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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Sh'mu'el Alef (1 Sa) 8
8
1When Sh’mu’el grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Isra’el. 2His firstborn was named Yo’el, while his second son was named Aviyah; they were judges in Be’er-Sheva. 3However, his sons did not follow his way of life; they turned off it to pursue riches, so that they would take bribes to distort justice. 4All the leaders of Isra’el gathered themselves together, approached Sh’mu’el in Ramah 5and said to him, “Look, you have grown old, and your sons are not following your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6Sh’mu’el was not pleased to hear them say, “Give us a king to judge us”; so he prayed to Adonai. 7Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Listen to the people, to everything they say to you; for it is not you they are rejecting; they are rejecting me; they don’t want me to be king over them. 8They are doing to you exactly what they have been doing to me, from the day I brought them out of Egypt until today, by abandoning me and serving other gods. 9So do what they say, but give them a sober warning, telling them what kinds of rulings their king will make.”
10Sh’mu’el reported everything Adonai had said to the people asking him for a king. 11He said, “Here is the kind of rulings your king will make: he will draft your sons and assign them to take care of his chariots, be his horsemen and be bodyguards running ahead of his chariots. 12He will appoint them to serve him as officers in charge of a thousand or of fifty, plowing his fields, gathering his harvest, and making his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. 13He will take your daughters and have them be perfume-makers, cooks and bakers. 14He will expropriate your fields, vineyards and olive groves — the very best of them! — and hand them over to his servants. 15He will take the ten-percent tax of your crops and vineyards and give it to his officers and servants. 16He will take your male and female servants, your best young men and your donkeys, and make them work for him. 17He will take the ten-percent tax of your flocks, and you will become his servants. 18When that happens, you will cry out on account of your king, whom you yourselves chose. But when that happens, Adonai will not answer you!”
19However, the people refused to listen to what Sh’mu’el told them, and they said, “No! We want a king over us, 20so that we can be like all the nations, with our king to judge us, lead us and fight our battles.” 21Sh’mu’el heard everything the people said and repeated them for Adonai to hear. 22Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Do what they ask, and set up a king for them.” So Sh’mu’el told the men of Isra’el, “Each of you, return to his city.”
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