Give Us a King! - 1 Samuel 8

I’ve mentioned this before but it’s worth mentioning again that a pastor-friend of mine, I think, coined the phrase, “functional atheist.” One of his pet-theories is that many professing believers live their lives as if God doesn’t exist. They will go to work, pick up kids, go to the grocery store, fix dinner, they’ll go through the motions of day-to-day life without once thinking about God.

Why would they? After all, they're totally self-sufficient (or at least that’s what they think!). Every problem whether mechanical or relational can be solved through an online article, a Youtube tutorial, or advice from a friend. Not once is prayer or repentance considered as legitimate to help them move past whatever they’re going through.

And this is precisely what’s going on in our passage. The people of Israel have collectively decided that all their problems will be solved if only they had a king. And as we’ll see the problem wasn’t necessarily that they requested a king, but rather what the request suggested: they’d rather depend on themselves than depend on the Lord. They wanted to be self-reliant. They wanted to be totally independent - and that was the problem!

We’ll look at this passage in three parts: first, we’ll look at their request for a king (vv. 1-5), second, we’ll see the warnings of a king (vv. 10-18), and finally we’ll see the fulfillment of a king (vv. 7-9; 19-22).

Last week in chapter 7, Samuel called the people of Israel to gather at Mizpah for a joint worship service. And at that worship service they repented before the Lord. They put away their idols, fasted, confessed their sins, and then God delivered them from the Philistines and as a result, peace was restored to the land.

The Request for a King (vv. 1-5)

1 Samuel 7 was a high point for Israel under Samuel’s leadership. But of course, it’s important to remember that Samuel was a transitional figure in the nation of Israel - because he was the last judge before the monarchy was established in Israel.

That transition was set in motion in the chapter we just read. Up to this point, Israel was a loose confederation of tribes. There were twelve tribes in Israel who would band together under the leadership of judges particularly when they were threatened by enemy nations. The judges were often prominent military leaders.

Samuel had faithfully judged Israel for decades, but a problem was developing: Samuel was an old man and had tapped his sons to be judges in Israel after his death. And we’re told in verse 3 that his sons “did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.”

The people of Israel saw this for what it was: a leadership crisis was brewing right before their eyes.

Hopefully, this sounds familiar. It sounds a lot like what happened with Eli and his wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas. History is literally repeating itself!

It seems that Samuel may have committed the same sins as Eli in the way he raised his sons.

Which is a tremendous shame because Samuel had a front row seat to everything that happened to Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas. No one was probably more aware of Eli’s failures as a father than Samuel, but here’s Samuel in a nearly identical situation.

And of course it is true that godly parents can lead their children well, and their children may abandon everything their parents taught them.

But all of this highlights the difficulty that comes with leadership succession.

I’m sure most of you have heard the statistics, but most wealthy families lose their wealth over time. 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and 90% of families lose their wealth by the third generation.

That’s not even leadership succession per se. That’s just wealth succession. I don’t know what the statistics are for organizational leadership succession, but I’d imagine it to be quite similar. We’ve all seen a great leader take an organization to the mountain top only for his successor to drive it into the ground!

It happens in every sector and of course, the church isn’t immune to it either. How many times have we seen a pastor tap his successor and once his successor is in place - everything goes off the rails!

Leadership succession is very difficult and I certainly don’t have any secret formulas or foolproof answers outside of praying for wisdom and relying on the Lord.

But I am aware of one succession plan that rarely works out called nepotism. Just because a father is a strong leader doesn’t automatically mean that his son will be too. Samuel was a strong, faithful God-fearing judge in Israel.

But his sons were a different story weren’t they? Joel and Abijah didn’t get it. They turned aside after gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

All of this explains what’s going on in verses 4-5. The elders gather together and know that Joel and Abijah can’t be seriously considered as candidates to judge Israel. They’re clearly ungodly men.

So it’s time to make some serious structural changes to how Israel is governed. Look at verse 5 with me:

“Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Israel wanted a new form of government. They wanted a monarchy. They wanted to be ruled by a king. Which is somewhat ironic that the people are concerned about Samuel’s sons and so their answer is to establish a form of government that has a foundational principle of hereditary succession. The children of kings are the ones who sit on the throne!

But really, it wasn’t all about having a good succession plan. What seems to be the primary issue was they wanted a stronger, more centralized form of government. As a confederation of tribes they would have to unite anytime there was a threat. So instead of coming together whenever there is a serious threat, why don’t we just permanently come together and be ruled by a king. In their minds a monarchy would be more effective, efficient, all while providing stability.

But in their effort to solve one problem, they highlighted another.

Which is why their request for a king “displeased Samuel.”

I actually do not think it was wrong or sinful for Israel to request a king.

A king in Israel was mentioned well before Samuel’s time. Hundreds of years before Samuel, Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 17:15, “...you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you.”

Moses had told Israel that it was permissible for them to one day establish a monarchy. In fact Deuteronomy 17 says that Israel’s monarchy would, in some respects, be “like all the nations.”

So the question becomes, if a king was always the plan for Israel, why did it displease Samuel? What was the big deal?

Proverbs 3:5 famously says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding…” We all know why that’s a helpful verse. Because our natural inclination is to trust in ourselves with all our heart and to ignore the Lord.

We all struggle with the same temptation as the people of Israel, we trust more in our own ingenuity, originality, or problem solving techniques more than God.

The commentator Dale Ralph Davis is insightful here. He wrote,

“We have a tendency to assess our problems mechanically rather than spiritually. Our first impulse is to assume there is something wrong in our techniques.”

Isn’t that right? Whenever we are faced with a issue our immediate reaction is to begin troubleshooting and problem solving. We do it in our personal lives and we do it in the church as well.

When things are going poorly in the life of the church - what’s typically the answer? We’re missing this program, or we need to change our worship style, or fix our website and the list goes on and on and on. Rarely do we ever stop to pray. Rarely do we ever ask ourselves: do we need to repent?

Israel believed if they could centralize power and build a better government all their problems would miraculously melt away. They were effectively cutting God out of their nation because they trusted more in a new form of government than the Lord.

Which is why the Lord tells Samuel in verse 7, “...[Israel has] not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

It’s always amazing to me how timely God’s word is, because we’re less than thirty days out from the most consequential election of our lifetime. I’m pretty sure that’s been said for every Presidential election. But I do believe this election is important and I’ll be the first to admit that I certainly have strong political thoughts and opinions. And for the record, I don’t necessarily think it’s necessarily sinful to have political thoughts and opinions.

But here’s what is sinful: when we have more hope and trust in who runs and controls our government than the Lord. We face the same dilemma that Israel faced. Will we always rely on man-centered solutions and ignore God?

It’s an incredibly subtle thing. We must recognize that, no matter what problem we’re facing whether it’s political, relational, or even something we’re dealing with in the church - our help comes from the Lord.

The Warnings about a King (vv. 10-18)

The Father of the Constitution, James Madison, famously said in Federalist Paper number 51, “If men were angels no government would be necessary.”

Because the reality is, people are sinners. Both the people governing and being governed are sinners.

Undoubtedly, some government structures are better than others. No one will ever convince me that communism is better than a constitutional republic - sorry.

And in a similar way, a confederation of tribes ruled by judges had its pros and cons. But the people of Israel couldn’t see the benefits of a decentralized government, all they could see was the problems that it caused.

They had tunnel vision. All they knew was that the current system of government wasn’t working out, and in their minds, a monarchy would solve everything.

It’s like when you’re a teenager and all you can think about is all the freedom that will come when you can finally drive a car on your own. Your parents and other adults try to warn you about the responsibility that comes with driving, you could hurt someone. You could damage the car. You’re going to have to figure out how to pay for gas. But let’s be honest, when we were 15 or 16 years old we didn’t want to hear any of that!

All you can think about is how great it’s going to be when you can tear down the open highway with a car full of your friends!

Samuel had the tough job of being the wet blanket on this wonderful idea of establishing a monarchy in Israel. He had to tell the people that major problems would result from establishing a monarchy. That it wouldn’t just be sunshine and rainbows 24/7 when they have a king.

Samuel’s warnings against a king are straightforward: “a King will take, take, and take.” He uses the verb “to take” on six different occasions: verse 11, “he will take your sons,” verse 13, “He will take your daughters,” verse 14, “He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards,” verse 15, “He will take the tenth of your grain,” verse 16, “He will take your male servants and female servants.” Verse 17, “He will take the tenth of your flocks.”

Each of these warnings drive at something that should be concerning to the people of Israel. A king will draft your sons into war. Your daughters, they’re not going to be doing useful tasks for your family, nope, they’re going to be working for the government as perfumers and cooks and bakers.

Your real estate will be seized for government use. Let me introduce you to something called eminent domain. Even your servants will be taken from you for the king.

And then Samuel’s like, we haven’t even started talking about this little thing called taxes! The king is going to take a tenth of everything you own! A tenth of both your grain and your flocks will be his. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself as I was reading this because I thought: a 10% flat tax doesn’t sound that bad!

But the absolute worst thing is what Samuel says at the end of verse 18: “you shall be his slaves.” The king will eventually own you.

Samuel is making an obvious point: a king will not be everything that you think it will be!

It’s as if Samuel is saying, “yes, we have problems now, but we will still have problems when there is a king who rules over us.”

And this entire conversation is tremendously ironic when you stop and consider what has just happened! Remember everything that happened in chapter 7?

Samuel calls the people of Israel to repent, to turn away from false gods and worship and back to the Lord. And remember how they responded? They prayed, fasted, and confessed their sins and “...put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.”

They had gathered together for one big worship service and were vulnerable, weak, and broken. And the Philistines saw it as the perfect opportunity to attack Israel.

“But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion,” and Israel struck down the Philistines that day.

This is incredibly important because on that day, it wasn’t the government that delivered them from the hands of their enemies - it was the Lord.

We convince ourselves that a president, a relationship, a job, or a certain lifestyle is going to give us what we need. When the truth has never changed - we needed, we continue to need, and will need tomorrow the Lord. He is the one who delivers us.

But whenever we let our hearts begin to believe that this thing is going to solve all my problems - we’ve subtly rejected the Lord.

The Fulfillment of a King (vv. 7-9; 19-22)

Some of you I’m sure have read Shakespeare’s play Macbeth at some point. Macbeth receives a prophecy that he will one day be king in Scotland. So he murders King Duncan and eventually becomes the king himself. But it’s not at all what he anticipates it to be. The whole time he’s king he’s consumed with guilt, and paranoia and becomes increasingly tyrannical and violent in order to maintain his power.

That play came to my mind as I was thinking about this passage because sometimes it’s a form of God’s grace to not give you exactly what you want. And on the flipside, sometimes it’s a form of God’s judgment to give you exactly what we want. It’s what happened with Macbeth and it’s exactly what happens in our passage.

Because what does the Lord tell Samuel?

Look at verses 7-9:

“And the Lord said to Samuel, “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. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

The people had rejected the Lord and forgotten all the wonderful things that He had done for them. They had even forgotten all the wonderful things he had done for them through Samuel. They were consumed with, “give us a king.”

So the Lord said in verse 9 to, “obey their voice…” And He said the same thing again in verse 22: “Obey their voice and make them a king.”

Both times the Lord tells Samuel to give the people a king.

I’m sure many of you are aware of the consequences of this decision. There are a few good kings, the greatest being King David. But that’s really it.

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam becomes king and levies heavy labor and tax burdens on the people of Israel. And it gets so bad that eventually the northern tribes would reject Rehoboam and establish their own kingdom under Jeroboam; ultimately dividing Israel between the northern and southern kingdoms. The northern kingdom was called Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah.

I only share that with you because everything that Samuel said would happen - happened.

All because the people of Israel wanted a king like the other nations. They wanted a king to rule in place of the Lord. But of course, that was not the way it was supposed to be.

Again Moses spelled this out in Deuteronomy 17:18-20,

“And when [the king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”

The kings of Israel weren’t supposed to be autonomous kings of the other nations who could do whatever they wanted, no, the kings of Israel were supposed to rule as one who is under authority. In fact, they were supposed to be men of the book. They were supposed to make their own hand-written copies of God’s Word in order to better serve the Lord.

The kings of Israel were supposed to recognize their role as service to the Lord.

It may very well be the Lord’s kindness to withhold what you want from you, because we don’t always see the full ramifications of our desires.

We’d rather be self-reliant than dependent upon the Lord, but you and I must remember that dependence upon the Lord is where we experience the outpouring of his love, mercy, and grace.

So often the thing that we desperately want isn’t necessarily what we need. Israel wanted a strong and powerful king, but as Samuel warned, kings would take, take, and take.

Which is such a contrast from the king that we need. Isaiah prophesied of a coming divine king when he said,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

King Jesus is so different from the kings Samuel described. The kings of Samuel described will take, take, and take, but King Jesus gives, gives and gives. He gave himself for us on the cross to take away our sins.

Jesus sits on his heavenly throne sovereignly ruling and governing all things. He’s in control yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

And it’s for that reason, we rely on him. We depend on him.

May we all, “Trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding…”

Let’s pray.