2018-10-21T11:00:00-05:00
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
The opening of 1 Samuel 8 sounds familiar. When the passage was read this past Sunday, I thought: “Didn’t we just do this a few weeks ago, I know how this story goes: a leader has become old and sets his wicked sons up to follow in his footsteps, but God is working behind the scenes to prepare another man to take his place.”
The reader should remember that this was the exact environment that the LORD used to raise up Samuel (1 Samuel 2-3). However, this time when the elders looked around and saw the wickedness of the new judges, they wanted to take matters into their own hands. Either 1) they were not willing to wait to see what and how the LROD would provide. Or 2) they could not see what the LORD was doing, and maybe they forgot about the ways that he provided for them in the past. One timeline I found suggests that it had been nearly 50 years since the LORD graciously provided Samuel to the people in the place of Hophni and Phinehas. Either way, they wanted something visible, measurable, and comprehensible. They did not want to, or felt that it was unwise, to trust and wait. Thus, they chose their own king.
The desire of the elders for a king was not forbidden. Nevertheless, this desire was clearly a rejection of God being king over them (1 Samuel 8:7) and a lack of trust in His provision and promise. Moses prophetically established rules to govern a king for the young nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Of note in that section is that the king is not to acquire many horses, wives, or silver, and he is to read the law of the LORD all of days of his life that he “may not be lifted up above his brothers.”
We know the LORD is sovereignly preparing a king after His own heart who will lead the people well, but this new king hasn’t been born yet. The elders were not willing to wait to see what the LORD would do and took matters into their own hands. The unwillingness to trust in the LORD results in great cost.
Through prayer, the LORD reveals to Samuel that the king they set up will take from the people. He will not follow the rules laid out by Moses: “he will take your sons… he will take your daughters… he will take the best of your fields… he will take the tenth of your grain… he will take your male servants… donkeys… he will take the tenth of your flocks.” Ultimately, Samuel says “and you shall be his slaves” (1 Samuel 8:17). If we put our trust in any ruler, power, or authority other than the sovereign king, it will enslave us.