In First Samuel and the eighth chapter the chronicler tells us that the people demanded that Samuel appoint them a King like other nations had around them. Samuel, being displeased with the demands of the people, consulted the Lord. The Lord told him that the people were rejecting God and not Samuel and do what the people demanded but explain to them what having a King would mean.
Samuel then explained to the people that a king would set up his handpicked commanders and leaders who were loyal to the king and not the people. Samuel told them that a king would take their sons and force them to fight in wars that the king wanted to fight regardless of the consequences to the people and their families. Samuel told them that a King would demand the profits of the people’s hard labor for himself. He stated that a King would take a portion of the profits from their vineyards and grain and give it to his cronies. He warned them that a king would take the mechanisms of their labor (donkeys, cattle, flocks) for his own benefit and make the people slaves to him. Samuel implored that a king would make their daughters subservient to him and his whims.
When Samuel explained to the people what would happen if they got a king, the text says that the people refused to listen to Samuel and demanded a king to rule over them like other nations anyway. Samuel then told the Lord what the people said, and the Lord told Samuel to give them what they demanded.
That’s how the people of biblical Israel got one of the worst kings in Israel’s history.
There is a cautionary tale in this text about people who ignore or try to obfuscate their own history because they want to paint a new narrative of distortion. They intentionally ignored how they even got to the land they were occupying and how they became a nation.
There is a cautionary tale in the text of how people will refuse to listen to sound judgment because they already lust for power, privilege, and position, regardless of what it will cost them in the end.
There is a cautionary tale in the text of how people who say they love God will turn away from that same God they say that they are committed to because of their lust for domination of other people rather than cooperation with people different than them.
God’s final word to Samuel to deliver to the people was that you will have the king you demand, but there will come a day when you will cry out to God because of the pain that the king you demanded causes you, but the Lord will not answer.
Put another way, God was saying that you will fool around and find out.
God did allow them to have a king and the kings after not only ruled over Israel but caused so much misery and pain that the people did cry out to God. Israel’s history is full of king after king who displeased God because of how the king treated the people.
Samuel tried to warn them that a king would take advantage of them by enriching his own children from the position and privilege of being a child of the king.
He tried to remind them that a king would reward their cronies by allowing them to raid the treasury of the nation.
He tried to dissuade them from a king because a king would disregard the rights of your women and force their women to serve the needs of the king.
Samuel tried to alert them that a king would give benefits to his wealthy benefactors while forcing the people work for peonage wages.
Worst of all, Samuel tried to advise them that a king would lead them away from God’s will, God’s word, and God’s way to follow a way of violence, hatred, and evil to serve the god of money, but they didn’t listen.
There is indeed a cautionary tale in the text of First Samuel and the eighth chapter.
I have often said that the bible anticipates us, therefore this cautionary tale in this text about unexamined emotions, willful ignorance, the disrespect of accurate history and the disrespect of a loving God lead the people in the text to choose one of the worst king’s ever in Saul.
Be aware, Be Authentic, and Stay Woke! Uhuru Sassa!
(Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at JeJackson1@aol.com or by phone at 219-944-0500.)
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