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Leader Guide CSB, Unit 10, Session 3
© 2019 LifeWay Christian Resources, Permission granted to reproduce and distribute within the license agreement with purchaser, edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, MA
Summary and Goal
In this session, we will see the Israelites ask for a king to judge them and lead them in their battles against the nations around them.
They believed a human king would do better than Samuel and his sons to protect them from their enemies.
But in rejecting the leadership of Samuel, they were actually rejecting the kingship of the Lord.
The king they would get would fail to be one devoted to God’s own heart.
Instead, he would fail to trust the Lord for provision and protection and he would fail to obey the Lord’s word.
The people got whom they wanted, but who they wanted didn’t measure up.
Session Outline
1. ++The people reject God as their true King (1 Sam.
8:4-9,19-20).
2. ++The people’s king fails to trust God (1 Sam.
13:6-9,13-14).
3. ++The people’s king fails to obey God (1 Sam.
15:10-11,22-23).
Session in a Sentence
God is our one true King in whom His people should place their full trust.
Christ Connection
The people of Israel rejected God as their King and demanded a human king like the nations around them.
God warned them and gave them Saul who failed to trust and obey God.
Israel needed a lasting kingdom ruled by Someone who would trust and obey God fully.
Through the perfect obedience of Jesus, God would establish His rule over His people forever.
Page 29 (DDG)
Our perception of the weather and the seasons is a curious thing because so often we find it hard to be content in the weather we are experiencing.
When it is winter, we want the heat of summer.
When it is summer, we want the cool of fall or winter.
When the sun is beating down, we long for a rain cloud.
But when the sky has been pouring, is it too much to ask for a break to see the blue sky and the sun once more?
Ask
What is your favorite season and/or weather pattern and why is it your favorite?
What season or weather pattern do you least enjoy?
(be prepared to give answers of your own to jump-start the conversation)
Say: We likely struggle with contentment in the weather because we have an ideal weather pattern that is always short lived or never materializes.
So often we don’t get what we want.
Similarly, while trying to settle into the promised land, the Israelites wanted something in their lives, but when they got what they wanted, things didn’t turn out as they hoped.
In this session, we will see the Israelites ask for a king to judge them and lead them in their battles against the nations around them.
They believed a human king would do better than Samuel and his sons to protect them from their enemies.
But in rejecting the leadership of Samuel, they were actually rejecting the kingship of the Lord.
The king they would get would fail to be one devoted to God’s own heart.
Instead, he would fail to trust the Lord for provision and protection and he would fail to obey the Lord’s word.
The people got whom they wanted, but who they wanted didn’t measure up.
Point 1: The people reject God as their true King (1 Sam.
8:4-9,19-20).
Read 1 Samuel 8:4-9,19-20 (DDG p. 30).
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways.
Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”
6 When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand wrong, so he prayed to the Lord.
7 But the Lord told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you.
They have not rejected you; they have rejected me as their king.
8 They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods.
9 Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.”
…………………………..
19 The people refused to listen to Samuel.
“No! ” they said.
“We must have a king over us.
20 Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.”
DDG (p.
30)
The Israelites experienced a déjà vu moment as Samuel’s two sons took advantage of their position as judges, just like Eli’s sons (1 Sam.
8:1-3).
The last time, they lost in battle, lost the ark, and lost God’s presence and glory.
Naturally, the Israelites wanted to change their path, so they asked Samuel for a king.
The people’s request was not necessarily bad, but the heart behind it was—to be like the other nations around them.
Scripture reveals that it was always God’s will for a man one day to sit on a throne over His people.
In His promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants, He included the promise of kings to come (Gen.
17:6,16; 35:11; 49:10; Num.
24:7,17-19).
He even gave instructions for how a king should be chosen and reign in Deuteronomy 17:14-20.
Furthermore, the Book of Judges showed the necessity of a king to rein in the sinfulness of God’s people (Judg.
21:25), and Hannah prophetically praised God for raising up a king to do just this (1 Sam.
2:10).
God called His people to be separate from the world and holy to the Lord (Ex.
19:5-6; Lev.
18:24; 20:26; Deut.
7:1-6).
He called Abraham out from his family to obey Him in faith.
He redeemed the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt.
He gave them His law in the wilderness to govern their nation, their worship, and their behavior.
His people were to be unique, set apart, different, the Lord’s own possession, a kingdom of priests, and a blessing to the whole world—not like the other nations.
Ask
What are some reasons we struggle with wanting to be like the world?
(the way of the world seems more fun; it seems like it works better; it can be awkward and painful to be different; we have a sinful nature that resists the way of God)
DDG (p.
30)
The Israelites’ request was problematic for another reason—they were rejecting God as their King.
The people wanted a human king to judge them and lead them in their battles, but the Lord Himself had commanded them, led them, provided for them, fought for them, and ruled over them.
They needed no one else, but that didn’t stop them, so God gave them what they wanted.
Voices from the Church
“God was Israel’s king.
Israel was warned that to establish a human monarch was to spurn God.
Israel did not heed the warning but preferred visible, human flesh to an invisible God.” 1
–Kay Arthur and David Arthur
Had the Israelites prayed and asked for the Lord’s direction, had they asked Samuel for advice or even listened to his warnings (1 Sam.
8:10-18), they would have fared better for the next forty-two years (the length of Saul’s troubled reign as the first king over Israel).
Instead, they suffered under the consequences of their selfish choice to reject God’s leadership through Samuel.
Often we try to fix things in our lives without seeking God in prayer.
Many times we choose to rely on our habits, our plans, or our self-sufficiency.
In these times, like the Israelites, we should consider the warning that God may give us the foolishness that we want.
But if we run to the Lord in faithful prayer, we can trust His sovereign protection and goodness either to answer our requests or to refrain for our good.
Point 2: The people’s king fails to trust God (1 Sam.
13:6-9,13-14).
After the people’s insistence on a king, Samuel sent them home.
Then God arranged a private meeting for Samuel in which he anointed a man named Saul as king over Israel.
Following a public recognition, Saul and his army camped at Gilgal in opposition to the Philistines, and there he waited for Samuel’s promised arrival.
Read 1 Samuel 13:6-9,13-14 (DDG p. 31).
6 The men of Israel saw that they were in trouble because the troops were in a difficult situation.
They hid in caves, in thickets, among rocks, and in holes and cisterns.
7 Some Hebrews even crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.
Saul, however, was still at Gilgal, and all his troops were gripped with fear.
8 He waited seven days for the appointed time that Samuel had set, but Samuel didn’t come to Gilgal, and the troops were deserting him.
9 So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.”
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