1 Samuel 8

1Sa 8:1-18.

OCCASIONED BY THE

ILL-GOVERNMENT OF

SAMUEL'S

SONS, THE

ISRAELITES

ASK A

KING.

1-5. when Samuel was old--He was now about fifty-four years of age,

having discharged the office of sole judge for twelve years. Unable,

from growing infirmities, to prosecute his circuit journeys through the

country, he at length confined his magisterial duties to Ramah and its

neighborhood

(1Sa 7:15),

delegating to his sons as his deputies the administration of justice in

the southern districts of Palestine, their provincial court being held

at Beer-sheba. The young men, however, did not inherit the high

qualities of their father. Having corrupted the fountains of justice

for their own private aggrandizement, a deputation of the leading men

in the country lodged a complaint against them in headquarters,

accompanied with a formal demand for a change in the government. The

limited and occasional authority of the judges, the disunion and

jealousy of the tribes under the administration of those rulers, had

been creating a desire for a united and permanent form of government;

while the advanced age of Samuel, together with the risk of his death

happening in the then unsettled state of the people, was the occasion

of calling forth an expression of this desire now.

6-10. the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to

judge us--Personal and family feelings might affect his views of

this public movement. But his dissatisfaction arose principally from

the proposed change being revolutionary in its character. Though it

would not entirely subvert their theocratic government, the appointment

of a visible monarch would necessarily tend to throw out of view their

unseen King and Head. God intimated, through Samuel, that their request

would, in anger, be granted, while at the same time he apprised them of

some of the evils that would result from their choice.

11. This will be the manner of the king--The following is a very just

and graphic picture of the despotic governments which anciently and

still are found in the East, and into conformity with which the Hebrew

monarchy, notwithstanding the restrictions prescribed by the law,

gradually slid.

He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself--Oriental

sovereigns claim a right to the services of any of their subjects at

pleasure.

some shall run before his chariots--The royal equipages were, generally

throughout the East (as in Persia they still are), preceded and

accompanied by a number of attendants who ran on foot.

12. he will appoint him captains--In the East, a person must accept any

office to which he may be nominated by the king, however irksome it may

be to his taste or ruinous to his interests.

13. he will take your daughters to be confectionaries--Cookery, baking,

and the kindred works are, in Eastern countries, female employment, and

thousands of young women are occupied with these offices in the palaces

even of petty princes.

14-18. he will take your fields, &c.--The circumstances mentioned

here might be illustrated by exact analogies in the conduct of many

Oriental monarchs in the present day.

19-22. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of

Samuel--They sneered at Samuel's description as a bugbear to frighten

them. Determined, at all hazards, to gain their object, they insisted

on being made like all the other nations, though it was their glory and

happiness to be unlike other nations in having the Lord for their King

and Lawgiver

(Nu 23:9;

De 33:28).

Their demand was conceded, for the government of a king had been

provided for in the law; and they were dismissed to wait the

appointment, which God had reserved to Himself

(De 17:14-20).