1 Samuel 8:1-22

March 15 – 1 Samuel 8:1-22
“We want to be just like the nations around us!” This is what the Israelites are demanding Samuel give to them. They want a king just like the kings they see everyone else has. It’s a bit of “the grass is greener on the other side” coveting. They want someone who is going to fight their battles and protect them.

But don’t they already have that in God? God has gone before them, given the promised land into their hands, and led them to victory in battle after battle. “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” The people have rejected God and gone after idols.

And God grants their request, but not before warning them what it is exactly they are asking for. Unlike God, who gives and serves and requires nothing from us, a human king will send their sons into battle and force them into labor and take their daughters to work for him. He will demand the best land and crops and will require taxes. And on the day that the people regret their choice and cry out to God, He will not listen to them.

Despite the warning the people still demand a king, and Samuel gives them one. As we find out in the remainder of Samuel and Kings, this doesn’t turn out very well for them.