section of 1 Samuel, the people were asking for the right to be “the same as all the other nations”—that is, like the pagans, who did not have the Lord as their King. They wanted to rely upon a strong military leader, and not on God and his leadership alone, for help in dealing with enemies. What was offensive to God, and to Samuel his spokesman, was the people’s yearning to look for help in another direction.