Bible Commentaries

Making a King

1 Samuel 8:5

WE have seen Israel defeated, almost destroyed, in war with the Philistines. We have seen Israel in extremity, prostrate before Almighty God, and crying unto him, in intolerable woe, for interposition in the time of torment and hopelessness. The prayer has been responded to, and Israel has been revived. A new hope has cheered the hearts of those who prayed unto the Lord of heaven. In the revival of strength Israel has become political. A new idea has occurred to the leaders of the people, namely,—that a king should be required and should be set over Israel, that Israel might be like all other nations. That seems a very reasonable request, as viewed from a certain point. It becomes us, therefore, to look at it the more carefully; because, if 1 Samuel 8:11-18).

Observe, man can have his way. There is a point at which even God withdraws from the contest. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." If we be so minded, we can force our way through all solemn warning, all pathetic entreaty, all earnest persuasiveness on the part of friend, wife, husband, teacher, preacher, God the Father, God the 1 Samuel 7:14) we learn, too, that about this time the Amorites, the inveterate foes of Israel, were also at peace with them—another triumph of his government. The presidency of Samuel appears to have been eminently successful. From the very brief sketch given us of his public life we infer that the administration of justice occupied no little share of his time and attention. He went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, places not very far distant from each other, but chosen perhaps, as Winer suggests, because they were the old scenes of worship (Real-Wört, sub voce).

In Samuel's old age two of his sons were appointed by him deputy-judges in Beersheba. These young men possessed not their father's integrity of spirit, but "turned aside after lucre, took bribes, and perverted judgment" ( 1 Samuel 8:3). The advanced years of the venerable ruler himself and his approaching dissolution, the certainty that none of his family could fill his office with advantage to the country, the horror of a period of anarchy which his death might occasion, the necessity of having some one to put an end to tribal jealousies and concentrate the energies of the nation, especially as there appeared to be symptoms of renewed warlike preparations on the part of the Ammonites ( 1 Samuel 12:12), these considerations seem to have led the ciders of Israel to adopt the bold step of assembling at Ramah and soliciting Samuel "to make a king to judge them." The proposed change from a republican to a regal form of government displeased Samuel for various reasons. Besides it being a departure from the first political institute, and so far an infringement on the rights of the divine head of the theocracy, it was regarded by the regent as a virtual charge against himself, one of those examples of popular fickleness and ingratitude which the. history of every realm exhibits in profusion. Jehovah comforts Samuel by saying, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me." Being warned of God to accede to their request for a king, and yet to remonstrate with the people, and set before the nation the perils and tyranny of a monarchical government ( 1 Samuel 8:10), Samuel proceeded to the election of a sovereign. Saul, son of Kish, "a choice young man and a goodly," whom he had met unexpectedly, was pointed out to him by Jehovah as the king of Israel, and by the prophet was anointed and saluted as monarch. Samuel again convened the nation at Mizpeh, again with honest zeal condemned their project, but caused the sacred lot to be taken. The lot fell on Saul. The prophet now formally introduced him to the people, who shouted in joyous acclamation, "God save the king."

Prayer

Almighty God, may the hour of worship be exceeding precious to the souls whose desire is towards thee. Come down upon us as a light above the brightness of the sun, as the cooling dew upon the parched grass, and as showers that water the earth. Bring to our memory the bitterest recollections of our sins, and then show us the cross of redemption, that our sorrow may be swallowed up in unspeakable joy. Show us thy name plainly written on every daily mercy. May our bread and our water remind us of God. May the light be a 1 Samuel 8:6.

This showed great self-control on the part of Samuel, seeing that he was "displeased" by the demand of the people for a king.—Rarely do we find prayer and displeasure linked together in the same sentence.—When men are displeased they pour malediction upon the head of those who occasion the displeasure; but in this case the man who was wounded turned his attention to heaven and poured out his sorrow before the Lord.—The best and noblest men may be deposed from office by the caprice of the people.—The reasons of such deposition do not appear on the surface.—There are reasons within reasons.—It required the Lord himself to explain to Samuel how it was that the people had become disaffected towards him,—it was not a case of rejecting Samuel, it was a case of rejecting the Lord himself.—When met get wrong religiously they necessarily get wrong socially, and oftentimes the cause is not inquired for beyond the social line: so we speak of discontent, disloyalty, rebellion, and we look for political causes, and we try political remedies, whilst all the time we have not gone deep enough, or we should have found that the rebellion is at the root of religious disaffection.—"For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." When we accept the Lord's sovereignty we are quite willing to receive the under-sove-reigns whom he may appoint, and who vindicate their appointment by wisdom and beneficence: but when we reject the Lord himself all that comes below that title necessarily falls in the first overthrow.—The process takes the same course, only inversely, in reference to social reclamations; we must begin religiously rather than politically, or if we begin politically it must be that we may get a stronger hold upon the people to affect them religiously.—The supreme lesson is that no reform is worth undertaking or consummating that is not founded upon the eternal principles of religion.—We must be theological in the best sense before we can be philanthropical in any sense that touches reality and effects permanent healing.

"And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king."— 1 Samuel 8:22.

A most awful communication this to make on the part of the living God.—There are some compliances which indicate the deepest of all differences.—God gives men the request of their heart, and sends leanness into their soul.—They who rejoice in answers to prayer should recall the nature of the prayer itself, and ascertain thoroughly that the prayer was founded in wisdom and expressed a real necessity of the life.—Where our prayer expresses nothing but whim, prejudice, passing taste, or changeful mood; or where it is inspired by a spirit of selfishness, the answer to it is the most tremendous condemnation which even God can inflict upon the suppliant.—Answered prayer is in itself nothing; we must first know what the prayer is, and having discovered the nature of the prayer we should be able to estimate the value of the answer.—All king-making is child's play.—The people asked for a king as they might have asked for an idol; it was no spirit of loyalty that was rising in them towards monarchical institutions; it was simply the play of a fickle spirit, the action of a soul that was devoid of all moral permanence in its elections and pursuits—A king elected so easily and so superficially may be thrown off with equal facility.—It is the same with the election of friends.—They who make their friends easily, dispose of them easily.—It is the same with learning, with discipline, with all manner of high pursuit; "easy come, easy go," is a proverb which may apply very fittingly to them.—The king was made at God's command, in the sense of God's permission being given.—It does not therefore follow that the king was of God's choice.—A fatal thing it may be for a man to have his own way; for the moment it is pleasant, for the moment the man may congratulate himself upon the happy issue; but all things are to be tested by the end.—When once the heart goes roving after new sovereigns, it is impossible to tell how the fickleness may culminate.—The love of change grows by exercise of choice.—He has attained the highest point of discipline who accepts the highest ordinations of providence and waits for God himself to open new doors and create new opportunities.—Whatever we change, we must never change the kingship of Jesus Christ.—All other kings whom he may send to reign over us intermediately must be left to his control and discipline; he sets up and he puts down, and all his providence is an exertion on behalf of the fullest and deepest interests of his kingdom.—Man is fond of creating institutions.—Such creation gives an opportunity for the exercise of his inventive faculties to make a new toy, to establish a new order, to invent a new decoration, to bring about the setting up of a new throne; all these are the infantile exercises of the human mind.—He only is right who says, The Lord reigneth, and by virtue of his sovereignty he will control all under-reigns, and bring all the forces and ministries of life to co-operate in the outworking of a divine dominion.