Kings I 8:16-22

16 And he will take your servants, and your handmaids, and your good herds and your asses, and will take the tenth of them for his works.

17 And he will tithe your flocks; and ye shall be his servants.

18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen to yourselves, and the Lord shall not hear you in those days, because ye have chosen to yourselves a king.

19 But the people would not hearken to Samuel; and they said to him, Nay, but there shall be a king over us.

20 An we also will be like all the nations; and our king shall judge us, and shall go out before us, and fight our battles.

21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and spoke them in the ears of the Lord.

22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken to their voice, and appoint them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Let each man depart to his city.

Kings I 8:16-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 8

This chapter gives an account of the introduction of the ark into the temple, 1Ki 8:1-9 of the glory of the Lord filling it, 1Ki 8:10,11 of a speech Solomon made to the people concerning the building of the temple, and how he came to be engaged in it, 1Ki 8:12-21, of a prayer of his he put up on this occasion, requesting, that what supplications soever were made at any time, or on any account, by Israelites or strangers, might be accepted by the Lord, 1Ki 8:22-53, and of his blessing the people of Israel at the close of it, with some useful exhortations, 1Ki 8:54-61, and of the great number of sacrifices offered up by him, and the feast he made for the people, upon which he dismissed them, 1Ki 8:62-66.

Footnotes

• [a]. war.