1 Samuel 8:7, commentary and pictures

Israel asked for a human king to judge and lead them just as the surrounding nations were led. Their demand was not truly against Samuel himself but against God, that He should no longer reign over them as their Ruler. God directed Samuel to listen to the people and grant what they asked after faithfully warning them of His disapproval and its consequences, permitting their own way even though it was not the best way nor according to His will. He Himself had been their King, governing through chosen leaders, His law, His Spirit, and messengers to keep His will before them, with any human king to serve only under Him. To despise or reject His appointed servant and the message sent through him is to despise and reject the Lord who sent him, a course His people still repeat whenever they set aside His counsel and rule for human judgment and worldly policy.

Demand and Divine Answer

Israel's demand was for a human king to lead them and to judge them, expressed in the cry to make them a king to judge them like all the nations, that they might be led and judged as other nations were led. That demand was not a rejection of Samuel personally but a rejection of God that He should not reign over them as their ruler. The people's voice decided to discard Samuel before God had released him, yet the insult was not ultimately against him but against the Lord who had been ruling them through leaders who sought His counsel.

Their asking continued all the works they had done since God brought them up out of Egypt, forsaking Him and serving other gods, the same rebellion and ingratitude that left the dead bodies of their fathers in the wilderness. The thing displeased Samuel, and he prayed unto the Lord about it. He was reproved for taking the people's action as a personal insult to himself, since their disrespect was directed at God's authority which He had entrusted to appointed rulers.

God answered by telling Samuel to hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they said to him and to grant their request rather than oppose it. He instructed Samuel first to warn them faithfully of His disapproval and the consequences, declaring their course was not the right way and the best way, and then permitted them to have their own way and the king they wanted with all its trouble and distress. Though He had foretold that Israel would have a king, kingship was not according to His will or preference, but He let them follow their own course and granted the desire of their unsanctified hearts when they refused His wisdom.

Reasons Israel Wanted King

Israel wanted a king to judge them like all the nations, to be like the surrounding nations and to be recognized, esteemed, and honored before them. They were weary of being ruled by God through judges appointed to keep His will, ways, and honor before them, and they wanted a reformed religion and rule that would make a great display of external prosperity, pomp, and worldly power before the world. They thought it more honorable before other nations to be able to say the Hebrews have a king, and Saul was given a noble appearance that suited their pride. Their demand was driven by discontent and pride, and by desire for supposed glory to themselves as a nation.

They wanted freedom from their Divine Sovereign, turning from the honor of being His chosen people and departing from obedience to His law. They followed their own judgment and way and cast aside the judgment of God, seeking worldly policy and human judgment instead of His counsel, Spirit, management, control, rule, and jurisdiction. In seeking worldly power and display instead of accepting God's rule, pride and self-love led them to disregard His instructions and warnings and to justify their ambition even at harm to His cause.

By choosing a human king they showed lack of faith in God's providence to provide leaders, defend them, and give victory. They wanted divine authority visibly embodied in human power instead of reverently trusting the divine power that had led them, wanting visible human power to guide them as among nations that did not acknowledge God. God had guided and delivered them as their mighty King, and they were to seek Him in difficulty, but they put the king before the Strength of Israel. When the Philistines threatened them they were afraid and did not dare trust the king they had chosen or call upon the God they had slighted, exposing how weak their judgment and strength were without God and how little confidence they had in Him. Their choice illustrates the weakness that comes from depending on people rather than God, followed in later history by Jerusalem's destruction and the nation's dispersion.

Their appeal to the failures of Samuel's sons gave cover to the demand, which was not a genuine complaint against Samuel himself. By their own voice they decided to discard Samuel before God had released him, choosing to be ruled by a king in order to be like other nations and to be recognized by the world. They wanted a king who pleased them to lead their armies and to judge them, instead of being satisfied to have God for their ruler through wise men who waited upon Him for counsel. Though told what the result would be if their desire was granted, they persisted in insisting on having a king notwithstanding the warning of the Lord, and were too proud to retract their decision.

God's Rule and Consequences

God Himself was Israel's recognized King and theocratic governor, and He ruled them through judges and chosen leaders who sought His counsel, through His laws, through His Spirit, and through angels communicating His will, to keep His will and ways and honor before them and to settle their difficulties. He had brought them out of Egypt to be His chosen nation, a peculiar holy people and kingdom of priests, an example to other nations, ruling over them Himself so that they would keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, with His law as a superior moral hedge keeping them separate from idolatry and intermarriage. Any human king was to serve only as His vicegerent under His law as supreme law, but the people grew weary of that rule and wanted reformed religion and rule that would make a great display of external prosperity before the world. If judges were untrue to their trust it was the privilege of the people to set things in order, but not to throw off the authority of the God of heaven, and their demand to be judged like all the nations was a continuation of the rebellion since He brought them up out of Egypt, wherein they forsook Him and served other gods.

A human king could receive the honor belonging to God and, if unfaithful, lead the people away from Him. Such a king could become proud, claim honors belonging to God, and use his commands to punish the innocent and exalt the unworthy. God gave them a king whose character reflected their own, and under his rule they would learn their error and return to allegiance to God.

God let rebellious Israel have the king they wanted even though it would prove a heavy curse bringing trouble and distress, because they refused to submit to the Lord ruling over them and thought it more honorable before other nations to be able to say the Hebrews have a king. Saul was anointed king with a noble appearance that suited the pride of the children of Israel. God displayed His displeasure by sending thunder and lightning and hail and rain out of season, so all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel and confessed they had added to all their sins the evil of asking for a king.

Although they had sinned, He would not forsake them for His great name's sake if from that time they feared the Lord and served Him in truth with all their heart and considered how great things He had done for them, but if they still did wickedly they and their king would be consumed. Their choice illustrated the weakness of depending on people rather than trusting the divine power that had led them and given them victory, for when the Philistines threatened them they were afraid and did not dare trust the king they had chosen or call upon the God they had slighted, exposing how weak their judgment and strength were without God. Their later history showed that weakness, ending in Jerusalem's destruction and the nation's dispersion. After Samuel died the people saw their mistake, for his faithful influence had been greater than Saul's.

Rejecting Servant Rejects God

Israel's demand for a king was not a personal rejection of Samuel but a rejection of God's rule and authority as their ruler, for God Himself had appointed Israel's rulers. The appeal to the failures of Samuel's sons gave cover to a demand driven by discontent and pride, not a genuine complaint against Samuel himself. Their choice repeated their long pattern of forsaking God and serving other gods since He brought them up out of Egypt. Contempt shown to a faithful servant in the authority God gave him is contempt for the One who sent him, and Samuel was reproved for taking the people's action as a personal insult and rejection to himself, since their disrespect was directed at God's authority entrusted to appointed rulers.

To reject the message, words, reproof, correction, counsel and authority God sends through His servant is not merely to reject the servant but to reject the Lord whose message it is. The people set aside God's words, reproofs, counsel and authority when they reject His servant, and to reject God's messenger and the message entrusted to that messenger is to reject God Himself. Making light of messages given through God's messenger directs the insult at the One who gave the messages, not merely at the messenger. So also, opposition to the Lord's appointed work and servants amounts to opposition to the Lord's authority and refusal of His reign, with opposition to God's servant treated as opposition to God Himself.

Warning for God's People

The same course is repeated when those who profess to belong to God leave their first love and lay plans that never entered His mind, seeking a new order of things after worldly policy and human judgment instead of His counsel, Spirit, management, control, rule and jurisdiction. To reject God that He should not reign over them is to reject the knowledge of God and His unerring counsel in order to follow self-guidance in finite human wisdom and supposed smartness, taking themselves out of His hands while imagining they can do much better when left to their own imaginings. What is needed in hearts and institutions is to know His ways and choose to be led and guided by Him, knowing the blessing and safety of being led and controlled by the Lord in all their ways.

Israel's folly in the days of Samuel was rejecting the Lord God of Israel as Ruler by putting confidence in self and leaning on men and human judgment instead of making God their trust. That same folly will be repeated among His people today unless there is greater humility, less confidence in self, and more trust in the Lord as Ruler of His people. Trust and dependence are shown by caution in plans and movements, meekness of spirit, prayer, teachableness, unselfishness, and looking to Jesus at every step, with less talking and much more praying. Human wisdom is finite and derived, while God has underived wisdom as the Infinite One and Fountain of light and life and glory, so the work will abide the test only as divine power is combined with human effort, lest the church make shipwreck in the last days.

The warning applies to seeking personal control of churches and institutions by relying on oneself and demanding preferred leadership instead of accepting God's rule and counsel. It is the same rejection of God's rule when a man insists that his own mind is all-sufficient to control institutions and churches and puts himself where God has not placed him, wanting a leader who pleases him rather than being satisfied to have God for Ruler. The same rejection takes place when a worker takes himself out of the hands of God and puts himself under worldly, fashionable influence for the sake of outward show, thinking to raise himself while lowering his influence and imperiling God's cause. Sacrificing even a jot or tittle of faith to meet the world and be like the nations around them rejects God as King and separates the soul from God.

When Israel asked for a king God gave them one, but then neither they nor their king thought it necessary to follow His commands implicitly, trusting to their own wisdom instead. When they dishonored Him He trusted them no longer, but left them and the people that sustained them to their own human wisdom, and so it is with all whom He has placed in positions of responsibility when they depart from Him. As the people rejected Samuel for a human king, Christ was despised and refused because His holy life and rebukes exposed their sins. Israel's rejection of God as invisible leader and counselor belonged to their repeated rejection of the only-begotten Son, culminating in the choice to spare Barabbas and sacrifice Christ.

The request declared that Israel no longer desired God as their theocratic governor, proving that monarchy is not His preference. Yet He gave them a king in accordance with their wishes, just as He gives a president, because He ordains that no nation can exist without an authoritative head. He leaves each nation to determine for itself whether that head shall be emperor or king or president or democratic judge.