Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
1 Samuel 8:1–5
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” (vv. 4–5).
We come now to a most significant moment in Israel’s history and in the history of redemption. The Israelites, seemingly out of the blue, ask Samuel to appoint a king over them. This request sets in motion a series of events by which God teaches His people great and wonderful things about Himself and His government of the universe.
Samuel the prophet has become an old man. We have been told nothing of his family life to this point, but now we learn that he has at least two sons, whom he names as judges in Beersheba in the south. In all probability, they are judges in the judicial, not the prophetic, sense. Unfortunately, they are not men of high character like their father. Enticed by the possibility of riches, they begin to accept bribes, something their father abhors (1 Sam. 12:3). Did Samuel exhibit poor judgment in naming these young men judges? Did he fail to raise them faithfully, repeating the mistakes of Eli? Or did the sons give the appearance of genuine faith, revealing their true natures only after leaving Samuel’s direct supervision? We cannot know. What we do know is that their perversion of justice is so profound that it raises die concerns of the elders of Israel. They go to Samuel, but not to ask his advice or to suggest that he replace his sons. Rather, the elders come with an idea of their own—that Samuel appoint a king over Israel. They seem to have no faith that God can provide leadership for Israel once Samuel is gone. They are fearful in the face of a military threat (1 Sam. 12:12). But even more, they are motivated by an unrighteous desire for Israel to have a king ” ‘like all the nations.’ ”
It is important to note that the idea of a king was not bad in and of itself. In fact, God had made provision for the eventual appointment of a king in Israel (Deut. 17:14–20). But while having a king might make Israel like “all the nations,” God does not want Israel’s monarch to be like all the nations’ kings. As Deuteronomy 17 makes clear, the choice of the king is up to God, and the man himself is to be an Israelite, uninterested in the customary trappings of royalty, and submissive to the law of God. In short, the king is to be God’s regent; Yahweh still will hold the throne of Israel.
Unfortunately, this is not the Israelites’ vision of monarchy. As we will see tomorrow, their request does not please Samuel or God.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Israel was called to be different from other nations because it was different (Deut. 4:32–40). But this uniqueness was a burden for the Israelites. Modern Christians are similarly “set apart” and called to live in a unique way. But we, too, find it distasteful to stand out. Pray for strength to live boldly for God as He has called you to do.
For Further Study
- Ps. 4:3
- Rom. 6:2; 8:5, 12–13
- Titus 2:12
- 1 Peter 4:4