Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah,
All the elders of Israel travel to Samuel's home town, and a routine-looking meeting turns into a turning point in the nation's history. Why did they come, and what were they really asking for?
Samuel was growing old, and he had put his own sons in the judge's seat. One writer finds the fault in the way he made that appointment:
The history of the judges, like that of the priesthood, ends in complete ruin. Here Samuel lacks spiritual discernment. He makes his sons judges without any direction from the Lord. He acts as if the work God had entrusted to him could be handed on to others. But no gift, and not even an office, passes down by succession.
Another writer ties that mistake to what the elders did next:
Yet Samuel meant well. Remember: the people belonged to God, not to Samuel... The sin of the people in asking for a king is obvious. But we must not forget that the error of the man of God helped to cause it.
The elders had a real complaint. Their mistake was where it sent them:
The elders of Israel are right to disapprove of the conduct of Samuel's sons (v. 4). But they use it to ask for a king (v. 5): "Appoint us a king to judge us, like all the nations." The evil they complained of does not push them toward the Lord. It pushes them toward the other nations. They look for human help to cure man's ruin, thinking that in this way they can escape their own misery as God's people.
Their reasoning still repeats itself among God's people:
Their one argument was that other nations had kings: why not them? God's people often sink to this level. Instead of leaning on the leading and grace of God, they watch what others are doing. They see some results on the surface, and then decide what to do by outward appearances. This is not faith.
But was the conduct of the sons their real reason? One writer finds the excuse hollow:
It was only a poor, miserable excuse... They made his sons the stated cause of their discontent, though they must have known that bribery of the courts was as common as could be in the pagan kingdoms around them. A king was no cure and no safeguard against bribery in the courts!
The elders came with a complaint about judges. God saw something far larger:
By this demand they had rejected the Lord their God. He brought them out of the land of Egypt, and He saved them again and again out of all their troubles. So they were not only setting aside Samuel, their faithful guide; they were setting aside their God... From now on Israel was to be "like all other nations." But it is always sadly true that God's people prefer to walk on lower ground than the ground God has marked out for them.
Yet God's word to Samuel carried comfort:
This was precious encouragement from God to His servant. It came at the very moment when Samuel was going through a discipline, and the elders of Israel had become the instrument of it. Nothing could comfort his heart more than the assurance that he was, after all, on the Lord's side... It is better to be a humbled Samuel, ignored, alone with a rejected God, than an Israel armed with a powerful outward organization. That organization only gives them the illusion that they can do without God.
Samuel defended neither his family nor his arrangement:
He said not one resentful word about the charges made against his sons. He made no effort to prop up the arrangement he had so wrongly set up. "Samuel prayed to the Lord." How different everything would have been if he had prayed before he made his sons judges.
Behind the whole sad scene, another writer sees God already at work:
So the thought of a king did not come from man, but from God. Yet man's desire for a king like the nations was rebellion against God. The king God planned would be a rich blessing from Him. He purposed to give them a king before their wicked heart wanted one in order to be rid of Him. The evil in man was to be judged. The purpose in God was grace, and He will surely carry it out. Both are true. But man's mind often sets one against the other, instead of believing both.
- Cause. Samuel made his sons judges without any word from God. Commentators say this error helped open the door the elders walked through.
- Complaint. Their complaint was real, but it drove them toward the nations instead of toward the Lord. That is sight, not faith.
- Cover. The sons were only the stated cause. A king would not have cured bribery. The real wish was a government like the nations had.
- Core. The elders set aside not the prophet but God Himself. He told Samuel so, and tied His servant to Him in the rejection.
- Counter-plan. God had planned a king before man ever asked for one. Man's rebellion and God's grace stand together here, and both are true.
and said to him, Behold, thou art become old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways now appoint us a king to judge us, like all the nations.
Israel's elders come to Samuel with a complaint that is true. He is old, and his sons take bribes. Then they add a demand that changes their history: give us a king. Two questions follow. Why did a real grievance lead to this cure? And why did God take the demand as aimed at Himself?
The elders' facts were true. But the excuse they built on those facts did not hold.
A poor excuse is really worse than none — especially the kind Israel's elders make here before their honoured Chief Justice. It would have been better to say plainly that they were not unhappy with how Samuel governed, but with the form of government itself... They made his sons the apparent cause of their discontent. Yet they must have known how common bribery in the courts was in the Gentile kingdoms around them. A kingly form of government was no safeguard against judges taking bribes!
The reason the elders gave was not their real one. Fear of an enemy was driving them.
Here the Spirit uncovers their hidden motives for asking for a king. Deep down, it was not the reason they had given to Samuel: "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways." People often colour their motives in the eyes of others this way, but they cannot hide them from God or from His prophet. Fear of Nahash, and simply that, ruled in the depths of Israel's heart, together with a complete lack of faith and confidence in God.
They did not just ask for a king. They asked for a king of a certain kind, and that is where the sin lay.
Their desire for a king really meant giving up the Lord. It denied His direct rule through the judges. But their greatest sin was asking for a king like the nations. Was it not God's counsel to give them a king according to His own heart, an Anointed whom He would have chosen for them Himself? In wanting a king like all the nations, they gave up their title as God's people. It meant becoming like the world.
God's law had already made room for a king. So what went wrong was not the kingship itself.
God, in the law, had made provision for a king in Israel (see Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Had they waited in faith, God might have raised up a king of His own providing when Samuel died. That would have been David, "a man after His own heart" — a model prince, and a picture of Him who is both "King of Israel" and "Prince of peace." But no. They could not wait, they would not listen to advice, and so God gave them their desire. But "sudden decisions and hasty desires make work for sore and slow repentance."
Samuel took the matter to God. God's answer moved the offence off Samuel onto Himself. Giving them what they asked was no kindness.
Outwardly they complained about the misrule of Samuel's sons. But when the prophet sadly told God of their demand, He showed Samuel where the real trouble lay. It was in their hearts. They were finding God's rule a burden. As He said to Samuel: "they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." Had they only asked for a king like Moses, God would surely have been pleased. But no — "like all the nations" was what they wanted. Long afterwards we read, "I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath."
The demand hurt Samuel himself. What he did next is the example to copy.
Samuel feels it deeply. It was not so much against himself as against God, and so he tells them the thing displeased him. "And Samuel prayed." May we follow the example of so true a servant of the Lord! When things displease us, may we pray, and not fret or fume or scold.
- Excuse. The complaint was true. But the cure did not fit it. The nations they wanted to copy had courts just as corrupt.
- Motive. Behind the polite reason lay fear of an enemy and no trust in God. People can colour their motives before others, never before God.
- Sin. The wrong lay in three words: "like all the nations." Asking to look like everyone else gave up their standing as God's people.
- Plan. God had already provided for a king in the law. Waiting in faith would have brought them David, not a king given in anger.
- Response. Samuel prayed instead of arguing. That is the model when what God's people do displeases us.
And the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to Jehovah.
Israel's elders have just asked for a king, and the request lands on an old man who has judged them all his life. Samuel does not argue back; he is grieved, and he prays — so what did he hear in their words?
Samuel could have taken the demand personally. It came wrapped in a complaint about his age and his sons. One writer points to a different cause for his grief, and to what he did with it.
It displeased him. It was not so much that they had insulted him personally, for a man of his spirit and piety could bear that well. He was displeased because he saw in it rebellion against God, and he knew the certain consequences that must come of it. But he had a sure resource. It was a refuge he had long known, and it had never failed him — "he prayed." This was his comfort and consolation. His prayer is not given to us, but the record of God's answer is.
Writers weigh the motives differently. One grants that the slight to Samuel was real, and adds that the reason the people gave was not the reason they had.
The fact was that they asked for a king through unbelief. They first gave a different reason: Samuel was old, and his sons did not walk in his ways. That was not what really made them anxious to have a king. Samuel was, it is true, displeased at their request. It seemed like a personal slight in his eyes. In part that was true. But God showed him that Israel was only acting here as they had acted ever since they came out of Egypt. Far worse than the personal slight put on Samuel was their rejection of the Lord as their King. What triggered their request was the invasion of Israel's territory east of Jordan by Nahash, king of the Ammonites. Their words clearly showed distrust of the Lord's care for them and His interest in them. Unbelief really lay at the bottom of that popular movement.
The elders had attacked both Samuel's family and the arrangement he had set up. He answered neither charge.
The bearing of the man of God at this moment was delightful. He showed no resentment at the charges made against his sons. He made no effort to prop up the order he had so wrongly set up. "Samuel prayed to the LORD." How different everything would have been if he had prayed before he made his sons judges. Is it our holy habit to take everything to God in prayer? Have we really learned that we are utterly dependent on Him for every step?
Prayer did not make the problem go away. Another writer draws the lesson for us, and notes what the answer gave Samuel and what it did not.
It is beautiful to see how Samuel turns in all this to God. His heart is grieved at what the people have asked. Samuel prayed to the LORD. When we hear of weakness in others, we do well to bring it before God and pour it out there. That is better than a feeble attempt to reprove or correct it by our own efforts. He gets, in a certain sense, comfort from God, and yet no relief in the ordinary sense of the word.
Samuel's displeasure was right, yet the thought of a king did not start with Israel. Two things belong together here.
So the thought of a king was not from man, but from God. Yet the desire for a king like the nations had was rebellion against God on man's part. The king He intended would be a rich blessing from God. He purposed to give them a king before their wicked heart ever wanted one as a way to be rid of Himself. In man the desire was an evil that God must judge. In God it was grace to purpose the king, and He will surely bring it to pass. Both are true; but man's mind often sets one against the other, instead of believing both.
- Request. Israel asked for a king out of unbelief. Samuel's age and his sons were their excuse, not their motive.
- Grief. The insult to himself was not what hurt Samuel. He saw rebellion against God in the demand, and he knew what would follow.
- Prayer. Samuel did not defend himself or prop up the arrangement he had wrongly made. He prayed. God had never failed him yet.
- Pattern. When we meet weakness in others, pour it out before God rather than try to correct it by our own efforts.
- Purpose. Man's desire was evil, and God had to judge it. Yet the king was God's own purpose of grace. Believe both, instead of setting one against the other.
And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
Israel's elders ask the aging Samuel for a king. He takes it as a personal defeat. God's reply tells him whose throne the people are really refusing. It also raises a hard question: what happens when God says yes to a request He disapproves of?
Until this moment Israel had no human king. God ruled them directly. The demand for a king set that aside.
It was in the days of Samuel that the people asked him to make them a king over them. They were tired of being under the direct government of God, who from time to time appointed judges over them. They wanted to be like the nations around them. This displeased Samuel, and he prayed to Jehovah. What was the answer of Jehovah to him? "…they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." This is very plain. Up to this time the government of Israel had been a pure theocracy. God was their King.
Samuel's sons had been judging corruptly, and that is the reason the elders gave. God's answer looks past it.
There we find the turned-away heart of Israel. It had been drifting from the Lord ever since He brought them out of Egypt. Now it sought still greater distance from Him, and wanted a king instead of Him. The bad government of Samuel's sons at this time was their excuse, but it was only an excuse. There is no doubt that they did act corruptly... But the Lord discloses the real source of this desire for a king.
What they wanted underneath the request was room to move.
The sin was not in the idea of a king. It was in the motive.
So the thought of a king was not from man, but from God. Yet the desire for one like the nations was rebellion against God on man's part. The king God planned would be a rich blessing from Him. He purposed to give them a king before their wicked heart wanted one to get rid of Him. In man it was an evil that God must judge. In God it was grace to purpose it, and He will surely carry it out as well. Both are true; but man's mind often sets one against the other, instead of believing both.
The same sentence that names Israel's sin also lifts the weight off Samuel's shoulders.
What precious encouragement God gave His servant! It came at the very moment when Samuel was going through a discipline, and the elders of Israel had become the instruments of it. Nothing could comfort his heart more than this assurance: he was, after all, on the Lord's side. And now that the people had rejected the Lord, Samuel too had to be rejected. Is it not an honour to share the shame that the world throws on our Lord when it spurns Him?
The principle reaches past Samuel to anyone carrying God's message.
To reject a servant who is really sent out by the Lord, and who is doing His will, and is standing for Him, is to reject the Lord Himself... Blessed is that servant who, through grace, is so hidden behind his Lord that he is lost in the Lord's objects and interests, and thinks only of HIS honour and HIS claims.
God tells Samuel to listen to them. That permission is not approval.
God, however, tells Samuel to listen to their voice. They were completely set on having a king, whatever God might say about it, so He let them have their way. It was as with the quails in the wilderness: "He gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them" (Ps. 106:15; 78:29). "As sometimes He crosses us in love, so at other times He gratifies us in wrath," Matthew Henry remarks.
Samuel's experience was a small copy of something far larger.
Samuel must expect the same treatment from the nation as God Himself had received. Whoever stands with God must feel what the psalmist felt: "The reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me." Man's hatred of God has never appeared more fully than in the cross of our blessed Lord Jesus.
- Rejection. The elders blamed Samuel's sons. But the refusal went to the top: they were pushing God off His throne as King.
- Reason. They wanted to be "like the nations." God's rule felt restrictive. National pride looked better.
- Relief. The same word that exposed Israel set Samuel free. The insult was not his to carry. To be rejected alongside a rejected God is an honour.
- Request granted. God said yes, and the yes was the judgment — He crosses us in love, and sometimes gratifies us in wrath.
- Repeated. What Israel did to God here reached its full height at the cross. Yet man's sin never cancelled God's own purpose of a king.
According to all the deeds that they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
God tells Samuel that the demand for a king was not a new failure but the latest form of an old one, going back to the day He brought Israel out of Egypt. So what had Israel been rejecting all those years, and why did God let them have their king?
Before Israel had a king, God Himself ruled the nation. He also gave the people a way to stay in touch with Him.
God Himself was their king, just as God Himself points out to Samuel (1 Sam. 8:7-8; 12:12). The priest was the point of contact, the bond between the people and God. And God raised up judges whenever the people needed them.
The words "from the day I brought them up out of Egypt" put this demand at the end of a long line. God is not judging one bad day. He is reading a record.
The Lord shows here that the demand for a king was only the climax of centuries of discontent with the position in which His grace had set them. It seems they faced the threat of an Ammonite invasion at the time (1 Sam. 12:12). They forgot the lesson of Ebenezer altogether (1 Sam. 7:12), and they turn, not to God, but to human strength. We see something similar in Judges 11. There too the Ammonites were attacking them. In their distress they turned to Jephthah for help. When will people — when will we — learn to turn to God alone in the difficulties and dangers of life?
The verse ties the demand for a king to "serving other gods." One motive lies under both.
No doubt they felt that the restraints of God's holy law were irritating. They had already gone after the gods of the nations, because that worship allowed them licence. So now they want a king "like the nations," to give them "larger freedom," as they thought. Not freedom for the practice of holiness, but freedom to feed their national vanity and political glory — "a place in the sun," as we would say today.
Being unlike everyone else was not Israel's embarrassment. It was the very thing that marked them out.
"Like all the nations" (verse 5) were truly painful words from the lips of the Lord's chosen people. It was their glory, if only they could have appreciated it, that they were not like the nations. Remember what Balaam said about them in the first of his four parables. He said, "Behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations" (Num. 23:9). The people of God have always found it hard to keep the position of separation to God.
God's words "so they are also doing to you" put Samuel on His own side of the line.
This was a precious encouragement from God to His servant. It came at the very moment when Samuel was going through a discipline, and the elders of Israel had become its instruments. Nothing could comfort his heart more than this assurance: he was, after all, on the Lord's side. And now that the Lord had been rejected, Samuel had to be rejected too. Is it not an honour to share the shame that the world throws on our Lord when it spurns Him?... Even while He is disciplining him, God identifies Samuel with Himself. The people, meanwhile, looked like they were judging evil, but they were identifying themselves with the nations.
Israel's demand was sin. Yet a king was God's own thought, and commentators hold both facts together.
The thought of a king was not from man, but from God; yet the desire for one like the nations was rebellion against God on man's part... It was an evil in man to be judged; it was grace in God to plan it, and He will surely carry it out. Both are true; but man's mind often sets one against the other, instead of believing both... Samuel feels it deeply, not because it was against himself so much as against God... "And Samuel prayed." Oh that we might follow the pattern of so true a servant! When things displease us, may we pray, and not fret or fume or scold!
- Rejected King. God Himself ruled Israel. The priest was the link, and judges came when needed. Asking for a king meant refusing that rule.
- Rejected Repeatedly. This was not one bad day. It was the peak of centuries of discontent, the same instinct that made them serve other gods after Egypt.
- Rejected Restraint. Under the stated reasons lay a wish to be free of God's holy law and to gain the standing other nations had.
- Rejected Together. God tells Samuel the rejection is His, not Samuel's. He ties His servant to Himself in the moment of discipline.
- Rejected, Yet Overruled. A king was always God's own plan. He judges man's evil, and His plan still stands. Samuel's answer to it all was prayer, not complaint.
And now hearken unto their voice; only, testify solemnly unto them, and declare unto them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
God tells Samuel to give the people the king they are demanding. But the permission carries a condition. Samuel must first warn them what such a king will cost them.
God's yes here is not approval. One writer asks why God commanded it at all, and finds the answer in the state of Israel's heart.
The Lord commanded Samuel to listen to the voice of the people, and make them a king. Was it that He approved of the plan? Most surely not; on the contrary, He declares plainly that it was a positive rejection of Himself. Why then command Samuel to appoint a king? He gave the command because of Israel's condition. They were growing tired of depending entirely on an unseen arm, and they longed for an arm of flesh.
Some prayers God answers as an act of judgment. Here He orders a warning first, so that no one can later plead ignorance.
Some prayers have to be granted, but in judgment. So it is with this prayer for a king. Yet God takes care to make even self-deception nearly impossible. They are to have testimony from the Lord Himself about what everything around them showed plainly as well — the manner of this king that they desired. He instructs Samuel to declare all this to them, so that they decide in the plainest light that can be given.
God had answered a demand like this once before, in the wilderness.
Samuel, however, is told to listen to their voice. Their minds were made up: they would have a king, whatever God might say about it. So He let them have their way. It was as with the quails in the wilderness: "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" (Psalm 106:15).
The writer quotes an older translation of Psalm 106:15 here. The ESV reads, "he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them."
So Samuel spells out what this king will do once he holds power.
In answer to the people's demand for a king, Samuel gave them the Lord's message. It sets out in vivid terms what man in power is. The words "he will take" come back six times, with a dull monotony. The king would need their sons for the army. Their daughters must become his cooks. He would demand the produce of their fields and their flocks for his own support, and so on. It could hardly be otherwise. How else could the kingdom keep its dignity and majesty? In Israel's most prosperous days this became unbearable.
The people's rejection gave Samuel the new work this verse assigns him. Its lesson reaches past Israel.
Samuel's rejection qualifies him for a new office: he gives a very clear testimony to what would happen to the people. The king that man's heart wanted would make them his instruments to carry out his plans. That yoke would be unbearable, yet they would not be able to shake it off. The world treats Christians the same way. It entirely disowns those who seek its help. It gives them nothing in exchange except a sense of their own wretchedness, with no compensation at all. The world does not grant its help unless one agrees to serve it.
Was a king wrong in itself? One writer answers by holding two facts together.
The thought of a king was not from man, but from God; yet the desire for one like the nations was rebellion against God on man's part. The king God purposed would be a rich blessing from Him. He purposed to give them a king before their wicked heart wanted one as a way to get rid of Him. It was an evil in man to be judged; it was grace in God to purpose what He will surely also carry out. Both are true; but man's mind often sets one against the other, instead of believing both.
- Listen — God told Samuel to grant the demand. That answered Israel's condition; it did not approve their plan.
- Warn — God spells out the cost first, leaving almost no room for self-deception.
- Take — one word repeats through the warning. Their king would take their sons, daughters, fields and flocks.
- Testify — Samuel's rejection became his new commission. The world follows the same pattern: it helps only those who agree to serve it.
- Fulfil — God had always purposed a king. Their sin in demanding one never cancelled the blessing He meant to give.