First, a little bit about Samuel.
He's a prophet. From the beginning of Samuel's life, He was committed to the Lord. This is in large part due to His mother's faithfulness in God. She wanted a child and promised God that she would dedicate His life to God. God opened her womb and allowed her to conceive. Then Samuel, from a very young age was under the direction of Eli the prophet. Eli's sons end up very deceptive and dishonest...so God strikes the house with death. Then, Samuel basically serves as the microphone for God in Israel from that point on.
By the time we get to 1st Samuel 8, Samuel is getting older in age. Not sure how old, maybe someone smarter than me can elaborate one day, because he ends up being around for awhile after this. However, Samuel has 2 sons as well. Their names were Joel and Abijah. They were appointed judges over Israel, and unfortunately were also found dishonest and did not walk in Samuel's ways. Out of this truth, Israel demands a King.
There's the history, and we arrive in 1st Samuel 8.
1st Samuel 8:4-8 (NKJV)
"Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, 'Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.' But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day - with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods - so they are doing to you also. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.'"
The first thing I see is that Israel is scared. They are scared of what will happen once Samuel is gone. They believe that once Samuel is gone, "all hell" will break loose and it will be chaos. They say it right there! "Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways." This is why a king is being requested. The next statement peels back the layers of their hearts even further: "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations."
They wanted to be like the other nations. It's subtle, but I'm going to say that this was in the hearts of the elders, and probably a huge part of the population of Israel. They wanted to fit in and be like the other nations. They had kings to lead them. They could see, and smell, and touch their leaders. Israel wants a leader they can see.
God's response is one of sadness and pain I think. He basically says to Samuel, "Don't worry Samuel - they don't hate you, they hate me. You're just caught in the middle." So you've got a godly man in Samuel, playing facilitator between the God of the universe and His chosen people. When you think about it, that's pretty much what Old Testament prophets did. They were the microphone and messenger of God so that the people could understand who their creator was and who He wanted them to be. That's somewhat a generalization, but for the purposes of this topic, it is enough.
What happens next really amazes me. The people demand a king, and Samuel says:
1st Samuel 8:11-18
And he said, "This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day."
I mean, when you read this...doesn't it seem like madness? Think about it. Today, if someone came up to you and said that...would you go for it? Honestly, if you look at these verses one way, it sounds like taxes and a draft. You have to give 10% of everything...and I don't believe that this is talking about tithe in this case either. While that is debatable, look at the rest? Sons and daughters going away for causes the king decides are worthy? Are you sure you want your children at the mercy of anyone but the God who saved you from Egypt? This might be risky...
So Samuel basically says, "Are you sure you want this?" Israel decides there is more risk in not seeing their king than there is in agreeing to these terms that are stacked against them. The thing that gets me is the final statement in the scripture. "And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day." In other words, "You're all going to turn back to me and ask me to deliver you once you realize what you have done...and I'm not going to even hear what you have to say about this."
So, what does this have to do with anything? Let me start addressing this. Today, we have many leaders. Some are called kings, and some aren't. Israel started out here with God; this is when Moses was the microphone, and it turned into elders once the burden became too much for Moses. The burden was never too much for God, but facilitating the leadership of God's people became to much for 1 man. I would argue that God had more to say and wanted to be more involved in His people than speaking through 1 man. So, elders come into play. Responsibility and such divided, and the spirit fell on them and they now had the capacity to lead according to God's direction - but still had a choice.
As we fast forward to 1 Samuel 8, Israel rejects God. It's plain and simple, they reject Him. They choose a man to lead them (and at this point they don't even know the man), instead of the same God who delivered them from Egypt. My question is this: Do we really choose differently today as the body of Christ?
Some probably do...so I don't mean that as a blanket statement. They had 1 guy who was on display more than the rest that was communicating for God and God tells them through this guy that things are going to get worse if they take a king. They say, "Yep...we understand. We want things to get worse." It is so ironic, because we all do this in our individual lives with sin and God probably every day. We choose something tangible, something we can touch and see instead of trusting in the living God (who is, for the most part "unseen" so to speak).
We daily reject our King. The King who went to a cross for us. The One who died for our sins. The One who stepped in and paid the penalty for all the decisions (like this one), that Israel and all others made or will ever make against God. We reject that King daily too. We've been saved and promised eternal life and prosperous futures and such, and we still reject the God of the Universe.
We trade Him in for sex, $$$, pride, power, fame, glory or security for ourselves. Smart move huh?
