The Request for a King

Prayer

The Request for a King

Experience of substitute teaching this past week, student who rejected my authority as teacher (in spite of my warnings!). This is exactly what we see happening in our story today in book of 1 Samuel, where we’re covering chapters 8 through 10.

End of Samuel’s Rule

Just to catch us up to speed - last week we looked at the battles between the Israelites and the Philistines - which did not go well for the Israelites. They were soundly defeated, thousands killed, including the Eli’s sons, Phinehas and Hophni, and the ark of the covenant was captured. At the news of the ark, Eli himself dies. We saw, too, how God humbled the Philistines, destroying the statue of their god, Dagon, and bringing back the ark of the covenant himself.

We finished seeing how upon Eli’s death, Samuel became the leader of Israel, calling them back to faithfulness to God - and they respond with genuine repentance. And this led to their victory over the Philistines, who were subdued before the Israelites throughout the time of Samuel as judge, as leader.

This brings us to chapter 8, where learn that though Samuel was a faithful man in his role as priest, prophet and judge - he did not do so well as a father. 1 Samuel 8:1-3...When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

Description here of Samuel’s sons is not as priests, but as leaders, judges. And they are corrupt, willing to take bribes. This is one place where Samuel follows in the footsteps of Eli - his children have become wicked.

This gives the people of Israel the perfect excuse to make their request to Samuel - vs. 4-5: So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 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.”

Samuel is not pleased - he knows this will not end well. But, still, he takes their request before the Lord in prayer, and God responds, vs. 7-9: 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.”

The request doesn’t surprise God, the people of Israel have been doing it all along - from the time they came up out of Egypt to this day (hundreds of years). I want to take just a moment here to remind you that the Old Testament, the story of people of Israel, is a bigger part of God’s story of redemption, over and over again it demonstrates that we - by we I mean all of us - need a Savior. That we can not do this - be faithful, be good - on our own. We need Jesus, we need to be made new by Jesus, our hearts transformed - why we talk so much about this as a church, about heart transformation (core values) - these stories remind us of this.

So the Lord tells Samuel to warn the Israelites about what will happen to them if a king reigns over them, that he’s going to claim things as his divine right - and it’s a long list. 1 Samuel 8:10-18...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.”

This will all be new to them - up until this point, when one of the tribes of Israel was in a war, being raided by a neighboring nation, they would send messengers to the other tribes and they would have to hope that they would respond. They couldn’t compel it, couldn’t make them come to fight alongside - it was all voluntary. Because of that, there was no need to have a support structure for standing army or for royal attendants, councils.

But a king will claim all of these things as his right. He will conscript young men into the army. And others will have to provide support structures - someone has to work the fields to provide food for the army, someone has to make the weapons. Someone has to prepare the food - do the cooking, baking, etc. That’s why a king will take sons and daughters.

Of course, the king will need land - and he’s the king, deserves the best. Which is exactly what he’ll take - the best fields, vineyards, olive groves. And as a king, you have to keep your officials happy - so a king will take land for them as well. The king will need servants, livestock. He’s going to need money to build forts, and a palace. That means money - taxes.

And the warning closes with this - don’t miss this - “and you yourselves will become his slaves.” At that point they won’t like having a king anymore - and they will cry out to the Lord. And the Lord will respond - by not responding. This is what you wanted. Now you’re stuck with it. You didn’t want the me as your king, apparently I’m not good enough for you, so enjoy your king.

Chapter 8 ends with the people refusing to listen, in spite of the warnings, they are adamant about wanting a king. Here they reveal why they want a king - they want to be like all the other nations, they want a king because they think this will help them win wars against the other nations. So the Lord gives them a king.

Now, I want to come back to this part here in chapter 8, because it’s really the heart of what’s going on, but before we do, I want to take a few minutes to talk about who God chooses as their first king, Saul, and Saul’s anointing as king, which takes place in chapters 9 & 10.

We’re introduced to Saul in 1 Samuel 9:1-2 - There was a Benjamite, a man of standing, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin. 2 Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.

Saul’s father, Kish, loses his donkeys, so he sends Saul and one of his servants to go look for them. They search all over the area of the tribe of Benjamin for several days, to no avail. Saul, realizing his dad’s going to be worried about them, decides they should return home, but the servant has an idea - let’s go talk to the man of God who lives nearby. Who happens to be Samuel.

So they make their way to go see Samuel - meanwhile we learn this, vs. 15-16: Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel: 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel; he will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked on my people, for their cry has reached me.”

Saul and his servant arrive at Samuel’s home, where he invites them to spend the night. The next morning, before Samuel sends them on their way home, Samuel pulls Saul aside and anoints him as king in private. He also gives him three signs, three things that will happen as he makes his way home to his father’s house. And just in case you’re worried, what happened to the donkeys? You can relax, the donkeys have been found, they’re safe back at home.

So Saul and his servant make their way home, and on the way he has several encounters with people, just like Samuel prophesied. But the most significant encounter Saul has is with a procession of prophets, because as Saul encounters them, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him powerfully and he begins to prophesy as well - the text suggests he moves into an ecstatic state.

Here God shows he is with Saul, pouring out his Spirit on Saul. Because this is what the Spirit does - he comes in power and changes us. We receive gifts - in Saul’s case, prophecy, in Samson’s case, it was incredible strength. Through the Holy Spirit we are empowered to be like Christ, and to do the work God has called us to do. God is showing here that he wants Saul to be a good king for his people, empowering him with his Spirit.

To make all this official, Samuel gathers the tribes together - and then, by lot, goes through the twelve tribes, then the clans of the chosen tribe, then the families of that clan, until finally Saul is chosen. Then we get this strange incident - vs. 21-22: Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. 22 So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.”

Saul is chosen by lot, his name is announced - and he’s nowhere to be found! They weren’t even sure he was there. But he was, he was just hiding. It’s the Lord who reveals his hiding spot.

On the one hand, to be chosen as king would be overwhelming - the people of Israel have never had a king. What does it mean to be a king? How does one start a royal reign? “By the way, everyone, I’m king now. You’re supposed to obey me.” But on the other hand, Samuel, the man of God, had already anointed him as King. God gave him three signs to confirm it - including an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And yet, when the time comes, he’s in hiding. As we’ll see, fear will be one of the marks of Saul’s reign as King. After this, everyone goes home, including Saul.

Rejection of the True King

We’ll come back to Saul and his successes and failures as a king next week, but this morning I want to take us back to the people’s request for a king. Which is at the same time a rejection of the Lord as their King. I want to look at what it reveals about us, and more importantly, what it reveals about God.

This requires a bit of risk / reward analysis - on one level, that’s exactly what’s going on here. The question is what the Israelites think they are going to get in having a king over them - and what will they give up?

Wanted a king, they wanted someone who would bring the entire nation of Israel together, particularly when it came to military battles. They wanted someone who would go out to lead them and fight the battles.

It’s very telling that they wanted to be like the other nations - how strong that urge, how it plays in our desires. We see what others around us have - I want that. I want to be like that, look like that. That’s hugely exacerbated today by social media, where we post idealized images. Everything is presented to make our lives look good. But remember, the Israelites weren’t meant to be like the other nations. God’s call to the Israelites (and to us) was to be holy, to be set apart, to be a people different from the world - in order that they (and we) might be a blessing to the others nations. When they express a desire to be like the other nations, they are rejecting God’s unique call on them, the covenant relationship.

So there’s reward (a king who will lead them into battles), but there’s also risk - there’s cost involved in this analysis. Which is exactly what God is warning them about - all that they will give up (sons, daughters, best of their land…). But his warnings fall on deaf ears. The Israelites are dismissive, all they can see is the good, the benefits. This, too, is so revealing - when we get captivated by some thing, how easily we can talk ourselves into it. Happens all the time - people who go back into a bad relationship, put ourselves in debt because we buy things we don’t need, can’t afford.

Here’s the thing - when we give up the Lord for another “king”, something else we give our lives to, it never goes well. Because we’re asking for whatever that idol is (exactly what it is) to give us more than it’s capable of giving (security we long for, make us happy, feel loved, feel significant, important). More than just disappoint - our idols enslave - that was God’s final warning to the Israelites, the climax - “and you yourselves will become his slaves”. The risk is never worth the reward, as the Israelites will discover.

Here’s the thing about the risk and reward with God - why it’s so challenging. Because our Lord God, the rights he claims - are all-encompassing. God claims everything. He wants all of us. There is no aspect of our lives, nothing we own, nothing about us -that our Lord does not lay claim to. Our time…our money (forget 1/10th)…our devotion…our gifts, abilities…our strength, effort…our obedience, our will. Everything.

Long time ago we did a sermon series we called “All In”. We gave out a poker chip to everyone. The idea of pushing all your chips in. I’m all in. Win or bust. I’m all in with Jesus. Because there is no half-way with Jesus. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Notice the progression there - it begins with denying ourselves. A willingness to say “no” to what I want, what I think is best, to my will and then I take up my cross, move into death, dying to sin, dying to myself as I move into following Jesus. It’s a rejection of myself as king - and anything else I might want to serve as king in my life - in order to embrace Jesus as King. King over everything, with full rights to all of me.

But here’s the beautiful part - in the risk / reward analysis, the reward is far, far greater than what we risk. You can not out-give Jesus. We will never give to God more than he gives us. It will always, always be to our good, our benefit.

We see that even in this story - the people reject the Lord as their King. How does he respond? With mercy. He gives them a king, pours his Spirit on that king. God always gives us more than we deserve. The Lord is constantly pouring out his grace in our lives, gift after gift. We woke up to the gift of this day. We worship in a building that was complete gift. Food he puts on our table. Wonderful pets we get to enjoy. Work we get to do. Homes we live in, filled with conveniences - the list is endless.

Of course, the great gift of Jesus laying down his life. In this sense, there’s really no risk at Jesus - because we know how far God will go for us, how much he loves us. In fact, Jesus was the one who took on the risk, by dying for us while we were still sinners. There was (and is) no guarantee that people would respond to this amazing gift, Jesus laying down his life for our sake. Most people, back then and still today, reject this gift. They say, no thank-you, and go on living their life, rejecting Jesus.

And yet, for Jesus, the reward of giving life to us, to those of us who say “yes”, that was absolutely worth the risk. God took our rejection of him (crucifixion), and made it our salvation: Psalm 118:22-24 - The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

The Israelites rejected God as their King because they wanted a king like all the other nations. May we reject all other “kings” so we can be part of God’s holy nation.

Spiritual Disciplines - When I was doing youth ministry in Houston, helping to lead the confirmation class at the church I was working at, big question - do you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I wanted to dig in, make sure they go it - ask the question, what does it mean to confess Jesus Christ as your Lord? They didn’t know how to answer it, and I discovered I wasn’t ready to try to explain it to them.

But this is what it means to confess Jesua as Lord. As your King. Is to day-by-day, deny yourselves and take up your cross and follow Jesus. Day by day, move into greater obedience in every area of your life. Discipline of Confession.

Ask us this morning to repent in one particular way - our failure to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others, to help lead others into the abundant life of Jesus Christ (the Great Commission)…Prayer