I) After Moses brought the nation of Israel out of Egypt, they did not have a king for many years.
A) Unlike the nations around them, they were led by men and women, judges, who were direct intermediaries between God and man.
B) Early on, the people tried to make one of those judges, Gideon, into a king. Judges 8:22-23 tells us, “Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, both you and your son, and your grandson also; for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian.’ But Gideon said to them, ‘I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you’” [NKJV].
Gideon reminded Israel that they already had a king. They didn’t need a king because God looked out for them and led the nation. In both this and the Law that they lived by, Israel was distinct from the rest of the world.
Deut 4:5-8 reads, “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?” Verse 6 says that the people who hear about Israel’s system of laws, so different from the rest of the world’s, would say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” And verse 7 points out that no other nation has God so near as does Israel. In this Israel stood out from the nations about them.
C) The last of God’s judges for Israel was Samuel, who was both the last of the judges and the first of the prophets after Moses. In 1 Sam 8:1-22 The people decide that they want a king. Let’s read the account of their actions. [Read 1 Sam 8:1-22.]
This is a decision that will have a dire impact upon the nation. There are times in each of our lives when we realize that things could have been so much better, so much easier, but for a poor decision that we made in the past. That realization is always a very bitter pill to swallow. Let’s see what we can learn from Israel’s experience in order to avoid the consequences of an unwise decision in our own lives. The temptations facing us today are really the same as those faced by Israel.
II) The people come to Samuel with excuses for their desire for a king.
A) First, they tell him as recorded in 1 Sam 8:5, “You are old.” Samuel had been a good leader for the people. Had given his life to the nation. But the people basically say, “You aren’t up to the task anymore. We need someone with more energy. Someone with fresh ideas. Someone more vibrant.”
B) And then they go on to tell him, as 1 Sam 8:5 continues, “And your sons do not walk in your ways.” It helps here to know a bit about Samuel’s history. Samuel had been a prophet since he was a very young man. He had been dedicated to God by his mother as a baby and then raised in the home of a priest, Eli.
Eli’s own two sons were wicked, for which Eli shared the blame. We see this in 1 Sam 3:11-13. “Then the LORD said to Samuel: ‘Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.’” God destroyed Eli’s family, but raised up Samuel as prophet, judge, and leader.
The people were now saying that Samuel hadn’t done any better than Eli in raising up his own sons. We see in 1 Sam 8:3 that his sons were certainly wicked leaders. “But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.” But notice we are told that they “did not walk in his [Samuel’s] ways.” Samuel had raised them right; they simply chose to reject his values. They probably saw their father as someone who had failed to take advantage of the financial opportunities that came with leadership. So they took bribes to enrich themselves.
So Samuel is being told, “We don’t want you; we’re tired of your leadership. And we don’t want your sons, either. Now give us a king.”
C) But in 1 Sam 8:7 we find that these weren’t the real problems, but merely excuses. “And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Heed 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.’” God tells Samuel, “Don’t take this personally. This isn’t about you at all.” It isn’t Samuel and his sons that the people don’t want leading them; it is God that they don’t want as a leader.
Why would they want to reject God’s leadership? We find the answer in two places. In 1 Sam 8:5 they say, “Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” And in verses 19-20 they say, “No, but we will have a king over us that we also may be like all the nations.” Notice that in both places they say that what they really want is to be like the other nations.
The people were tired of having the world view them as different. The rest was only excuses. Notice there is no indication that the people asked God for direction or asked Samuel to do so for them (even though he does just that). Nor do they ask for his sons to be replaced in their office, or for Samuel to do anything different than what he has done. Samuel and his sons are not the reasons for their request, but only excuses that they thought might be better received than the real reason for their demand.
D) It needs to be a warning flag to us whenever we find ourselves justifying our actions with excuses. “I know the Bible says …, but ….” “But so and so did such and such.” “But that’s not the way society works today.” “But if I did that then I would have to….” Whenever we find ourselves thinking that way, the real thing we are doing is rejecting God as our king.
III) They wanted to be like everyone else.
A) God had been Israel’s king for over 300 years. He had brought them out of Egypt and through the wilderness. He had overthrown the Egyptian army and sustained them in the desert with great miracles. He had brought them into the Promised Land and given them victory over the many nations that lived there.
B) But the people weren’t satisfied. They wanted a king you could look at, that other nations could point to. They wanted to take orders from a great warrior, not from a priest getting his instructions from a box in a tent. They were tired of being seen as kooks, as strange, as different. They just wanted to be “normal,” like other nations.
C) The problem with their demand was that God didn’t want them to be normal. We saw in Deut 4 that God had given them laws and a system of governance that would make other nations notice that they were different. This was God’s plan for them. In Lev 18:3 God warns that they are not to conform themselves to the normal of other nations. “According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances.” He did not want them doing the things that were normal in other nations. In Lev 20:26 God commanded that they be separated from the rest of the world by their conduct. “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” He didn’t want them to come anywhere near “normal.” But the people decided that they wanted to be the same, not different.
D) The desire to be like everyone else is an incredibly strong temptation for us today, also.
We are tempted to follow the world into materialism so that we can be viewed by others as successful.
We are tempted to water down the Bible’s teachings on sexuality, on the family, on marriage, on so many things, so that we won’t be viewed as narrowminded, bigoted, uneducated, superstitious, or just plain stupid.
We are tempted to think upon what it would be like to be free on Sunday mornings, to have 100% of our income to do with as we wish, to be able to watch the same exciting TV shows that our coworkers talk about but that are filled with smut, or to really let loose with weekend revelry.
More than anything else, we are tempted to live such that we just don’t stand out as oddballs: to be not so holy that we can’t blend in with the world, but not so worldly that we can’t blend in with other Christians.
E) The problem, just as it was for Israel, is that God doesn’t want us to be normal, but to be different.
In 2 Cor 6:17-7:1 Paul admonishes us to come out and be separate from the world. “Therefore ‘Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.’ Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Only when we separate ourselves from the world will God receive us and be a father to us. Given that promise, we are enjoined to “perfect holiness,” separation to God. That differentness is not something to be shunned, but to be perfected.
1 John 2:15-17 reminds us not to long to be like the world. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” The worldly are going to pass away. Choose instead to serve God and live forever.
As for the world rejecting us as oddballs, we see in John 15:19 that being at odds with the world is nothing new and is, in fact, to be expected when we follow Jesus. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
And finally, Peter addresses our distinctness from the world in 1 Pet 2:9-12. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Peter says that we are chosen—not part of the world at large. He says that we are a royal priesthood—a privileged few, dedicated to service to God. We are a holy nation; there is that word “holy” again, meaning separated to God. Not part of the normal world, but separated to God.
Lastly, Peter says that we are God’s own special people. “Special people” is translated “peculiar people” in the King James Version. Ah, there is the part that chafes—the world constantly seeing us as peculiar, as strange. Actually, though, Peter here means not peculiar in the sense of “strange,” but in the sense of “unique.” We see in verse 12 that we are to have conduct that makes us stand out as different from the world, such that they notice that the difference is because of our faith. That conduct makes us peculiar (unique), but also makes us in the eyes of the world somewhat peculiar (strange). But again we find that that peculiarity is not something to be shunned, but something to be sought after—as Paul told the Corinthians, something to be perfected.
F) We must not long for the world or the things of the world. We mustn’t long to be the same as the world. When we do so, we are on the path toward rejecting God as our King.
IV) Samuel warned of the consequences of replacing God with a human king, as God told him to do in 1 Sam 8:9.
A) He told them that a king would take their sons and daughters to see to his personal needs and to fight for him. He would take the very best of their crops and of their flocks, not only for himself, but even to feed his servants. He would make the people servants, nearly slaves, in their own land, to provide for the king’s comfort and to satisfy the king’s will. Samuel warned that the people would feel so oppressed by the king that they would cry out to God for relief.
B) But the people were not interested in consequences. In 1 Sam 8:19 we see that the people refused to obey Samuel in this. “Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us….” They were so set upon what they wanted that they didn’t heed his litany of consequences. They were so focused on what seemed right in their own eyes that they didn’t even realize they were really rejecting not just Samuel, but God. Returning to 1 Sam 8:7, it reads, “And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Heed 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.’” They had already decided what they wanted, and they wanted it now. They weren’t going to take “no” for an answer.
C) God gave the people the freedom of choice. As we just read in 1 Sam 8:7, He told Samuel to “heed the voice of the people.” That meant, as we see in 8:18, also allowing them to suffer the consequences of their choice. “And the Lord will not hear you in that day.”
D) Just so, God warns of the consequences of refusing His kingship in our own lives, and will allow us to suffer the consequences if we so choose. When we reject God as our king, we choose servitude to sin, and the consequences thereof. We see in Rom 6:16-18 that God gives us a choice between serving Him or serving sin. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” We can choose to reject God as king in our own lives, but in so doing we make ourselves slaves to sin.
Skipping down to verse 20, read on in Rom 6:20-22. “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”
Yes, Paul says, sin offers us freedom from the constraints of righteousness, from the restrictions and duties that are inherent in being a citizen of God’s kingdom—but to what end? What do we gain in the end but death, when we could instead have everlasting life? Will we heed the consequences of our choice? Or will we, like the Israelites, be blinded by our longing to be like the world?
Ideas and occasional phrases in this lesson were borrowed from several lessons by others:
•Samuel: The Rejected Hero, by Jeff Strite
•The Makings of a Bad Decision, by Eric Lones
•Give Us a King, by John Hamby
•Kingship in Judges and 1 Samuel, by James Jack
•Generic Christianity, by James May
