1 Samuel 8

1 Samuel 8

As Samuel grew older, he trusted his sons to be the next set of judges in the land of Israel. Sadly, they did not follow after God as Samuel had done. They let worldly gain satisfy them and rejected God’s ways. The people of Israel took notice and told Samuel what was going on, as if he did not know. I think Samuel knew how his sons were acting, and although the text says nothing about how he might have responded to them, I figure he was upset with them. Plus, he was still a judge as well because 1 Samuel 7 said that he judged Israel up until his death. Whatever the case was, Israel did have a right to say that two of their judges were not following after God. However, they themselves did not follow after God. How many times had they been punished for breaking His commands?


The problem in 1 Samuel 8 is that Israel was judging Samuel’s sons for something that they themselves were doing. It is true that Samuel’s sons were not following after God, but neither were they. They wanted a king, so that they could be just like the rest of the nations when God had positioned Himself as the King of Israel, making them different from the other nations. They were His chosen people and were never meant to be like the nations around them. Instead, they were to be examples to the nations, so that the nations could come to know God. By asking for a king and asking to be like the nations they were rejecting God, rejecting His call, and rejecting their special task.

God assured Samuel that the people were not rejecting his leadership of the nation, for God knew who they were really rejecting. Since Israel asked for a king, God decided that He would give one to them but with consequences. He knew that a king in the nation of Israel was not the best option for them (He was their best option). So He wanted to warn Israel before He allowed them to have a king of their own. Samuel told the people what their king would be like. He warned them of how they would lose their lands, their children, and the best of their crops. Their lands would be owned by the king and his servants, a tenth of their crops would be given to the king and his servants, and their children would man his armies and work in his kingdom. They would no longer enjoy the freedoms that they were accustomed to, and they would suffer under his rule. In essence, he would be a king just like those of the other nations.

Furthermore, Samuel assured them that they would not enjoy living under his rule, and in the end, they would cry out to God for help. However, God would not be there to help them. Since they had requested to have a king like the nations, He would leave them alone in their choices. Despite these warnings, the people of Israel were very persistent and continued to ask for a king. God finally agreed and instructed Samuel to allow them to find a king for themselves.

God has always had a plan. He had a plan for His people in the Old Testament, He had a plan for the New Testament Church, and He has a plan for us today. The problem is that in our sinful nature, we do not always choose to follow His plan. Thinking we could do things better, we reject God’s plan for our lives. We may not know what it is God wants us to do with our lives or in our current stages of life, but we can be assured that God has a plan. Therefore we must stay in His word, be active in prayer, and stay connected to our fellow brothers and sisters so that we can discover what it is God has planned for us. We may not receive the same type of instructions as some of the men and women of the Bible did. We may not hear God’s voice audibly, but we can know His will for our life. At the same time, there are times when we do know what God wants to do in our lives, and we reject Him in fear. Just as we must stay close to God so that we can discover His will for our lives, we must also not reject Him when He makes those plans clear to us. We must never reject God’s position in our life. He should be the head of our lives, the One we go to for help, guidance, and advice no matter the situation.

Matt