It is tragic when we give something more priority than we give God. Sporting events can develop character and teach young people positive lessons but if that sport ever came between that person and God, it is wrong. Even humanitarian projects which are serving human need in a ministry, if they become more important than your relationship to God, it's time for some deep evaluations.
The nation Israel faced a choice. I if they made the wrong choice they will be forced to live with their bad decision. God gives people freedom to make a choice and they don't always make the right choice.
One man who now serves the Lord, was the baseball star of his college. He was popular, but away from God. He thought what he did against the will of God was going to be OK. He was drinking and driving 90 mph and hit a telephone pole. God forgives him. His family still accepts him, but he will always live with slurred speech and a terrible limp. His bad choices have real consequences.
God grants people freedom to make choices, but people face consequences for their wrong choices. The nation Israel faces a choice that could damage their relationship with God. If they make the wrong choice, they live with the consequences.
First Samuel chapter 8 is the story of transition. It's the transition from the period of Judges to that of the monarchy, having a king. Israel thought a change in government would solve their problems. In reality their problems were spiritual problems.
There were reasons that Israel wanted a King:
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (1 Samuel 8:1-5)
The current system of government for Israel before the kings was known as the period of judges. God was king and the nation was loosely bound together as twelve separate regions. They had a common heritage, a common religion, and a shared belief in Lord God Almighty.
God was head of this Government. This system was a Theocracy. The dictionary definition of Theocracy is, “A system of government in which priests’ rule in the name of God. The commonwealth of Israel from the time of Moses until the election of Saul as king.”
Samuel was the 16th judge of Israel and this system had been in place for hundreds of years. Samuel was a good judge, but he was growing older, and a new leader was needed. His sons Joel and Abijah replaced him. They were corrupt leaders. They did not share the values of their father Samuel.
Samuels son’s Joel and Abijah were more interested in bribes than in ruling Israel fairly. The nation Israel used these bad judges as an excuse to reject God as King. Israel looked to the other nations, and they saw their organization and their military machinery and that the King bound their nation together.
Israel did not like the style of judges like Gideon battling large armies with 300 men. They wanted a vast external display of power everyone could see like the other nations had. It was a kind of peer pressure. Their desire to be like others was stronger than their desire to follow God.
There is a tremendous power in peer pressure. It is not limited to young people and fashion trends. There was a call for a new order to follow the pattern of the other nations. This new order was going to be centered around a king. They told Samuel, give us a king.
Samuel went to God about the situation. God reassured Samuel. They are not rejecting you, but they are rejecting me.
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. (1 Samuel 8:6-7)
Samuel was to warn Israel what would be the consequences of what they were asking. If they went forward in their decision to have a king, then a king would make harsh demands on them. God spoke to Samuel to warn Israel.
Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (1 Samuel 8:9)
God is not going to short circuit Israel’s choice of having a king. He does make sure they clearly know what their request for a king will mean for them. If they do choose a king, even after the Lord warned them not to, then they must live with that decision.
As a follower of Christ, before you make any decision, the first thing you should ask is, Lord is this your will. Many bad decisions represent a lack of trust in God. We also have not really gone to ask God about it.
There are many ways they will be in servitude to their king. Here are what God specifically told them would be the consequences of choosing to have a king over Israel.
He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. (1 Samuel 8:11)
Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. (1 Samuel 8:12)
He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. (1 Samuel 8:13)
He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. (1 Samuel 8:14)
He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. (1 Samuel 8:15)
Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. (1 Samuel 8:16)
He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. (1 Samuel 8:17)
When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” (1 Samuel 8:18)
The Nation Israel will jump out of the frying pan by leaving the system of the judges and into the fire with the system of a king. With the king the people would lose individual freedoms. Their human dignity would be neglected by their king. Israel, are you sure you want a king and have all this happen?
Their response was yes, we want a king! But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. (1 Samuel 8:19) Israel were in for some very cruel and bad rulers. Some kings would take them deep into idolatry.
The first thing that King Rehoboam said was, you think my father was cruel? You ain’t seen nothing yet.
God gave us the ability to make decisions, but those decisions should be made in seeking the will of God.
God allowed Israel to have a king even when the peoples king symbolized rejection of God. They are going to do what they want to do no matter what Samuel or God says to them. God gave them over to their own selfish desires.
This study is a prelude to King Saul. He will become their first king. His is a pathetic story with terrible consequences. God let them have their way but directed them in selection of leaders.
We all have important choices to make. We are called to earnestly seek God’s will. This chapter of scripture instructs us on what we are not supposed to do. That is plow ahead with our agenda either without seeking God, or in this case hearing from God but going in a different direction than the will of God.
We should always go to God to find out what is best. The Lord will still work even through a king. Whatever political structure God is our ultimate leader. The Sanai Covenant established God and no one else be king over Israel.
So in my anger I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away. (Hosea 13:11)
Israel demanded a king and rejected God as their king. God made a new covenant with King David. In David’s offspring a king would rule forever. Israel rejected God but they did not thwart his sovereign purposes for man. In Jesus Christ both the Sinai covenant and David’s covenant are fulfilled.
Israel sacrificed morality and rejected God for military and economic prosperity. They made a bad choice. God will work through their bad choice.
God rules as king. Jesus is God from linage of David. God’s grace and mercy shines even through his rejection by Israel. The most important choice anyone ever makes is accepting Jesus Christ as savior. God’s grace continues.
