SOVEREIGN GOD OR EARTHLY KING?
(1 Samuel 8:1-22)
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In today’s Bible lesson, we’re going to look at events in the book of 1 Samuel. Samuel was the last Judge of Israel. As a Judge, it was Samuel’s role to provide spiritual leadership to Israel at times of crisis. However, Samuel was not the ruler over all of Israel. This was a theocracy, meaning that God was their King.
Had Israel been faithful to God’s plan, then they would have been a witness to the rest of the world. Other nations would have looked at Israel, seen God’s protection and blessings, and would have wanted to be like them and have Jehovah as their King. But instead, Israel looked at their heathen neighbors and envied them for having an earthly king to protect them. This rejection of God’s plan began as a rejection of Samuel by his own two sons. His sons reject him by turning away from what he taught them spiritually. They chose “dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice.” We see this in 1 Sam. 8:1-3:
1 Sam 8:1-3
1 And it came about when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons judges over Israel.
2 Now the name of his first-born was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; {they} were judging in Beersheba.
3 His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice.
Next, the leaders of Israel came to Samuel in verses 4 and 5 and asked him to appoint a king over all the nation:
1 Sam 8:4-5
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah;
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."
Samuel views their request for a king as the people rejecting him. You can’t blame Samuel for taking it personally, since the people did say to him, “you have grown old,” and also, “your sons do not walk in your ways.” So Samuel was upset, as we read in verse 6:
1 Sam 8:6
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.
When Samuel got upset, how did he handle it? Verse 6 just told us, “Samuel prayed to the Lord.” Even though he was initially upset and took the request personally, in the end he did not handle the problem by reacting emotionally. He wanted to know what God wanted him to do, so he went to God in prayer.
How do we react when we are upset? It’s normal as a human being to react to problems in an emotional way, such as fear, anger, maybe hurt feelings. But when we find the time to think about it, what do we do then? Do we choose to continue in our bad feelings, or do we as Christians try to determine what God would have us do?
When Samuel seeks God’s answer, he discovers in verses 7 and 8 that the people are not really rejecting Samuel as they have said outwardly. God sees their hearts, and He tells Samuel what is really happening:
1 Sam 8:7-8
7 And 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.
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.
Had Samuel not consulted God, he likely would have refused the people’s request, because he knew what God’s will had been up to that point in time. But I think that what God told Samuel in verse 9 was something Samuel didn’t expect to hear. God told him to grant the people’s request for a king.
1 Sam 8:9
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."
However, God gave the people one more chance to change their minds. He told Samuel to warn them of all the bad things that would happen if they had a human king ruling them, and these things are listed in 1 Samuel 8:10-18. The reason I call God’s warning “one more chance” is because God ended by saying that when these bad things occur, the people will “cry out in that day,” and that “the Lord will not answer you in that day.” The people would have to live with the consequences of their negative decision toward God, and He told them what these are:
1 Sam 8:10-18
10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who had asked of him a king.
11 And 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.
12 "And 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.
13 "He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.
14 "And he will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves, and give {them} to his servants.
15 "And he will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give to his officers and to his 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.
17 "He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants.
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."
Despite all of these warning from God himself, the people still wanted a human king. In verses 19 and 20, we read:
1 Sam 8:19-20
19 Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over 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."
When you read this response from the people of Israel, you get an idea of how hard their hearts really had become toward God. You realize how much junk they had in their souls from the influence of the heathen nations around them. It seems like no matter what God would have told them through Samuel, their minds were already made up, and nothing was going to change them. Their thinking was summed up in verse 20 by the phrase, “that we also may be like all the nations.”
Samuel went back to God, and in verses 21 and 22, told God what He, of course, already knew.
1 Sam 8:21-22
21 Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the LORD’S hearing.
22 And 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 gave the people what they freely chose to have, a human king to rule over them. Some of those kings like Saul, David, and Solomon did some great things, but also committed great sin. The Bible later tells us that under the kings that ruled Israel, all the things that God warned about eventually occurred.
OUR CHOICE TODAY
As believers today, we haven’t been faced with the same kind of choice that Israel was. God speaks to us through His word, the Bible, and our ultimate spiritual authority should be Jesus Christ functioning through His Church. However, there are many ways in which we can reject Jesus’ authority and instead, choose our own kind of “king” by leaning on someone else as our spiritual authority. Here are a few examples:
Pastors On A Pedestal - While the pastor is the spiritual authority in a local church, he is also still a man with a sin nature like the rest of us, no better and no worse. We shouldn’t place a pastor on a pedestal where we expect him to be perfect. When we do and he falls, it’s a much longer way down. We learn about God and His plan for our lives as the pastor faithfully studies the Bible and teaches it to us. We follow God, not the man, and shouldn’t expect a pastor to make our spiritual decisions for us. He’s not there to be our “king”.
Christian “Celebrities” - Christians sometimes have a tendency to treat certain believers as “celebrities.” These men might be evangelists, pastors, Bible teachers, writers, and musicians. They sometimes are the leaders of Christian organizations. We can respect such men for the job they are doing, but shouldn’t view them or treat them better than we might treat other believers.
Our Emotions - Many believers allow their emotions to rule them, and in that sense, their feelings are their king. When faced with a choice between God’s word and how they really feel about something, their emotions usually decide what they will do.
Political Solutions - Many believers ultimately rely upon political solutions for their protection and comfort. In so doing, they make politicians or government officials their “king.” Such Christians might get very involved in Christian activism, because they are ultimately depending upon that solution to the problems they see.
Another Believer - Sometimes, we can allow another believer, who we view as stronger and more spiritual than we are, to be our “king”. We want this person to tell us what to do when we have problems. While another believer may sometimes be of help, God ultimately wants us to turn to Him.
IN CONCLUSION
Are we primarily following Jesus, or are we following a man, someone whom we have in essence made our "king"? As we study God’s word, pray, and walk in faith, believing what the Bible says and resting upon it, we allow Jesus to be our “King Of Kings.”
Copyright (c) 2000, Frank J. Gallagher
Abiding In The Word
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