Appointing a King

1 Samuel chapter 8 records that when Samuel grew old, all the elders of Israel gathered and came to him at Ramah, requesting Samuel to appoint a king to govern Israel for them, like all other nations. Samuel was displeased by their request and prayed to the LORD. God told Samuel to warn the Israelites about how the king they desired would rule over them: the people would be subjected to military service, forced labor, taxation, deprivation of property, and loss of freedom. Yet, the people refused to listen to Samuel, saying, “No! We want a king over us, 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.”

The entire Book of Judges tells us that because the people abandoned God and worshipped idols, God raised up enemies to discipline them. But the people were unwilling to submit to God’s rule, and therefore dared not trust in God’s protection. Instead, they relied on themselves to find solutions. Governing, leading, and fighting—these were originally God’s tasks, but now the people wished for a king to perform them. When people attempt to solve problems by relying on themselves, they not only misinterpret the problem but also find the wrong answer. They ignored the lessons of history, concluding that a tribal confederation was inferior to a stable, centralized government. Thus, from the time of Gideon (Judges 8:22), some 110 years earlier, the people had decided that the answer to their problems was to appoint a king to rule them, using political methods to solve spiritual problems. They believed this would allow them to control their own destiny, freeing them from the need to repeatedly turn and call upon God for salvation.

Historically, no system has ever perfectly resolved all human problems. God pointed out that the people’s problem was their frequent abandonment of Him and their service to other gods. However, the path for the people to be blessed was to remove foreign gods, wholeheartedly turn to the LORD, and serve Him alone. As long as we regard God as our King, no matter how imperfect our church, family, or society may be, our lives can be purified by God and ultimately enter His perfect kingdom. If we rely on politics, power, skills, or resources to solve spiritual problems, we will also fall into the trap of serving other gods.