We Want a King!

Samuel—the last judge of Israel—has ministered well. He has preached to the people and called for repentance; he’s led the people in confessing their sin. He has led them to renounce their idolatry and serve the Lord only. He’s done his job well.

1 Samuel 7:15-17 tells us that “Samuel continued as Israel’s leader all the days of his life. From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also held court for Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord.”

Israel was secure and stable, both externally and internally, under the judgeship/leadership of Samuel. The hand of the Lord protected His people from the Philistines and the Amorites.

Things go well for the people for a time. Like any group of people, they become discontent. Priorities change. Life gets in the way. Time goes on. They come right out and tell Samuel that he’s getting old and that they don’t like his sons, so it’s time for what’s next. Nice.

1 Samuel 8:1–5 NIV

1 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. 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.”

In one of its many functions, the Bible acts as a mirror for us. We see ourselves reflected in these pages. It’s not all about us; ultimately, it’s about God. It’s all about Jesus, pointing to Him, teaching about Him, looking forward to His return. But there’s plenty within that reveals our condition and our character, ourselves and our state.

Alistair Begg prays these words often before he preaches or teaches; I think they’re especially appropriate here:

“Make the Book live to me, O Lord. Show me Thyself within Thy Word. Show me myself and show me my Savior, and make the Book live to me.”

The Bible reveals the Lord to us, for certain. It also exposes our true self and our true condition.

Last year at a high school basketball game, I got pretty riled-up. Okay, to be honest, I got pretty riled-up at most high school basketball games last year. But at one game in particular versus Miami High School, I spoke loud enough for the referee to hear me. It wasn’t anything inappropriate. I simply said, quite loudly, “Oh, so it’s a foul at that end of the court and not at this end. Got it.”

He turned right around, looked straight at Darren Steuck and me. I raised my hand so as not to get Darren in trouble. He walked over to the scorer’s table, asked for our school administrator, told Mrs. Bridgewater if I said another word, he’d kick me out.

Mind you, all of this is recorded thanks to Prepcast. The elementary principal of our school had to come sit with me to make sure I behaved myself.

While I sat there next to the principal, Mom sent me a message. My mother-in-law sent me a message. My wife sent me a message asking what I had done. It was broadcast for everyone to see. Slade made some wise crack about the Christian Church pastor getting called out.

I was exposed. If people didn’t know who I was already, they did then. They saw the real me; there was no place to hide.

God’s Word reveals our true self; it’s the Lord’s analysis of His people—of OT Israel and us.

We can avoid this exposure. We can become more concerned with the historical problems of kingship in Israel and miss what this text intends for us.

Other than teaching us more about the Lord, the great benefit God’s Word—the Bible—is in what it shows us about ourselves. This chapter in 1 Samuel reveals:

How often we reject the Lord!

After letting Samuel in on just how old he is and how terrible his sons are, the elders’ of the Israelites make a request—more like a demand—for a king. 1 Samuel 8:5 “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.”

Goodness, that stings a little. Maybe a lot.

Their request/demand displeases Samuel. In fact, that word there (displeased) really connotes something like: “the thing was evil in Samuel’s eyes.”

Samuel might have felt like he and all his work was being rejected (the Lord seems to imply this). Samuel probably felt like this stubborn, stiff-necked, silly, sinful people were on a bad path where the Lord was concerned. He’s seen them act a fool before. Displeased as he was, Samuel goes to the Lord in prayer (not a bad idea for us; that’s a good first resort).

1 Samuel 8:6–8 NIV

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.

How often we reject the Lord!

The desire of the people to have a king rather than what the Lord had for them is displeasing to Samuel. No doubt the Lord is disappointed with His people at this point, but He chalks it up to the way they do things.

“They’re rejecting me. It’s what they do. They’ve done this from the day I rescued them from Egypt. They forsake me over and over and over. They worship other gods, the Baals and Ashtoreths and gods of their enemies. That’s how they do!”

This is Israel’s longstanding behavior. It’s like that kid in school who gets passed up the grades and every year the kid’s current teacher complains to the former teacher. And the former teacher says, “Oh yeah, that’s how she was for me,” or, “That’s what he did last year. Good luck!”

The people just keep finding new ways to reject the Lord. It’s nothing new. And it’s not something specific just to this OT people. It’s actually a prefiguring of the rejection of Jesus.

This is something Peter preached to the people of Israel:

Acts 3:13–15 NIV

13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.

Stephen preached this before he was martyred for his faith:

Acts 7:51–53 NIV

51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Our rejection of Jesus probably isn’t on the fundamental level of the Israelites or of the Jews who didn’t and don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Our rejection of Jesus is in the details of life. Ours is a functional rejection of His authority. We’re not asking for a king; we’re asking for God to be in favor of whatever we want to do, regardless of what He has to say about marriage or sexuality or justice or finances.

We know right from wrong. We know we shouldn’t do __________, but we really want to do _______________. So we do it, rejecting the authority of the Almighty.

How often we reject the Lord, and

How foolishly we choose something over the Lord!

I wonder if the Israelites and their elders realize how ugly their request is—appoint a king to lead us—even though we have to insist that their demand for a king wasn’t entirely wrong.

It was permissible according to Deuteronomy 17:14-20. There Moses indicates that the time might come when Israel would want a king and that would be okay IF they were committed to a few things.

If Israel was to have a king, according to Deuteronomy 17, he was to be a man the Lord chose and he had to be an Israelite. The king wasn’t to have a large military or a lot of wives or a bunch of money. The king was to be subject to the Lord’s law—to write it down and read it all the days of his life.

The problem in what the people ask here in 1 Samuel 8 is their desire to have a substitute.

The Lord tells Samuel:

1 Samuel 8:9–20 NIV

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.”

The king is not merely a substitute for Samuel, but for the Lord. What we have here is simply the old idolatry with a new twist. And how dense! They want a king to go out before [them] and fight [their] battles when the Lord Yahweh who thunders from Heaven literally just fought the battle for them?!?

There’s an enormous contrast between chapters 7 and 8. In chapter 7, the people were facing another Philistine attack. In Israel’s distress, helpless as they were, they repentantly and prayerfully put their hope upon God their Help and He delivered them.

There was no mighty king to lead them and go out before them and fight their battles; there was just old Samuel, praying to the God who Helps.

There’s a contrast between 1 Samuel 7 and 1 Samuel 8. Sadly, there’s a parallel between 1 Samuel 8 and 1 Samuel 4.

In 1 Samuel 4, the people thought they could manipulate the Lord, grab the ark of the covenant, and use it as a cheat code or as some sort of ringer brought in to stack their team (like Tyreek Hill coming to play little kids’ flag football).

In 1 Samuel 8, they don’t mess with the ark, but they make the same sort of human provision, the same clever strategery. “If we had a king like everyone else, we’d be golden!”

Superstition to manipulate God—the ark among us.

Her, it’s political substitution—a king over us.

It’s the same stupid idolatry. They’d rather “the ark among us” or “a king over us” instead of what they had which is “God with us.”

Did you notice the common refrain in verses 10-18? Six times in those verses, the phrase “he will take” is used. The king they want, an earthly king will just take and take from them.

“He will take your sons (v. 11)…he will take your daughters (v. 13)…he will take the best of your fields and vineyards (v. 14)…he will take a tenth of your grain (v. 15)…He will take a tenth of your flocks (v. 17)...”

How foolish it is for the people to seek an earthly king who will just take, take, take from them when they have the Lord Yahweh who gives and gives, who heaps blessings on top of blessings, who stands ready to save and deliver and protect!?!?

The King of kings has entered into a covenant with them and they’d rather have an earthly king so they can keep up with the Joneses.

They choose something over the Lord. The people want a king more than they want the Lord.

I wonder about all the times and all the ways in which we choose something over and above the Lord.

This is everyone’s favorite conversation, I know. Discussing idolatry is tons of fun. But how deadly it is, how dangerous it is to be comfortable choosing something over the Lord.

There’s no way to tip-toe here, so let’s just list the things we choose over the Lord: family, sports, country, political affiliation and expediency, money, personal desires, comfort, leisure, entertainment, sexual gratification.

I’m sure I missed something, but you’re clever people; you can add whatever I left out.

Our deepest problem is how willingly we choose some lesser, created, temporary thing above the God who made us.

The Lord God said, “Don’t eat the fruit of that tree.” We heard Him, but we saw the fruit and it looked really good, and more importantly than anything else, we wanted it, so we ate it and enjoyed it and we kind of want some more of it. “I think I’ll go back for seconds.”

“We are,” according to C.S. Lewis, “half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

How often we reject the Lord and foolishly choose something over Him! This chapter holds the mirror in front of our face and forces us to see ourselves.

After we get a good look at ourselves, we need to see our Lord —His character and matchless glory, unexpected as it is.

1 Samuel 8:21–22 NIV

21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.” Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”

This chapter reveals to us

How faithful the Lord is to His unfaithful people!

Even though it means His people have rejected Him, the Lord permits the peoples’ request. “Give them a king.”

The Lord knows this isn’t going to be the answer to what ails the people. He knows this is not what they need.

“But Israel and the rest of us prefer to keep in step with our culture and fit into the molds of our society. Who wants to stand out in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation? Why should the church or Christians individually have a different definition of success? Why should we long for our heavenly home? Why be wholesome in our conversation? Why faithfulness in marriage? Why purity and chastity before marriage? Why seek justice for the helpless or compassion for the neglected? Why a passion for worship over entertainment? Why prefer to enjoy God than to wallow after fulfillment?” - DRD

With a king, thinks Israel, they’ll fit in, they’ll belong. They will, at last, get up to speed. So they reject and forsake the Lord in favor of a king who won’t satisfy their longing.

Did you notice that Israel hears God’s wisdom—all that Samuel tells them about what a king will actually do, and how they will cry out to the Lord to get relief from the king they’ve chosen—they hear what God has to say, but they don’t submit to it.

They’ve already rejected the Lord.

Proverbs 12:15 “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.”

Sometimes, the Lord will give us our requests to our own peril.

“Sometimes God permits what He hates to accomplish that which He loves.” - Steve Estes

Here the Lord gives His people what they ask for. It’s a foolish choice on their part, but their foolishness won’t stop the purposes of the Lord. The Lord remains faithful, even when His foolish people are unfaithful.

The Lord Yahweh will take this request, grant them what they wish, and then work something good out of it: for His glory. He will bring good and accomplish His plan out of their ill-motivated desire.

By raising up the line of David, promising that there will be a king on David’s throne forever (2 Samuel 7), in the fullness of time, a descendant of King David would be the one the Magi came looking for, the one “born king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2); the One who would be crucified with an inscription above His head meant to mock: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37).

The people reject the Lord Yahweh. They ask for a king. The Lord Yahweh—faithful and good—gives them a king to show them the King they really need is no mere man. He is fully man and fully God—King of kings and Lord of lords.

Stop rejecting Him. Stop choosing something over Him; there is no substitute. Bow before the King of kings, confess that He is Lord, give Him your life!

You want a king? You have one. He is faithful and good, merciful and forgiving.