1 Samuel 8:1-22: The Desire for a King

1 Samuel 8:1-22: The Desire for a King

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Samuel, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Samuel 8:1-22. It says,

1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “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.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 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.” 10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of 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 orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” 19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.” 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we’re taught that the heavens and earth will pass away but that your words will never pass away. They’re eternally true, eternally relevant, and eternally powerful. So, help us to see the truth of this text and understand its relevance and experience its power. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

One of the desires that just about everyone has is the desire to fit in. We can see this especially in those who are younger as they do all sorts of things to try to fit in with their peers at school. Thinking back, one of the ways I tried to fit in with the “cool kids” as a middle-schooler was by wearing a ridiculous amount of hair gel. I mean, if you saw me, you’d think someone had just dumped a bucket of water on my head. And I’d spend about 20-40 minutes every morning putting that stuff in my hair—because it had to be perfect. The large spikes of hair that came down my forehead had to be formed just right. Because if they weren’t, my coolness factor for that day would be seriously diminished. It would throw off my whole day. 

And there are a wide variety of other ways as well in which kids in that general age group often try to fit in with those around them. They’re very deliberate about the style of clothing they wear, the brands of clothing they wear, the music they listen to, the way they speak, the mannerisms they adopt, the activities they participate in, the kind of phone they have, the way they interact on social media, and the dating relationships they pursue—all with the goal of fitting in and being socially accepted. 

And even though that desire to fit in might be especially obvious among middle-schoolers, make no mistake: adults have that same desire. It may not always be as obvious in adults, but so many of the career goals we pursue, the kinds of clothing we wear, the vehicles we drive, the vacations we take, the pictures we post on social media, the political viewpoints we espouse, and even the trendy water tumblers we drink out of are driven—at least in part—by our desire to fit in. I mean, let’s face it: if you drink out the wrong water tumbler, you’re just a loser. Obviously, I’m just joking about that. But, sadly enough, that’s actually not too far off from the way many people seem to think. 

And even for those of us who aren’t that tuned in to the latest fashions and trends, there’s still something within us that desires to fit in and be socially accepted. You might say that just about all of us are middle-schoolers at heart. Even though we might learn to disguise our desire to fit in and be a little more subtle about it, there still exists within just about all of us an inward middle-schooler who just wants to fit in with what we see all around us. 

And unfortunately, those of us who are Christians aren’t immune from that desire. As a result, we’re sometimes tempted to try to be like the world around us in ways that are contrary to biblical teaching. Yet, as we’ll see today in 1 Samuel 8:1-22, it’s impossible to be devoted to God while simultaneously trying to be like this world. That’s the main idea of this passage. It’s impossible to be devoted to God while simultaneously trying to be like this world. And when I say, “this world,” I’m referring specifically to the sinful patterns of thought and behavior that are pervasive in the world around us. You can’t be truly devoted to God while, at the same time, trying to be like this world. 

Now, in the previous chapters in 1 Samuel, we’ve seen Samuel grow from his earliest days as a young boy and eventually become the leader and judge of Israel. 1 Samuel 7:15 states that, “Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.” 

However, we then read this in the first few verses of our main passage. 1 Samuel 8:1-3: 1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 

So, it kind of reminds you of the sons of Eli, doesn’t it? In the previous chapters, we learned about the priest Eli, who was generally a godly man but who failed to pass on a legacy of godliness to his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. And now, we see that the sons of Samuel are likewise wicked men, who—verse 3 tells us—take bribes and pervert justice. Now, there’s a legitimate question about whether Samuel should have appointed his sons as judges, especially since there was no historical precedent in the nation of Israel for heredity judges. In fact, in Judges 8:22-23, the judge Gideon had explicitly and emphatically rejected the idea of his children or grandchildren ruling over Israel. Yet, nevertheless, as Samuel grows older, he appoints his sons as judges over Israel. 

And as we see in verses 4-5, this prompts the Israelites to request an intervention. It says, 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “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.” 

So, the Israelites are pretty direct with Samuel here and tell him, straight up, “you are old.” They don’t try to sugarcoat anything by making any vague statements about Samuel beginning to slow down a little bit or gently alluding to the fact that he’s not getting any younger. Instead, they’re basically like, “We hate to break it to you, Samuel, but you’re just old.” 

Yet it’s what they say after that that’s most important. They state, “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.” So, the Israelites identify a legitimate problem of the sons of Samuel not walking in his ways. Yet the solution they propose is quite problematic: “Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 

Now, it’s important to note that Deuteronomy 17 allows for the possibility of the Israelites having a king. Even though it doesn’t necessarily approve of Israel having a king, it does permit the Israelites to have a king if that’s the form of government they insist on having. So, the problem here in our main passage isn’t that the Israelites merely desire a king but that they desire a king so they can be “like all the nations.” In other words, it’s not the nature of their request but rather the motive and mentality behind their request that’s so troubling. Instead of being the holy nation God had set them apart to be, the Israelites wanted to fit in with the pagan nations all around them. 

And as I said at the beginning, is that not the same desire we often have as well? Even as Christians, do we not often desire to fit in with the world and gain the approval of the world and obtain a certain status in the world’s eyes? Unfortunately, we do, many times. And what’s even worse is that this desire sometimes leads us to do a lot more than purchase a fancy water tumbler. It all too often leads us down a path of moral and theological compromise. 

For example, instead of being clear about what the Bible teaches regarding various aspects of sexual morality, we might bow to the pressure to affirm certain sexual behaviors as morally acceptable even though the Bible clearly identifies them as sinful. Instead of upholding what the Bible says about the wonderful God-given gift of gender, we might decide it’s just easier to use someone’s preferred transgender pronouns. Instead of boldly maintaining that there’s only one way to be saved—which is through Jesus—we might begin to show more openness to there being other ways people might be saved as well. Instead of living a life marked by holiness and obedience to biblical teachings, we might participate in crude jokes, excessive drinking, or workplace gossip because that’s what those around us are doing. These are all ways in which a desire to fit in with this world and be accepted by the world can lead us astray. 

This is one reason I appreciate Romans 12:1-2 so much, where Paul tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world [in other words, don’t let this world press you into its mold], but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

In addition, not only is it possible for individual Christians to be led astray by a desire to fit in with this world, it’s also possible for churches and even entire denominations to be led astray by that same basic desire as well. The most obvious example of this would be the mainline denominations that surrendered to theological liberalism and took the path of cultural accommodation several decades ago. 

Yet a more recent example would be Andy Stanley, who—even within the past few years—has made some statements that any Bible-believing Christian should find extremely concerning, such as his emphasis on “unhitching” Christianity from the Old Testament, his deliberate downplaying of the importance of biblical inerrancy, and his open embrace of those who are actively living an LGBT lifestyle and his statements that Christians shouldn’t identify such a lifestyle as sinful. In many ways, Andy Stanley has become a parable of moral and theological compromise. And unfortunately, there are plenty of other supposedly “Christian” leaders and teachers—as well as churches and denominations—that are following that same trajectory. 

I once heard it said that it’s fine for a ship to be in the water. After all, that’s what ships are made for—they’re made to be in the water. Yet it’s a big problem when the water gets into the ship. In a similar way, it’s fine for the church to be in the world. That’s where God’s placed us. The problem is when the world gets into the church. And that’s what can easily happen to any church if we’re not deliberate about maintaining our biblical convictions—regardless of what the world around us thinks or says about those convictions. So, we have to be very careful not to allow our desire to fit in with this world and gain the world’s approval to lead us into moral or theological comprise. 

Instead, it’s imperative for us to understand that the key to us making an impact on the world with the gospel is us being distinct from the world—in both the theological convictions we maintain and in the kind of lives we live. You know, a lot of Christians and Christian leaders have this idea that in order to be “relevant” to the world, as they call it, you have to be like the world in certain ways. You have to speak the language of this world and be up on the latest trends and downplay biblical teachings that the world finds offensive and appeal instead to people’s worldly desires and preferences. 

Yet I’d like to argue that the opposite is actually the case. The way we as the church are most relevant to the world isn’t by becoming like the world but by being distinct from the world. This is essentially what Jesus himself teaches in Matthew 5:14-16, where he refers to his disciples as “the light of the world” and “a city set on a hill” and tells us to let our light shine before others. You see, when the church becomes more or less like the world, we no longer have anything to offer the world. Instead, our power and appeal and persuasiveness are found in us being distinct. 

Yet, returning to our main passage, we see that the Israelites unfortunately didn’t have that mentality. Instead of seeking to be the holy nation that God has called them to be, they desire to fit in with the nations around them and are led by this desire to ask Samuel to appoint for them a king. 

We then read in verses 6-9, 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 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.” 

So, God interprets Israel’s request for a king as a rejection of him as their King. They want a king so they can be like the surrounding nations, yet God says such a desire amounts to a personal rejection of him. It reminds me of James 4:4, in which James issues a stern rebuke to some of those who would read his letter. He says, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” So, there’s no middle ground between being a friend of the world or seeking to be like the world…and being devoted to God. It’s either one or the other. As we just saw a couple of weeks ago in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters.”  

And God makes that clear to the Israelites here in 1 Samuel 8. Their desire for a king so they can be like the surrounding nations is, in effect, a rejection of him. God even goes on to say that it’s not altogether different than the idolatry in which Israel has engaged throughout their history. Yet God nevertheless tells Samuel to give the Israelites what they desire. 

The story then continues in verses 10-17: 10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of 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 orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

So, Samuel gives the Israelites fair warning of the ways in which a king will oppress them and make life difficult for them. He’ll take people and resources and animals and land—all in an effort to enrich himself and consolidate his power. And this list of ways in which a king will be oppressive comes to a climax in verse 17, where Samuel says to the Israelites, “you shall be his slaves.” If the Israelites insist on having a king reign over him, they’ll eventually become—functionally, at least—slaves of that king. What a thought—of the Israelites being rescued from slavery in Egypt only to once again become slaves to a king—all because of their idolatrous desire to be like the nations around them!

And this is a sobering reminder for us of what happens when allow something in our lives to become more important to us than God is. When we do that, we’re essentially making an idol out of that thing since we’re allowing it to take the place of God in our lives. And the end result of us doing that is that our idol eventually ends up oppressing us. Of course, at the beginning, we think our idol will serve us and be something that makes us happy. Yet, as Tim Keller has helpfully observed, it’s only a matter of time before our idol gains control over us instead of us controlling it. 

For example, those who make an idol out of their career will often sacrifice time with their family and even their own health in order to advance in their career. And if they ever hit a rough patch and things aren’t going so well in their career, it’s easy for them to become severely depressed and even to lose their sense of identity—since they find their identity so much in their career. And even if they’re successful, the anxiety and stress they often endure in their pursuit of success makes them highly vulnerable to burnout. So, in the end, their idol of their career demands more and more of them but never truly satisfies. 

Another example would be those who make an idol out of a romantic relationship and who simply have to have such a relationship in order to feel complete. Whenever they’re in a relationship, they feel secure. But any time there’s conflict, they can very easily spiral down into fear and insecurity. They’ll also often tolerate abusive behavior from their partner because they can’t bear the thought of being alone. And when the relationship ends—as idolized relationships so often do—they’re absolutely devastated and feel like their life no longer has any meaning. 

It's also possible to make an idol out of our children. Those who do this often put enormous pressure on their children to excel in academics, sports, and other extracurricular activities. And while they take pride in their children’s accomplishments, they also feel like a personal failure whenever their children struggle in any area. Not only that, over time, their children often are simply crushed under the weight of their parents’ expectations or they become resentful toward their parents because of the intense pressure that’s been placed on them and therefore rebel against their parents. So, it’s not uncommon for parents who have idolized their children to end up having dysfunctional relationships or no relationship with their children. 

Not only that, there are many people who make an idol out of their physical appearance. This might lead them to spend countless hours in the gym, adopt a very strict diet, or even engage in behaviors or undergo procedures that aren’t healthy in order to look good in front of the mirror. Yet, no matter how physically fit or attractive they become, it’s never enough. They’re enslaved to feelings of insecurity and are never truly satisfied with their physical appearance. And anytime someone says anything even mildly critical about their appearance or when they gain a little weight or when they simply notice themselves aging—as everyone eventually does—they can easily become depressed and even more insecure. 

And there are plenty of other examples I could give as well of our idols enslaving us, but let me mention just one more because I believe it’s very relevant for what we’ve been discussing from 1 Samuel 8 about the temptation we often experience to try to fit in with the world. And that is people making an idol out of social approval. Although those who do this feel highly validated and affirmed when people accept them, they’re crushed whenever they don’t feel accepted. They also feel like they have to portray a certain image of themselves on social media or simply in everyday life in order for people to accept them. Over time, it becomes quite exhausting. And they actually find it difficult to enjoy anything in life without worrying about how others will perceive them or what image they’re portraying. In fact, they’ll stop at almost nothing in order to fit in and gain people’s approval. After all, what else do they have to live for beyond other people’s opinions of them? 

So, I hope you can see how, whenever we make an idol out of something by allowing that thing to become more important to us than God is, it always ends up oppressing and enslaving us. And as we can see in our main passage, Samuel warned the Israelites that it would be the same for them if they made an idol out of gaining greater status in the eyes of the pagan nations around them. If they insisted on becoming like the nations by appointing a king to rule over them, that king would eventually enslave them. So, let’s remember that, in reality, God is the only one whom we can worship without becoming enslaved. He’s the only Master who will never oppress us. 

Unfortunately, though, we read in verses 19-22, 19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.” 

So, as we see here, God will sometimes give us what we desire and what we ask for as a way of disciplining us. If we insist on having something, God will often allow us to have it and experience the consequences of our foolishness. So, be careful what you ask for—because God might just give it to you. 

And as we think about this passage as a whole and the troubling desire of the Israelites for a king to rule over them, it’s important to remember that God actually does desire that a King rule over his people. However, the King God desires for us is one who isn’t merely human but who’s also divine. And that King is Jesus. 

As we’ve seen in this passage, Samuel warns the Israelites that any king who’s merely human will eventually oppress those he rules over. Notice in verses 11-17 the number of times Samuel says that this kind of king will “take” from the Israelites. Samuel warns them that a king will “take” their sons for his chariots, that he’ll “take” their daughters to be his perfumers and cooks and bakers, that he’ll “take” the best of their fields and vineyards and orchards, that he’ll “take” a tenth of their grain and the produce of their vineyards, that he’ll “take” their servants and the best of their young men to do his work, and that he’ll “take” a tenth of their flocks. 

Yet Jesus is a radically kind of King in that, instead of taking from us, he gives to us. In Matthew 20:25-28, Jesus teaches his disciples an important lesson. We read, 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man [that’s Jesus speaking of himself] came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So, Jesus is radically different from any earthly ruler. He “came not to be served but to serve.” And the ultimate way he’s served us is by “giv[ing] his life as a ransom for many.” So, again, instead of “taking”—as Samuel warns the Israelites that a king would do—Jesus gives. He even gave his own life in order to ransom us from our sins. 

You see, in our natural condition, all of us are alienated from God because of our sins. Our sins have cut us off from God and made us deserving of God’s punishment for all eternity. And try as we might, there’s nothing we can do to get ourselves out of that predicament. So, you might say that we’re held captive by our sins. Yet, when we were in that state of captivity, Jesus paid our ransom. After becoming a man and living a perfectly sinless life, Jesus allowed himself to be crucified in order to suffer the punishment our sins deserved. He took our sins on himself and suffered the penalty for them so we wouldn’t have to. It’s in this way that Jesus paid for our sins, or—as he says here—gave his life as a ransom for us. 

After that, Jesus was raised from the dead and now offers to save everyone who will put their trust and confidence in him for that rescue. This means that we renounce any confidence we might be tempted to place in ourselves or in our own supposed “goodness” or moral accomplishments to get to heaven and instead put our confidence in Jesus alone. And when we do that, several things happen. We’re forgiven of our sins, clothed with Christ’s righteousness, reconciled with God, adopted into God’s family, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and are given the free gift of eternal life. 

So, don’t make the mistake the Israelites made in 1 Samuel 8 of looking to someone or something other than God for social acceptance or approval. In their case, it was a king so they could be like the surrounding nations. Instead, recognize that the only kind of acceptance and approval that matters—which is acceptance and approval in the eyes of God—is found in Jesus. Likewise, Jesus is the only one who offers us ultimate security. Although the Israelites wanted a king who could fight their battles and protect their nation, and although we’re also tempted look to various earthly things for security, Jesus is the only one who can give us the security we’re searching for. It’s in him and him alone that we find ultimate security—not only for this life but for all eternity.