Introduction:
Israel Requests a King.
Israel’s transition to a monarchy.
From Judgeship to Kingship.
1 Samuel 8:1-22 NLT
Israel Requests a King
8:1 As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. 2 Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. 3 But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. 7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. 8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. 9 Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”
Samuel Warns against a Kingdom
10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. 12 Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. 13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. 14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. 16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. 17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. 20 “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
21 So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said, 22 and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.
Examine the Scriptures
1 Samuel 8:1-22 NLT
Israel Requests a King
8:1 As Samuel grew old,
- In this passage Samuel is growing old.
When Samuel was 65-70 years old. (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
60 years of age (Mac Arthur)
65 years old (NIV study Bible)
he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. 2 Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba.
Samuel’s two oldest sons functioned as judges in Beersheba.
Beersheba is 57 miles south of Ramah.
3 But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.
- Samuel’s sons were a lot like Eli’s sons.
They accepted bribes and perverted justice.
Scripture addresses these issues.
Exodus 23:8 NLT
8 “Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.
Deuteronomy 16:19 NLT
19 You must never twist justice or show partiality. Never accept a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and corrupt the decisions of the godly.
Proverbs 17:23 NLT
23 The wicked take secret bribes
to pervert the course of justice.
- Scripture strictly forbids Samuel’s sons’ actions.
4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you.
- The elders of Israel used Samuel’s age and the corruption of Samuel’s sons as reasons to ask for a king to rule the nation.
Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
Even though the elders of Israel used Samuel’s age and the corruption of Samuel’s sons as reasons to ask for a king to rule the nation, the primary reason for their request was a desire to be like the surrounding nations. (verse 20)
- The primary reason for their request was a desire to be like the surrounding nations. (verse 20)
They wanted to be like everyone else.
The nations surrounding Israel had kings.
Kings, as national leaders, were more capable of uniting a whole nation. Judges tended to be local leaders.
Having a king is not evil in itself. The people’s reasons for wanting a king were wrong.
Israel was rejecting God as their king. They wanted to exchange their unique position as the people of God to be like all the nations.
Scripture anticipates kings ruling the people of Israel.
Deuteronomy 17:14-20 NLT
Guidelines for a King
14 “You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there, you may think, ‘We should select a king to rule over us like the other nations around us.’ 15 If this happens, be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite; he may not be a foreigner.
16 “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’ 17 The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord. And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.
18 “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. 20 This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.
- David served the Lord well as king.
Acts 13:22 NLT
22 But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’
1 Chronicles 18:14 NLT
14 So David reigned over all Israel and did what was just and right for all his people.
6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance.
CEB It seemed very bad to Samuel
CEV Samuel was upset to hear the leaders say
ERV Samuel thought this was a bad idea,
EHV But in Samuel’s eyes, their request to receive a king to judge them looked evil,
TLB Samuel was terribly upset
MEV But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel,
NOG But Samuel considered it wrong
Most likely, Samuel felt that the people were rejecting him.
Verse seven: … “they are rejecting me, not you.”
- Samuel was displeased with the people’s request.
- The rejection of Judgeship was a rejection of God’s rule and sovereignty.
7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied,
Be careful what you ask for.
See Numbers 11
13 They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
18 “And say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. 19 And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. 20 You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
31 Now the Lord sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp. For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground. 32 So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail all around the camp to dry. 33 But while they were gorging themselves on the meat—while it was still in their mouths—the anger of the Lord blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.
The Psalmist talks about this in:
Psalm 106:14-15 NLT
14 In the wilderness their (the Israelites) desires ran wild,
testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland.
15 So he gave them what they asked for,
but he sent a plague along with it.
- Be careful what you ask for. You might get what you ask for along with some negative consequences.
(7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied,) repeated
“for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.
Rejecting God for a human king is clearly a form of idolatry.
An idol is anything that replaces the one, true God.
This was not God’s timing for giving Israel a king.
8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.
9 Do as they ask,
- Be careful what you ask for. You might get what you ask for along with some negative consequences.
but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”
Samuel Warns against a Kingdom
10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king.
- Samuel explained the disadvantages of kingship.
The disadvantages of kingship.
11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots.
12 Some will be generals and captains in his army,
The king will draft your sons for military service.
some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment.
The king will take your sons from you to work for him.
13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him.
The king will take your daughters from you to serve him.
14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials.
The king will take your possessions and give them to his officials.
15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants.
A tenth of the harvest was already required to support God’s Temple and servants.
Deuteronomy 12:4-6 NLT
4 “Do not worship the Lord your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. 5 Rather, you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. 6 There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks.
The king would demand an additional tenth of the people’s harvest.
16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. 17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks,
The king will take your possessions for his own use.
and you will be his slaves.
The Israelites would be subject to any of the king’s wishes.
18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
- Samuel warned the people that they would live to regret their decision for a king and would later cry out for freedom from his rule.
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.
- In spite of Samuel’s warning, the people demanded a king.
20 “We want to be like the nations around us.
This motive is definitely contrary to the Lord’s will.
- Israel’s motive for wanting a king was definitely counter to the Lord’s will.
Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
Up to this point the Lord had fought the battles for Israel and had given them victory over their enemies.
Just previous to this time.
1 Samuel 7:10 NLT
10 Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived to attack Israel. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them.
Joshua 10:6-14 NLT
6 The men of Gibeon quickly sent messengers to Joshua at his camp in Gilgal. “Don’t abandon your servants now!” they pleaded. “Come at once! Save us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings who live in the hill country have joined forces to attack us.”
7 So Joshua and his entire army, including his best warriors, left Gilgal and set out for Gibeon. 8 “Do not be afraid of them,” the Lord said to Joshua, “for I have given you victory over them. Not a single one of them will be able to stand up to you.”
9 Joshua traveled all night from Gilgal and took the Amorite armies by surprise. 10 The Lord threw them into a panic, and the Israelites slaughtered great numbers of them at Gibeon. Then the Israelites chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon, killing them all along the way to Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the Lord destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword.
14 There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!
Judges 6-8 NLT The story of Gideon
Judges 6:14
14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”
Judges 7:7 NLT
7 The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.”
14 His companion answered, “Your dream can mean only one thing—God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!”
22 When the 300 Israelites blew their rams’ horns, the Lord caused the warriors in the camp to fight against each other with their swords.
21 So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said, 22 and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.”
- Israel was replacing God with a human being.
Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.
