Michael's Abbey Bible Study - 1 Samuel Chapter 8

1 And it came about when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons judges over Israel. Like the beginning of chapter 7, a great deal of time has passed between chapters. Samuel has grown old, and his sons have been co-judge of Israel in his place long enough for Israel to learn how bad they are as judges. Priesthood was hereditary as only Levites, descendants of Jacob's son Levi, could be priests. However, the position of judge of Israel was not. Nor was it a human appointment. Devine appointment was the rule. (Appointing under-judges and local judges was something that was done by men. But judge of Israel, the highest judge, was a divine appointment.) Samuel taking it upon himself to establish a hereditary succession to be judge of Israel may have been a big contributor to their failure. God's appointment to be judge goes to the one who will do his will and is able to resist corruption. (One notable exception is Samson. Although Samson's life was full of sin and self indulgence and led to his downfall, in the end God used Samson's sinful life to bring him to a place where he could end the Philistine rulers and elite. Thus, God's will was done in the end.) The problems of hereditary succession here foreshadow what will happen under the future kings.
2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in Beersheba. Both of Samuel's sons were given names that contain a short version of Yahweh. Joel is Yo'el meaning Yahu is God. And Abijah is Aviyyah meaning My father is Yah.
The choice of Beer-sheba is strange as it is on the southern edge of Israel's territory. On the one hand it was connected to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Abraham put a well there, or near there. On the other hand, in the 8th century B.C. the prophet Amos would denounce it as one of the places Israelites should not go to worship because of the cultic practices there.
3 His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice. While Samuel was incorruptible when he was performing the duties of judge of Israel, his sons were not. Samuel led by example, but his sons turned aside from his example. It is likely that the problem was they were wrongly appointed to be judge of Israel, the highest judge in the land. There was no check on the judge of Israel other than Yahweh.
Deuteronomy 16:18-20 "You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you."
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; While his sons moved the place of the judge of Israel to Beer-sheba, Samuel remained in Ramah, and remained prophet of Yahweh.
In the judge system of government, the elders functioned like representatives of a republic, except their election was an informal acceptance of their leadership and wisdom rather than a formal election. While the law of Moses was the law of the land, obedience was mainly enforced when there was conflict between Israelites. Even service in the militia was voluntary, although it was a point of honor and there was considerable societal pressure to respond to the call. There were no taxes other than sacrifices and tithes. And these were not monitored for compliance. Thus, they had considerable freedom with a minimum of compulsory responsibility. It seems strange they would give this up, even with the excuse of the relatively minor injustices of the current judges of Israel. But throughout history and especially today people react to minor injustice in an imperfect but well functioning system by demanding a change to a horrifically worse system that guarantees systemic injustices.
5 and they said to him, "Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." The elders cite Samuel's age and the injustice of his sons in their position as judge of Israel as justification for their demand for a king. But this was likely an excuse, and the real reason was the one slipped in at the end, to be like the other nations. They were acquainted with what being under a king meant. And as injustice under a king is even worse, they were either extremely naive, or their desire to be like the pagan nations trumped all reason.
It is possible that they saw a need for a separation between church and state. While no state can stand for long led by immoral people thus requiring that devout people be put in positions of authority, a theocracy only works if God is the true head. Corrupt men who usurp God's authority are worse than a king as their false service to God leaves no check on their abuse. Whereas a king can be shamed for being dishonorable, and the clergy can call out their bad behavior.
6 But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the Lord. The beginning of this verse is literally "This speech was evil in Samuel's eyes." Since Samuel was devout and served God to the best of his ability, he no doubt knew Deuteronomy 17:14-20 which expressly states that once in the promised land they may choose one of their own to be king, and sets limitations on what the king may do. Thus, it seems very unlikely that Samuel's objection was about what they asked for. Also, it is unlikely that his reaction had much to do with his sons. He did nothing to defend them, and he would have been more likely to be among those who condemned them. Although their reason for wanting it was objectionable, that doesn't seem to be the reason for Samuel's reaction to the request.
Regardless of the reason, Samuel rightly turned to God in prayer.
7 The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. God's design for Israel was for God to be their king Himself just as he has been king of everything that exists, with an earthly representative in the form of the judge of Israel. While they were allowed to have a king, it was not God's will. God responds to Samuel's prayer with direct communication. (This is uncommon.) God's response to to tell Samuel that it is not him being rejected by the people, it is God. However, Samuel had passed on the office of judge of Israel to his sons and his office of prophet was not in jeopardy, making it unlikely Samuel was taking this as a personal rejection on his own behalf. Therefore, there are two possible explanations. The first is that Samuel was identifying with his sons who were being rejected. But he did not defend them in any way, making this unlikely. The second and more probable reason was that Samuel identified with God and was offended on God's behalf, which is understandable as the highest prophet of God. Samuel's taking this personally would therefore be an over-identification that God corrected.
It is even more common today for someone to be inappropriately offended on someone else's behalf. Doing so out of ignorance results in some spectacularly idiotic behavior. A perfect example are the videos of white protestors screaming at black police officers that they are racist against black people because they are cops. This is why studying scripture is so relevant today. Humanity keeps making the same mistakes, and scripture has the solutions.
8 "Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day - in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods - so they are doing to you also. Here God is making the point to Samuel that his feeling that the Israelites are turning away from him is nothing compared to the repeated and blatant turning away from Yahweh over the centuries. In essence, God is putting Samuel's experience into perspective. God says a similar thing to us on forgiveness. The mountain of what God has forgiven us is so much greater than the molehill of things we need to forgive any other person for.
The history of Israel is documentation of the extreme patience of Yahweh. Over and over, the Israelites turned away from Yahweh to the fake deity or deities that were the local fad. This is despite the incredible miracles of Yahweh they had seen with their own eyes, and the horrific worship practices done for these idols that would make a normal person vomit. Yet every time they turn away God was patient. Eventually things would get so bad He would withdraw His protection and they would get pummeled by one enemy or another for years until they turned back. And God would save them yet again. Century after century, this was repeated until the Babylonian captivity. They never again worshipped physical idols after that. (Although they, like everyone else, still make idols of things and worship them instead of God.)
9 "Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them." Literally, this is "hear their voices". Voice is plural in the Hebrew text. Procedure, mishpat in Hebrew, might be clearer if translated as customs or ways.
Thus, Yahweh is telling Samuel to listen carefully and respectfully to all the people. Once they know they have been heard they will be willing to listen. Then clearly spell out and warn them of the customs and ways of a king. This is like a parent warning their child of inevitable consequences they should and do already know, but the child is ignoring those because it wants what it wants. The Israelites will only have themselves to blame for what will definitely happen to them under a king. So the freedom they experienced being judged will be exchanged for being ruled over by the king.
10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked of him a king. So Samuel did as God told him to do. It seems clear that Samuel knew this was a mistake, and he wanted to prevent it. But the people were stubbornly demanding what was bad for them, and wouldn't accept anything else.
11 He said, "This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. Here mishpat is definitely better translated as ways or customs than procedure. This is not a discourse on the rules of a king. It is a warning of how kings behave when they rule over people. The first warning is that kings conscript, that is involuntarily take, young men to serve in the king's military.
12 "He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. There is a warning here that may escape modern people who grew up with a voluntary military with professional standards for promotion and leadership positions. Up to now, the Israeli military has been a militia. That is, when the call goes out for defense, men who have other occupations answer the call and go out to fight. In Israel of this time positions of leadership were mainly informal. Men followed those who were skilled in battle and had the ability to lead others because it was in their best interest. A king appoints who he wants for his own reasons. Thus, he could put someone in charge of soldiers who would be a disaster in battle for reasons like politics or personal reward.
In addition to military conscription, the king will put some to work growing crops, making weapons, as well as making and maintaining equipment. Again, who is taken and what position they are put in may have nothing to do with ability, experience, or fairness. The king can and will do things arbitrarily or not. It's his choice. And his subjects have no say in it.
13 "He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. Daughters will also be conscripted for duty to the king. These were common duties a woman might be assigned by a leader, especially a king. Perfumer is one who mixes oil with various spices and herbs to give the oil a pleasant aromas and to make ointments. This is a skilled position as much as cook or baker. While some commentators assert that this is a euphemism for concubines, there is no evidence to support this.
14 "He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. The next warning is about confiscation of property without compensation. This will not just be for the king's own use. A king will also confiscate property in order to give it to his servants. Servant in this context means his officials and courtiers, not menial servants. In essence, a king will take property and give it to others as a reward and to ensure loyalty.
15 "He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. In addition to taking property, the king will take a tenth of his people's produce. Again, this will not just be for the king himself, but also for his officers and servants.
16 "He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. The king will confiscate the servants of his subjects for himself. He will take the best of the sources of labor for his own work. In other words, the kings subjects will be left with what the king doesn't want.
17 "He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Verse 15 dealt with taking a tenth of the produce. Here this practice will include a tenth of livestock. Most dire of the warnings concerns the elite of Israel who were the ones clamoring for a king. While they think they will be part of the ruling class, God and Samuel are warning that a king can choose anyone he wishes to be his servant, even them. Worse, the word for servant here, avadim in Hebrew, can also mean slave.
18 "Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day." In the time of judges, when Israel would turn away from Yahweh and He would withdraw His protection, the enemies of Israel would be able to oppress the people. And when they would turn back to Yahweh and cry out to Him, He would rescue them again and again.
Now the king they were demanding will be their oppressor. And then they will cry out to Yahweh. But God will not listen to their cries. He is warning them here that this is a bad idea they will regret, and there will be no salvation from this decision.
19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, The people wouldn't listen to what God had to say through Samuel. Essentially, they said "We want what we want. Give it to us."
20 that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." Again, they state their reason is to "keep up with the Joneses." Following other people without discernment or reason never ends well. The argument that the king will judge us was silly as they were already judged.
The last reason makes it abundantly clear that they were not listening to the warning at all. The king will not fight their battles for them. The king will conscript them to fight his battles. In other words, they had a twisted and false idea that the king would fight the battles, when in reality they will be fighting, and will have no choice in the matter. Worse, the king will start or cause conflicts that they will be forced to fight in.
21 Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the Lord's hearing. Samuel listened as he was instructed to do by God. God didn't need Samuel to tell Him what was said. God knew. However, God understands we need to talk to Him. After all, He made us. And God works through His creation.
22 The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice and appoint them a king." So Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Go every man to his city." So God said to listen to the people. This is not a literal listen to, but it is in a figurative sense of giving assent and doing as requested. So Samuel tells them to go home. Implied is that he told them a king will be appointed. And the nation knew this was coming, if not when it would happen or who it would be.
It is interesting that while Deuteronomy allows for them to appoint a king themselves as long as he is an Israelite and not a foreigner, they turn to God and his prophet to appoint one for them. Since this is not God's will for them to have a king, it is like they are trying to dress up a wrong choice in religious clothing. That is something we do today when we engage in behavior that scripture says we are not to do. For example, relabeling gossip as "sharing" or "asking for prayer" for someone else.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation.

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