1 Samuel 8 Footnotes

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.