Proper 5

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:4-20; 11:14-15

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead  us, such as all the other nations have.”

6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 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. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.

Sermon:

This morning we come to a major turning point in the life of the nation of Israel. For about 1000 years, the nation of Israel had one leader. God. But here today, they ask Samuel for a human king. “appoint a king to lead  us, such as all the other nations have.” They had looked around at their neighbors.

The Philistines, the Ammonites and Moabites, the Edomites, the Amalekites, the Canaanites, the Geshurites and Girzites. They all had kings. They all had someone to lead them into battle. And they wanted to be just like them.

But their request troubles Samuel. Samuel was God’s representative to the people. He was God’s voice. And this request of the people felt like a slap in the face. Samuel took their request personally. He tried to talk them out of it. What would he do if the people had a king? Would he be out of a job?

But God tells Samuel, it’s not you they are rejecting. It’s me. And He tells Samuel to give them a human king. He even tells Samuel who the king should be, a guy named Saul. But He also tells Samuel what this guy Saul will be like as their king.

Now, let’s just think about the implications of what this means. They rejected God in favor of a man. Listen to that again. They rejected God in order to be like everyone else.

They gave up the divine for the human. They gave up the perfect, for the imperfect. They gave up the limitless for the limited. They gave up the giver for the taker. They gave up the best for the less. They gave up the all for the some. They gave up the solution for the problem. They had prime rib and the gave it up for bologna. They turned their backs on God and their faces toward Saul.

And they actually believed this would solve their problem. This would make life better. And listen to the last verse, “So all the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.”

Can you believe they did that? They had King God, and instead, they chose to follow King Saul. I wish I could say I can’t believe it. But I’ve seen it happen many, many times. I’ve done it myself.

God invites us to walk with Him. He sacrificed His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross for us, yet we choose to turn our back on Him. We choose to do our own thing. Perhaps we even say, “we want to be like the world is.”

But there is good news. Even when the Israelites were choosing Saul, and rejecting God. God was waiting for them to repent. God waits for us to repent. Even when we fail, God won’t.