1 Samuel 8
8
Israel Demands a King
1When Samuel became old, #Deut. 16:18he made his sons judges over Israel. 2The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3Yet his sons did not walk in his ways #[Ex. 18:21] but turned aside after gain. #[Ex. 23:8; Deut. 16:19; Ps. 15:5]They took bribes and perverted justice.
4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at #[See ch. 7:17 above]Ramah 5and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. #ver. 19, 20; [Deut. 17:14; Hos. 13:10; Acts 13:21]Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, #[Ex. 16:8] for they have not rejected you, #ch. 10:19but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them #See ver. 11-18and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
Samuel’s Warning Against Kings
10So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11He said, #ch. 10:25; See Deut. 17:16-20 “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: #ch. 14:52he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some #See Gen. 45:6to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14#1 Kgs. 21:7; [Ezek. 46:18]He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men#8:16 Septuagint cattle and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, #Prov. 1:28; Isa. 1:15; Mic. 3:4but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
The Lord Grants Israel’s Request
19But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20#ver. 5that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22And the Lord said to Samuel, #ver. 7; [Hos. 13:11]“Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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1 Samuel 8
8
1When Samuel grew old, he made his sons leaders#8:1. Again the word used is “judges,” but in this period of Israel's history before they had kings the judges did not only settle legal cases but acted as rulers. over Israel. 2His first son was named Joel, and his second son was named Abijah. They were rulers in Beersheba. 3However, his sons did not follow his ways. They were corrupt, making money by accepting bribes and perverting justice.
4So the elders of Israel all joined together and came to meet Samuel at Ramah. 5“Look here,” they told him, “you are old, and your sons do not follow your ways. Choose a king to rule over us like all the other nations.”
6Samuel thought this was a bad idea when they said, “Give us a king to rule over us,” so he prayed to the Lord about it. 7“Do what the people tell you,” the Lord said to Samuel, “because it's not you they're rejecting, but me as their king. 8They're doing just as they have always done since I led them out of Egypt right up to now. They have abandoned me and worshiped other gods, and they're doing just the same to you. 9So do what they want, but give them a solemn warning—explain to them what a king will do when he rules over them.”
10Samuel repeated all that the Lord had said to the people asking him to give them a king. 11“This is what a king will do when he rules over you,” he told them. “He will take your sons and make them serve as charioteers and horsemen, and to run as a guard in front of his chariot. 12Some of them he will make commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some will have to plow his fields and reap his harvest. Some will be assigned to making weapons of war and chariot equipment. 13He will take your daughters and have them work as perfume-makers, cooks, and bakers. 14He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his officials. 15He will take a tenth of your grain harvest and the produce of your vineyards and allocate it to his chief officers and officials. 16He will take your male servants and your female servants, and your best young men and your donkeys, and make them work for him. 17He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his slaves. 18On that day you will plead to be rescued from the king you have chosen, but the Lord won't answer you then.”
19But the people refused to listen to what Samuel said. “No!” they insisted. “We want our own king! 20That way we can be like all the other nations. Our king will rule us, and will lead us when we go out to fight our battles.”
21Samuel listened to everything the people said and repeated it to the Lord. 22The Lord told Samuel, “Do what they say and give them a king.” Then Samuel told the Israelites, “Go back to your homes.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com