Shmuel Alef 8:6

6 But the thing was displeasing in the eyes of Shmuel, when they said, Give us a Melech to judge us. And Shmuel davened unto Hashem.

Shmuel Alef 8:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 8:6

But the thing displeased Samuel
Not that they called him an old man, and suggested that he was incapacitated for his office, nor for observing the unbecoming walk of his sons, but for what follows:

when they said, give us a king to judge us;
what displeased him was, that they were for changing their form of government, not only to remove it from him, and his sons, but from the Lord himself, who was king over them; the ill consequences of which, many of them at least, he easily foresaw, and which gave him great uneasiness, both on account of the glory of God, and their own good; insomuch, as Josephus ^F25 says, he could neither eat nor sleep, but watched all night, and spent it in prayer, as follows:

and Samuel prayed unto the Lord;
to know his mind and will, and what answer he should return unto them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 3.) sect. 3.

Shmuel Alef 8:6 In-Context

4 Then kol Ziknei Yisroel gathered themselves together, and came to Shmuel unto Ramah,

5 And said unto him, Hinei, thou art old, and thy banim walk not in thy drakhim; now appoint for us a Melech to judge us like kol HaGoyim.

6 But the thing was displeasing in the eyes of Shmuel, when they said, Give us a Melech to judge us. And Shmuel davened unto Hashem.

7 And Hashem said unto Shmuel, Shema unto the voice of HaAm in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign as Melech over them.

8 According to all the ma’asim which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Mitzrayim even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken Me, and served elohim acherim, so do they also unto thee.