1 Samuel 8:18

18 "When that time comes, you will cry out for help because of the king you have chosen. But the LORD won't answer you at that time."

1 Samuel 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.

1 Samuel 8:18 In-Context

16 He will also take your male and female servants. He'll take your best cattle and donkeys. He'll use all of them any way he wants to.
17 "He will take a tenth of your sheep and goats. You yourselves will become his slaves.
18 "When that time comes, you will cry out for help because of the king you have chosen. But the LORD won't answer you at that time."
19 In spite of what Samuel said, the people refused to listen to him. "No!" they said. "We want a king to rule over us.
20 Then we'll be like all of the other nations. We'll have a king to lead us. He'll go out at the head of our armies and fight our battles."
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