1 Samuel 8: 5 Commentary

Don Hunt’s the Unfolded Plan of God : the time of the Judges.

A. The People Desired A King.

In Samuel’s older years, some of the prominent men of Israel came to him with the following request:

They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” 1 Sam 8:5

Here was Israel’s same old trouble— they wanted to be like the nations around them. God had called them to be different. They were His treasured possession. He said to them through Moses:

Deut 7:6. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

Deut 7:11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.

Deut 7:14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young.

But, Israel wouldn’t have it that way! How much like people today, who instead of being the people of God by carrying out His Word are consumed with the mania to be like their religious neighbors and thus compromise any peculiar tenets of the gospel.

Congregations are infested with them! They are the ones holding “Israel” back!

B. What Their Request indicated.

Samuel thought they had rejected his leadership. But, God said, “No, they have rejected Mine.” And He permitted them to have a king:

And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 1 Sam 8:7

God had loved Israel. He had fed them. He had led them. He had given them a land, He had given them victory. What more of a king could they have wanted?

God never did forget this insult, and He ever afterward referred to it as a sin
(I Sam. 10:19; I Sam. 12:12; I Sam. 12:16-19; Heb. .13:9-11).

C. God, Realizing Ahead Of Time This Request That Would Come, Had Given instructions Concerning Any King They Might Have.

Through Moses, God had said: Deut 17:14-20. They would appoint a king.
God gave guidelines for their kings that were ignored.
The Kings were not to take large amounts of silver or gold.
They must not take many wives or their heart would be led astray.
The King must no consider himself better than others.
He was to read the law and revere the lord.

D. God Gave Them Their Wishes To Their Own Sorrow.

So often in Scripture, God gave disobedient people over to their wishes to their own regret later.
Wishes uttered rashly in moments of temper or impatience have come true, much to the sorrow of those who wished them.

They wanted a king. They were determined to have a king. God gave them a king, but not without telling them of some of the grievances that would come upon them because of their king:

1 Sam. 8:11-18
The King will takes your sons and make them serve with his chariots.
The King will take your daughters and make them cooks or bakes.
The king will take the best of your fields and give them to his attendants.
The kind will take 1/10 of your flock and you will become his slave.

18. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

But, the people didn’t give heed to these words either (verses 19 and 20). They still wanted a king. Some people can’t be told—they must be shown. If we may so speak, they got shown all right. It did cost them tremendously to sup port a king, his palace, his court, and his army.

By the time that Solomon had gotten through with them (just the third king), they were calling for relief from such heavy taxation.

Their kings led them into idolatry, which brought their national ruin at the punishing hand of God. Their wars (because they were a nation with a king
and had assumed the usual role of a nation with a king) greatly weakened the nation time and time again.

How right God was! How wrong they were! Thus, with the coming of the kings came the end of the judges. When Samuel died, Israel had its last judge.

By James Richter (wrote 536 Bible Commentaries - permalink to this Commentary)
Posted on: 1/11/2011 02:22 am