We Want A KING! Is that so WRONG?

I Samuel 8 (THIS IS A LINK)

Samuel is getting old, so he appoints his sons to be the judges (or rulers) over Israel (verse 1).  The only problem is that they were corrupt, and they didn’t follow the ways of the Lord like Samuel.  So, the elders of Israel met with Samuel and said they want a real king.

Now, if you think about it, they had a legitimate point.  Samuel had been a good leader, but now they could see that their new leaders were going to lead them astray.  It’s easy to look back and judge Israel in retrospect.  But do we really know why they asked for a king?  And do we really know why God became upset with Israel for asking this?  Sure, we can say it is because “they rejected the Lord” verse 7.  But do we really know how they rejected the Lord.

I dare you to write out an answer as though you were a lawyer preparing to make a case.

• Why does God feel rejected?


• How have they rejected him?


• Define… give evidence… find some verses to back it up (if you use verse 7 that’s called a circular argument.)  Sure you can say that they just wanted to be like all the other nations (verse 5), but is this really the reason?

Think about it:  2 corrupt men were just appointed to lead Israel, but Israel wanted to be righteous!  They wanted someone like Samuel… That’s what the opposing lawyer will say to you when you give your case.  Do you have some good answers?  

Here’s another piece of evidence that might make things more difficult (or it might be a key to the answer):

I Samuel 10:25; Samuel explains the regulations for kings.  Now, if you bust out the concordance and look this up, you will find that Samuel was reading the regulations that came from Deuteronomy 17: 14-20; If you read this, then everything becomes more complicated because this means that way back in the days of Moses, God already said that Israel would one day have a king, and he tells them the rules for this king… he doesn’t say that it would be a sin to have a king.  Go figure!  Then why is God upset?  Why does he say that they have rejected him “that I should not reign over them” (I Samuel 8:8)?

Ouch!  It’s not so simple after all.  Life never is.  We have to dig deep if we want to know the whys.  Sorry Stories always give a surface level answer to the question “why?”  Life is boring if we live only on the surface.  But if we start asking why? we might begin to reactivate the sense of fascination and wonder that will rescue us from the clutches of boredom.  We might not always figure out the whys in life, but along the way we begin to see that things are way more intricate and profound than we would have imagined back in the day when we chose to just stay on the suran wrap surface of existence.