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Samuel prayed to the Lord. And 
the Lord said to Samuel, keep the voice of the people in all 
that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they 
have rejected me, that I should not reign over them, according 
to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought 
them up out of Egypt, even to this day, with which they have 
forsaken me and served other gods. So they are doing to you 
also. Now therefore keep their solemnly forewarn them and show 
them the behavior of the king who will reign over them." So 
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked 
him for a king. And he said, this will be the 
behavior of the king who will reign over you. He will take 
your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and be his horsemen, 
and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains 
over his thousands and captains over his fifties. will set some 
to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his 
weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take 
your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers, and he will 
take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive 
groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth 
of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and 
servants. He will take your male servants, 
your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, 
and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your 
sheep, and you will be his servants, and you will cry out in that 
day because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, 
and the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless, the 
people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, 
but we will have 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. Samuel heard all the words of 
the people and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So 
the Lord said to Samuel, heed their voice and make them a king. 
And Samuel said to the men of Israel, every man go to his city. Amen. So when we go through this 
particular chapter, we'll notice that the monarchy or kingship 
is not evil in and of itself. We'll see that clearly in the 
book of Deuteronomy, but it's the desire and the motivation 
for the monarchy that is condemned here by God very specifically. And the chapter breaks down into 
four sections. We'll look first at the state 
of Samuel and his sons in verses 1 to 6. Secondly, the Lord's 
response to Samuel in 7 to 9. The description of the monarchy 
in verses 10 to 18. And then finally, the people's 
demand for a king in verses 19 to 22. So initially, the elders 
ask for a king. By the time we get to the end 
of the chapter, the entirety of the people are demanding a 
king from Samuel. They want a man to lead them 
rather than the sovereign God of heaven and earth, even after 
they're told what manner of king he will be. So let's look first 
at the state of Samuel and his son, verses 1 to 6. First of 
all, there is a period of time that has lapsed between chapters 
seven and eight. Remember chapter seven, Israel 
responded favorably. They were broken, they were actually 
lamenting after the Lord. Notice in chapter seven, at verse 
two, the ark had been returned, it was in Kirjath-Jerim a long 
time, it was there 20 years, and according to 7-2, all the 
house of Israel lamented after the Lord, their foreign gods, 
their veils, out to Samuel and Samuel speaks 
to all the house of Israel and essentially tells them you need 
to repent you need to humble yourself under the mighty hand 
of God and in his time he will lift you up and so they actually 
do according to verse 4 it says so the children of Israel put 
away the bales and the ashtrays and serve the Lord as the Philistines away. The 
children of Israel give pursuit. Cities that the Philistines had 
formerly taken have been given back. And so things were good. 
There was a summary statement in chapter 7 at verses 15 to 
17. It says Samuel judged Israel 
all the days of his life. He went from year to year on 
a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah and judged Israel 
in all those places. He always returned to Ramah, 
for his home was there. There he judged Israel, and there 
he built an altar to the Lord. We come to the end of the life 
of Samuel, so there is a distance, a period of time between chapters 
7 and 8. But the location of chapters 
7 and 8 should suggest to us that the people of Israel did 
not have a good memory. They did not reflect on that 
Ebenezer. they would not now be crying 
out for a human king rather than having the king that was over 
them, even God the Lord. So it came to pass that Samuel 
was old and he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the judgeship 
was not hereditary in nature. That's something unique to the 
kingship. When a king dies, then his son rises up and takes the 
throne. Remember the judge Gideon. They 
wanted to take his sons and make them judges after the death of 
Gideon. And Gideon said, no, don't do 
that. The judges were appointed by God. Eli's sons were not judges. They served as priests in the 
house of the Lord in Shiloh. But what we have here could be 
something of a foreshadowing of the monarchy. It could be 
a breach in protocol by Samuel. The text really doesn't tell 
us. It only simply says that he made his sons judges over 
Israel. That didn't happen in any of 
the other judges. It was God who installed the 
judge. It was God who made the judge. 
It was God who called them into service. Now notice the similarity 
between Samuel and Eli. So verse 2 tells us the name 
of his firstborn was Joel, this is not the prophet Joel, and 
the name of his second was Abijah, they were judges in Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in 
his ways, they turned aside after dishonest gain, they took bribes 
and perverted justice. The young men in Israel at this 
particular time were certainly not model Israelites, they were 
certainly not faithful men. Remember Eli's sons did not know 
the Lord, they perverted sacrifice, at the house of God. They also 
lay with the women and assembled there at the house of God. So 
it seems that Samuel's sons are in the running for bad sons of 
the year, and they certainly fit, or they're certainly in 
competition here. Samuel, but one does wonder what 
Samuel learned by watching Eli raise his sons in such a way 
that they ended up miserable apostates. Samuel, in the final analysis, 
his sons didn't turn out any better, tells us. They did not 
walk in his ways. Again, we need the grace of God. 
We can model Christ to our children, we can preach to our children, 
but we always need to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit. 
magic. Conversion doesn't come because 
we're earnest. Conversion doesn't come because 
we're nice or we're splendid people. Conversion comes as an 
act of the sovereign God most high. So Samuel was a faithful 
man. Samuel was a godly man. But that 
does not necessarily ensure that your children will be faithful 
and your children will be godly. Perhaps this is one of the biggest 
challenges for parents is to rear their children in the fear 
and the admonition of the Lord. But we need to do so prayerfully, 
and we need to understand that God is sovereign over all things. And in this, we greatly rejoice. We have the God who is represented 
to us in that story concerning the prodigal son. In that particular 
instance, in Luke 15, who does the father of the prodigal represent? You're right if you answer God. raised this particular prodigal, 
nevertheless he rises up, leaves his father's home, goes out and 
wastes his money, squanders it, and then ultimately comes back. 
And initially he doesn't come back because he's converted. 
He doesn't come back because he's had a change of heart. No, 
he's sitting there looking at what these pigs are eating, and 
he says, I'll cast myself on the mercy of my father. Not for 
conversion. He just doesn't want to eat pig 
food anymore. He just wants to be brought in 
as a hired servant. Conversion doesn't happen until 
the father falls on him, and the father takes that righteous 
robe and lays it upon him. It is God the Lord who saves 
sinners, and in this we ought to greatly rejoice. If our children 
have breath in their lungs, then God in his grace and mercy is 
able to save them. So Samuel's sons turned aside 
after dishonest gain, they took bribes, and they perverted justice. precisely what you don't want 
in judges. The exact opposite of the sorts 
of traits that you want in men that are leading in a particular 
nation. These men are the very opposite 
and contrary to what they should have been. And it's based on 
this that the elders then come. Notice in verse And all the elders 
of Israel came together and came to Samuel at Ramah. Remember, 
this is where Ramah, or Ramah was where Samuel lived. That's 
where he made his home. And they said to him, look, you 
are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. You can see 
their logic. You can see their rationale. 
They're thinking humanistically, however, or atheistically. They're 
not thinking concerning the fact that they live in a nation governed 
by a sovereign God. That God, most high, has sustained 
them from the This is the case. I brought them 
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and 
they continually forsake me. They continually seek after other 
gods. So they're operating as if the 
sovereign God of heaven and earth doesn't exist. So they say to 
him, look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. 
We know that you're about to die, and we certainly don't want 
your judges to have the reigns over the entirety of Israel, 
so the request Now you may turn to Deuteronomy 
17 for a moment. I just want us to appreciate 
that monarchy in and of itself is not wicked. That means kingdom 
or kingship. The monarchy in and of itself 
is not wicked. In Israel's history, God legislated 
or God gave laws specifically to govern the presiding king. Notice in Deuteronomy 17, 14, 
when you come to the land which the Lord your God has given you 
and possess it and dwell in it and say, I will set a king over 
me like all the nations that are around me. So God sees that 
this is an eventuality. God knows that this is going 
to happen. Of course God knows, he knows all things. He's determined 
the end from the beginning and he's ordained all the means to 
pursue that particular end. Nevertheless, what he does here 
is he stipulates or he specifies over them so that they are like 
all the nations that are around me. So that's where there is 
some similarity. They're gonna have a king like 
all the nations around them, but God then decrees or God then 
stipulates that the king that governs over Israel will not 
be like all the kings that govern the nations around Israel. On 
the one hand, he will be a king like those other nations, But 
on the other hand, he will not be a king like those other nations. Now, unfortunately, when the 
monarchy comes into play, they function just like the Canaanites 
all around them. But notice what God says concerning 
the king that was to govern in Israel. Ironically, David says, 
the rest of Deuteronomy 17 makes sure that Israel will not have 
a king like all the nations. For he must be a man of God's 
choosing, 15a, a brother Israelite, not a foreigner, 15b, without 
the customary royal perks. Notice what the king is to avoid, 
weapons, women, and wealth. Now he's going to have a certain 
amount of weapons because he has to protect the people from 
foreign enemies and from domestic dispute. He's certainly going 
to have some wealth because he is a king. And he's going to 
have a woman. hopefully just one. The idea 
is that he's not to multiply weapons, women, or wealth, because 
this inevitably leads to apostasy. If a king has too many weapons, 
he gets too proud. If a king has too much wealth, 
then he starts to live in a manner that is inconsistent with the 
word of God. is far away from the true and 
living God. Solomon serves as a case study 
in that particular situation. Solomon was led astray by his 
wives. He goes on to say, or what Davis 
says, without the customary royal purse, military machine, multiple 
wives, and massive wealth, and subservient to the rule of God's 
law, verses 18 to 20. So you see, on the one hand, 
he will be a king like all the other nations around Israel had, 
but on the other hand, he won't be a king like any of those nations 
because he is to submit to Yahweh. He is to fear the Lord. In fact, 
the first order of business when the king is in Saul is that he 
takes out his own pen, he takes out his own paper, and he copies 
for himself the law of God. There is help in doing this. 
There is help in writing out the word of God or the law of 
God. supposed to do. Now certainly 
the kings in Israel did not follow that law, they certainly did 
not obey this particular injunction, and as a result they took the 
nation into idolatry and wickedness and godlessness. So monarchy 
is not bad. Davis says the fault in 1 Samuel 
8 was not in the fact of the request, but in the motive for 
the request. It was not the request itself, 
but what was behind the request that tainted it. Now God tells 
Samuel very clearly what the problem is. Notice when Samuel 
is displeased in verse six. The thing displeased Samuel when 
they said, give us a king to judge us. Literally these things 
or this matter was evil in Samuel's eyes. So Samuel prays for the 
Lord and the Lord says, Heed the voice of the people in all 
that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they 
have rejected me." Well, monarchy is not bad. It was to come through 
the appointment of God. It was not to come through people 
that were simply looking for protection or people that were 
simply looking for a man that was not older, judges that were 
not corrupt. Though there was a time lapse 
between the events of chapter 7 and 8, because of their close 
proximity, we ought not to forget the great victory that God did 
bring for his people in chapter 7. Not only did they say that 
Samuel was old, not only did they say that the sons were wicked, 
but they were seeking military aid. This was one of the ultimate 
factors that played into this. Look at 820. In 820 they say, 
so 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. And then in 1 Samuel 12, which 
in many respects is commentary on this situation. 1 Samuel 12.12, 
and when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites came against 
you, you said to me, You see, monarchy's not bad, 
but we want an earthly king to fight our battles. In light of 
what's happened in Chapter 7, you ought to see that their motive 
is wicked, their motive is evil. They forgot the reality, they 
neglected that Ebenezer that had been erected, and now they 
are turning to some earthly means to try and get vindication, to 
try and get protection and stability. The issue is not monarchy, but 
the motive for monarchy that is condemned in this particular 
chapter. Gil says they entirely rejected 
the sole and peculiar government of God over them. See, God defines 
for us in verse 7 what is going on. They have rejected me. essentially said, we do not want 
you, we want this king to reign over us. Sounds just like the 
mob at the time when the Lord Jesus was going to be crucified. We don't want this man, give 
us Barabbas. They even cry out, these are 
Jews, these are Israelites that say, we have no king but Caesar. They're ready to produce fidelity 
or bow to Caesar that has gone a-whoring from 
the living and true God. And chapter 8 manifests that 
and magnifies that. Davis, again, concerning this 
situation. He says, in the current emergency, 
there was no crying out to Yahweh for deliverance, but a demand 
for a king. You see, in chapter 7, what do 
they do? They lament after the Lord. So they cry out to God. They pray. They humble themselves. They pour out that water. So here, we've still got this 
problem with these pesky Philistines. We want a king so that he'll 
deliver us. We want a king so that he'll go into battle with 
us. So he says, in the current emergency, there was no crying 
out to Yahweh for deliverance, but a demand for a king, a clear, 
if subtle, substitution. Their help now was not in the 
strong name of God, but in a new form of government. It is not 
monarchy, but trust in monarchy. that is the villain. You see, 
this is, in many respects, like Chapter 4. We have a contrast 
between 7 and 8. We have a parallel with Chapter 
4. Remember when they had the problem 
with the Philistines in Chapter 4? What was their decision? Let's 
get the Ark of the Covenant and roll it out there. Not because 
we fear God, we honor God, we want to worship God. We want 
the Ark of the Covenant to breathe fear Yahweh. They sought to use the 
Ark of the Covenant as if it was a rolling magic implement. Well, the same thing is here. 
Here they're forsaking Yahweh, seeking an earthly king, simply 
so that they can have deliverance from their Philistine brethren, that we put what we 
want, or what we desire, or what we need, and we pursue that to 
the exclusion of God, we have forgotten the fundamental kingdom 
principle of Matthew 6.33. Seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, and these things will be added to you. 
We are not to pursue these things to the neglect of God. Israel is failing in this very 
instance. They want a king like the nations. So we have a parallel with Chapter 
4. Just like they trot the Ark of 
the Covenant out to deal with the enemy invasion, so here. We don't need Yahweh. We want 
an earthly king that will deal with our enemies so that we can 
render them ineffective. Now, I submit that it's easy 
to see this in Chapter 8. I hope you see it. I hope you 
see how easy it is to view chapter 4, when they bring the Ark of 
the Covenant out, thinking that its presence alone is going to 
save them. We see 4, we see 8, but we don't 
always see it in our own lives. We don't always see the attempt 
to manipulate God. We don't always see the way that 
we approach religion as if it's magic, but we don't always see 
the fact that and New Covenant. If you have 
trouble with this, then may I suggest that you spend time in Matthew 
Chapter 6. Jesus gives very clear statements 
that we're not to worry, we're not to fret, we're not to be 
anxious, but we are rather to seek first the Kingdom of God. 
He must be first. He must be everything. And in 
this instance, the children of Israel and now seek an earthly king 
to bring deliverance. Chapter 7 is an obvious contrast 
because they're doing the right thing in chapter 7. What's the 
right thing? Humble repentance under the mighty 
hand of God Most High. If you ever wonder, what is God's 
will for my life? Humble repentance before the 
mighty hand of God. If you're ever scratching your 
head and saying, I wonder what the Lord would have me to do? 
Humble repentance is always going to be the answer. God never despises 
those who tremble at his word. He does not despise those who 
are contrite in spirit. The prophet Isaiah, he says, 
to this one will I look, in the context of being the high and 
lofty God who has heaven as his throne and earth as his footstool, 
but to this one will I look, to him who is humble, lowly, 
and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. You 
see, there's something more important in our lives than results. There's 
something more important in our lives than our goals. There's 
something more important than the objectives that we desire 
to obtain. That most important thing is 
to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And 
Israel has despised this. Israel has rejected this. Israel 
has thrown it in the face of the living and true God. The 
request of the elders. Notice in this section finally 
the response of Samuel. Think displeased Samuel when 
they said, give us a king to judge us. Samuel is a godly man. Samuel doesn't want to see Israel 
function this way. Samuel no doubt wants to see 
revival at Mizrahi continue in their bones until the eternal 
state. A godly man doesn't want to see 
people call into or reject the God of absolute goodness. So it displeases Samuel. As I 
said, it was evil in his eyes. So what does Samuel do as a godly 
man? He sees this and he prays for the Lord. That brings us 
to the Lord's response to Samuel in verses seven and nine. The 
Lord said to Samuel, keep the voice of the people in all that 
they say to you. You will learn a lesson in this 
chapter. here in chapter 8. Be very careful 
what you ask for. Another lesson that I think we 
learned here is that it's a great mercy when God doesn't always 
give us what we ask for. It is a wonderful mercy that 
God does not always give us what we ask for. Think about that. And think about the reality that 
these Even after they're told the nature 
of the king, the type of kings they're going to get, they still 
want him. I mean, if you leave 1 Samuel 
8 and you still struggle with total depravity, I can't convince 
you. I really can't. Because it is 
as clear and obvious as a doctrine could possibly be. Notice what 
God says, the Lord said to Samuel, heed the voice of the people 
and all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, 
but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Notice, according to all the 
works which they have done since the day that I brought them up 
out of Egypt, even to this day, with which they have forsaken 
me and served other gods, this particular vision it's not 
anybody I know but sometimes when you're out in the world 
you see I think Rebecca saw some kid shoving its mom one time 
the kid wanted something and the mother said no Johnny or 
Billy or Lucy or whatever name was and the kid was so rebellious 
and shoving this mother like I want what I want sure you've 
all seen kids like that maybe they've been in your own house 
but you see how imagine going over to that parent 
and saying, are you going to let your kid talk to you like 
that? They might actually be surprised and say, what do you 
mean? They always talk to me like that. You say, wait a minute, 
what do you mean they always talk to you like that? That's 
what God's saying to Samuel. They've always behaved like this. They have rejected me from the 
time that I brought them out of the house of bondage until 
this day. If they want a king, they can 
have a king. You see, sometimes when sinners 
cry out for something, God says, go ahead and have it. See if 
it satisfies, see if it brings happiness, and see if it brings 
the victory that you are longing for. You see, just like they 
learned in chapter 7, when they finally lamented after Yahweh, 
they had seen after that period of time that Baal and Asherah 
was not, or were not able, to deliver. a little bit. refrain with these people. It's 
not you Samuel that they've rejected, they've rejected me, that I should 
not reign over them. According to all the works which 
they have done since the day that I brought them up out of 
Egypt, even to this day with which they have forsaken me and 
served other gods, He identifies the specific objects 
of their rejection. It's not you, Samuel. It's me. 
It's God. The problem's a lot bigger than, 
they don't want an old man, or they don't want a wicked boy, 
or wicked sons. They don't want God. They don't 
want the Lord of heaven and earth, who brought them to this place. 
The God who covenanted with their father Abraham to give them this 
land. The God who brought them from 
wickedness and bondage and instructs him again, verse 
nine, now therefore heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly 
forewarn them and show them the behavior of the king who will 
reign over them. Now, this does not simply refer 
to Saul. Of course, David was a good king. You have certain bright lights. After the monarchy divides, initially 
there's one king In 1 Kings chapter 12, however, there is a split, 
there is rebellion. You've got ten northern tribes 
and you've got two southern tribes. In the history of the monarchy, 
there was never a good king in the north. In the history of 
the monarchy, in the south, you had a handful of good men there. So this isn't a statement about 
one specific king, it's a statement about kingship in general, monarchy 
in general. You've heard the saying before, 
it's good to be the king. Well certainly when a sinful 
man becomes the king and he's given that kind of power and 
authority, you must imagine that the potential for abuse is very 
large, right? What he describes here in verses 
10 to 18 isn't one particular king. Samurai says that the section, 
which is procedural discourse, is not a narrative description 
of deeds of the king. In other words, not every king 
is going to do all these things all the time. But just realize 
that kingship or monarchy, because we live in a sinful world, you've 
got kings who are sinful, And the potential for abuse is huge, 
right? You give a man authority, you 
give a man a position, you give a man rule. Now, thankfully, 
not everybody abuses that, but a lot of them have. Just study 
history for a moment. Not just Bible history, but look 
at Kings. Are they the most upright? Godly 
men. When we read 1 Samuel 8, we as well ought to agree You see, whether it's monarchy, 
whether it's democracy, whatever the system of government is, 
you've got this one fundamental problem. You've got sinners involved, 
and if sinners can abuse and distort something, sinners will 
abuse and distort. He says that's a literary genre, 
that means a type of literature, it is more like a manual that 
explains what a king would do normally to conscript military 
and administrative personnel. Make no mistake, the king is 
building his military here, he's going to take it from your family. 
The king is staffing his bureaucracy here, he's going to take it, 
he's going to fund it with your money. That's everything that 
you see that is abusive in our own generation has its roots 
here in 1 Samuel chapter 8. You don't like unjust taxation? Well, this is what God told Israel 
they were going to get. You don't like whatever it is 
that you see as an abuse in government? It's all right here, right before 
our eyes. He says it simply lists the king's 
right according to the rule or regulations in a monarchic society. and show them the manner of the 
king that shall reign over them, or the right or judgment, not 
a legal right or form of government, but an assumed arbitrary and 
despotic power, such as the kings of the East exercised over their 
subjects, a king like whom the Israelites desired to have, namely, 
what unbounded liberties he would take with them, what slaves he 
would make of them, and what of their as is afterward related. Now 
think about it. Israel goes into the land of 
Canaan. Israel is forbidden from entering 
into political alliances with the Canaanites. Israel is forbidden 
from entering into social alliances, vis-a-vis marriage, with the 
Canaanites. And of course, Israel is forbidden 
from bowing to Canaan's gods. Now do they obey any of that? 
Absolutely not. And typically they go out seeking 
after political alliances. That's probably why many of the 
kings in Israel multiplied wives. It wasn't just for pleasure at 
home, but it was rather for political alliances. There's a lot of that 
going on here. As well, when you have the regular 
rank and file, marry other people. What inevitably happens? We make 
political alliances, we make social alliances, and the next 
thing we know we are bowing in religious alliance to their veils 
and ashram. You see, this is why the New 
Covenant stipulates that believers are to marry in the Lord. You 
see, because the idea is that if you enter into a marriage 
as a believer with an unbeliever, with the view to being a missionary 
and recovering this person from their sin or depravity, I'm going 
to win them to the Lord. That's not typically what happens. It's not typically the case that 
you wear white pants and walk through the mud and make the 
mud white. It just doesn't happen that way. 
Not that I think anybody should ever wear white pants. making 
sure no one had white pants on. If you do, more power to you. The idea is that we need to do 
what James says. We need to keep ourself unspotted 
from the world. You enter into politics, you 
enter into marriage, you're going to enter into their worship services. And you're going to say, Baal 
is good. Look at what he does for his 
people. So what we find in this instance 
is that the kings of Israel would go into the land of Canaan and 
guess where they take their cues in terms of political leadership. It certainly wasn't Deuteronomy 
17. They certainly were not writing 
the law of the Lord and keeping it in their shirt pocket and 
pulling it out several times a day and reading it. That's 
not what these kings in Israel were doing. They were watching 
the pagans around them. They were seeing how political 
alliances function. They played the political game. 
And so they started to inflict this kind of kingship upon the 
children of Israel. What should have been a good 
thing because of the perversion and the wickedness of Ben's heart 
turned out to be something that was brutal for the nation of 
Israel. Again, I'm thankful to the Lord Imagine having a bad kink for 
55 years. I mean, 8 years seems like an 
eternity, but 55 with Ahab at the helm? That is just not a 
good proposal. So you see, when Israel cries 
out to the Lord here, they do not know what they are asking. 
Now let's get into this description of the monarchy. Again, not a 
particular kink. You know what the primary verb 
in this whole section is, 10 to 18? Take. Take. Take. Take. Six times. He will take your 
sons. He will take your daughters. 
He will take the best. He will take a tenth. He will 
take your male servants. He will take a tenth of your 
sheep. Now, certainly you would think that if a people heard 
that, they were then given the choice, do you want him? They'd 
say, no way! Why'd they say yes? Indicates 
to me that total depravity and total inability equal total stupidity. Total falling. People would rather 
have this than God. People would rather have Ahab 
than Yahweh. People would rather have Saul, 
which is interesting. They wanted a king to fight their 
battles and to win. Where does Saul die? In battle. Isn't that ironic? Saul ends 
up becoming a menace to the very good king that Yahweh does appoint. Everything these people do is 
wrong. It's backward. It's polluted. 
It's sinful. And I think our author wants 
us to appreciate that. Six times he will take. I've 
categorized this description in four heads. First, the king 
will exploit your families. He does not care about your happiness. He does not care about your security. He does not care about your hearth 
and home. He's going to take your son Verse 11, he said, this will 
be the behavior of the king who will reign over you. He will 
take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be 
his horsemen and some will run before his chariots. Conscription, 
he needs a military entourage. He's not going anywhere without 
protection. It's like all these people that 
say, oh yeah, it's bad for, you know, a private individual to 
have a gun and then march around surrounded by guys unless he's got a secret service 
with their earpieces and their black suits and their guns on 
their sides and they're going to come from here to Canada. 
Your son's not going to be a farmer anymore. He's not going to help 
you grow food. The king needs him and he will be in the king's 
service. But it won't stop there. He won't take our daughters, 
will he? Oh yes he will. you nurtured her when she was 
a little girl, and you taught her how to bake, you taught her 
how to cook, so that she could marry a godly man, or while she 
was in your home, she could make good baked goods. Well, the king 
wants those baked goods. The king wants that food. If 
she's got a talent, she's coming to the king's palace, and she'll 
make perfume there. Your servants, verse 16. Now, 
when we read servants in the Bible, we're not to necessarily 
think of chattel slavery. Such has occurred in America, 
when they went and kidnapped men from a country and brought 
them back and enslaved them. There was a servanthood in the 
Old Testament that was perfectly legitimate and perfectly just. A man didn't have money to pay 
back the debt, he would be an indentured servant. your finest young men and your 
donkeys, and put them to His work. What kind of situation 
is that? You see the folly here? They 
would rather have this than God. It just doesn't make sense, does 
it? Your goods, notice verses 14 
and 15. He will take the best of your 
fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to 
His servants. Isn't that beautiful? You work 
hard. That's my second, or verse 17. 
He will take a tenth, that's a tithe of your sheep, and you 
will be his servants. Now this is not the religious 
tithe stipulated or commanded in the book of Deuteronomy. This 
is taxation, okay? This is he will take from you 
so that he can fund his palace, he can fund his ventures, he 
can fund his political alliances, and he can feed all these fat 
bureaucrats. He will appoint captains over 
his thousands, and captains over his fifties. He will set some 
to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his 
weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. Now, I don't 
doubt that a king needs help, and I don't think that a king 
shouldn't have help. What happens when a man is corrupt? 
He starts to multiply help, because it makes him look that much more 
important. The more people I have under 
me, the more people I have working for me, the more powerful I am. This is bureaucracy. This isn't 
just getting men in there to do a particular job. Notice what 
happens as well. Verses 14 and 15 again. He will 
take the best of your fields, your vineyards, your olive groves, 
and give them to his servants. You're gonna pay for their food. 
You're gonna grow for them. You're gonna make sure they eat. 
Verse 15, he will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage 
and give it to his officers and servants. Again, I'm not advocating 
do not pay your taxes But because Paul tells us to 
do this, that does not give the right and the liberty to governments 
to engage in unjust taxation. That's not good. You're killing 
people. If you don't have the ability 
to feed your family, you don't have the ability anymore to not 
have, you know, the wife at home. Those people have to work just 
to make ends meet. Well, why is that? It's taxation 
because of all this bureaucracy. Notice, thirdly, this is another 
beauty, the king will enslave you through taxation. That these 
people said yes, it's just amazing to me, it baffles the mind. He 
will take a tenth of your sheep, verse 17, and you will be his 
servant. The king is there for the people 
to defend, to rule, to govern, to help, to aid, and in a certain 
sense to leave them alone so that they can grow food, so that 
they can have families, so that they can do those things that 
God has said is a blessing. Blessed be God for King Jesus. And then notice finally, the 
king will cause you to cry out. Verse 18. And you will cry out 
in that day, because of your king, whom you have chosen for 
yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day. John Gill says, and the Lord 
will not hear you in that day, will not regard them, have no 
compassion on them, suffer them to remain under their oppressors, 
and not deliver them out of them, because they rejected him from 
being their king. and put themselves out of his 
protection into the hands of another, and therefore it was 
just to leave them to their own choice. So could you imagine 
anything more miserable being presented to you than verses 
10 to 18? He's going to exploit our families. the man for king. Verse 19, nevertheless, 
the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, 
no, but we will have a king over us. Yeah, if you struggle with 
depravity, go here, please, just, if you ever talk to an Arminian 
or Pelagian, well, I don't know if men are sinful, hey, come 
here. How could they not be sinful when they reject a good If that word is offensive, it's 
in John Gill's commentary. You've seen James use the stupid 
in the Proverbs. I know we tell our little kids, 
don't say stupid, don't call your brother stupid, don't call 
your sister stupid, and that's good. But you know, that doesn't 
remove the fact that there is stupidity in this world, and 
it's driven by depravity and total inability. Nevertheless, 
the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, 
no, but we will have a king over us. Interesting, because in 319, 
there's a summary statement concerning the prophetic ministry of Samuel. 
It says, none of his words fell to the ground. Samuel was a faithful 
prophet. Samuel's sons didn't turn out 
well, but that does not militate against the fact that he was 
a godly prophet, a godly judge in Israel. None of his words 
fell to the ground. That means they were faithful, 
true, and sure. What should these people have 
done? They should have listened to Samuel. They should have obeyed 
Samuel. They should have humbly bowed 
before God. They should not have said, no, 
but we will have 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. Do you see a spiritual picture 
arising here? It's almost as if sinners are 
told, look, there is this gracious, wonderful, merciful God. He forgives 
sin, He provides your righteousness, He sustains you all your days, 
He tells you to be still and to know that He is God. One of 
His commands is that you rejoice always in Him. I mean, come on, 
what kind of a command is that? Isn't that beautiful? We are 
commanded to be happy. On the other hand, you've got 
this king. He's over the realm of hell, and he's about murder, 
and he's about lies, and he's about deceit, and he's about 
wickedness, he's about evil, he's about everything contrary 
to this good master that's an abbot. And nine times out of 
ten, what do sinners do? I want Satan, right? I want this. I want slavery. I want high taxation. I want every bad thing, because 
I will not have this God. and the monarchy and the rule 
that will go on in Israel, but it certainly illustrates for 
us the spiritual reality that we can preach the gospel, we 
can, in 10 to 18, like in 10 to 18, tell all the repercussions 
of sin, here's all the implications of sin, here's all the things 
that sin will bring, and then we get to the end and the people 
say, no, I still want my son. We were all presented 10 to 18. We all heard the ramifications 
and the repercussions of rejecting God, and we all rejected God. But in his grace and in his mercy, 
there was a time and a day and an instance where he gave us 
a new heart so that we would receive the word of truth. Now, 
Israel here should have repented and humbled themselves under 
the mighty hand of God. As I have argued in the past, 
and as I will continue to argue, the Old Testament shows us continually 
people's need for Jesus. Never forget that in the Old 
Testament. Yes, the people should have obeyed 
perfectly. Can anyone obey the law perfectly? 
No. The law, one of its uses in the 
Old Testament was to show the people their sin and to show 
the people their need for a Savior. And certainly 1 Samuel 8 would 
have come up several times along subsequent history to show them 
their sin. Look at what you did here. They 
want a king just to be like the other nations. And then, the 
end of the chapter, verse 21, Samuel heard all the words of 
the people. If he was depressed when the elders came to him, 
if it was evil in the eyes of Samuel when the elders came, 
imagine, after outlining all these things, and then they say, 
no, we want the king. Imagine how Samuel felt then. 
He probably realized at this point, this is a no-win situation. He hears the words of the people 
and repeats them in the hearing of the Lord. So the Lord said 
to Samuel, heed their voice and make them a king. Samuel said 
to the men of Israel, every man go to his city. Well, in conclusion, have covered, 
and we need to re-appreciate or appreciate afresh, this idea 
that Chapter 4 and Chapter 8 brings up, is that we do not use God 
for our ends. We do not manipulate God. We 
do not treat God like He's a holy horseshoe. Simply, He's got what 
we want. And we don't reject God for some 
earthly means, because we think that earthly means will deliver 
the goods. You see, there's a fundamental 
disconnect when the goods are more important Revelation, magic for aping the 
pagans around us, but by faithfulness to our God. Aping in that context 
means to imitate. I love that word. Not just the 
big nasty gorilla looking thing, but aping the pagans. Imitating 
the pagans. We're not going to get military 
victory by aping the pagans so that we can deal with the philistine. 
Just because we have a king doesn't ensure victory. As well, we need 
to understand the rejection No, but what God did in those 
positive laws, or what we might call ceremonial laws, that we serve the living and 
true God. So many of those laws in the 
Holiness Code are what we call the ceremonial laws, which are 
fulfilled in Jesus Christ. By all means, put, you know, 
eat shrimp, that's acceptable. Jesus taught, it's not what goes 
into a man, but it's what comes out of the man that defiles him. 
The problem isn't the shrimp you're putting in your mouth, 
the problem is that cesspool in your chest. Yeah, that's his issue. Okay, 
so what we find in this cry to be like the nations around us 
is a rejection of holiness. We don't want to be different. 
We want to eat bacon with the pagans. We want to marry their 
women. We want to enter into political 
alliance with them. We want to take on Baal and Asherah. We'll keep you too, Yahweh, but 
we want to keep our options open. Now when we jump into the New 
Testament, certainly we don't have those ceremonies stipulating 
that we can't eat this or we mustn't eat that or we can't 
wear mixed fibers. There's a holiness code in the 
New Testament as well. We are to pursue holiness without 
which no one will see the Lord. It ought to be the case that 
in business, we don't rip people off the way the pagans do. It 
ought to be the case that in commerce, we don't try to rip 
off a seller the way the pagans do. It ought to be the case that 
in our homes, we love our children and we bring them up in the training 
and admonition of the Lord. It ought to be the case that 
we work hard. You see a man who excels in his 
work, he shall stand before kings. It ought to be the case in our 
work. We're not the grumblers and the whiners and the complainers. 
We're distinct. 8th Old Covenant is real in being 
like the nations. We must, by the grace of God, 
maintain the holy nation, which is the Church. As well, there 
is the utter folly of refusing God's warning. Now, when God 
tells you something, you need to obey, right? I don't know 
where we ever got this idea that it's okay to say, no, I think 
I You know, it's easy to see it 
in 1 Samuel 8. It's easy to see it in these 
Old Testament books, but it's not so easy to see it when we're 
reading our Bibles and God says, Brethren, it's not just an old 
covenant arrangement where the people of God actually have to 
obey God. It is a new covenant arrangement 
where the people of God actually have to obey God. Let your conduct 
be worthy of the gospel, Paul says. That's the reality of it. And then another interesting 
lesson is that they reject God, so what then does God can't leave the chapters. Well, that's not fair. God refuses 
to help them. They refused him. He offered 
help, assistance, aid to be their God at the front end. They rejected 
that. So should it surprise us that 
at the back end he rejects them? Again, he's teaching Israel something. He is tutoring them in this school. They are failing with reference 
to the law. And finally, the blessing of 
divine monarchy. The blessing of the kingship 
of Christ is that he perfectly executes the office of a king. 
As good as David was. As good as Solomon's reign was. to the kingship of our Lord Jesus. The Westminster Shorter Catechism 
says, how does Christ execute the office of a king? Christ 
executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself. Isn't 
that beautiful? We need to be subdued to him 
because we're these kinds of people. In subduing us to himself, 
in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and Let's pray. Our Father, we thank 
you for your word and we thank you for the clarity here in chapter 
8. I pray that you'd help us to learn the lessons well, that 
we would not seek to manipulate you, Father, that we would not 
seek to replace you with something else that we perceive will work. 
Help us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
and help us as well, Father, to obey the word as it's been 
given to us by the Spirit through the man you ordained. Go with 
us now, watch over us again, bless our brothers and sisters 
in our church that are not feeling well, may you give them great 
grace and we pray these things