Samuel 8, The People of Israel said, Give Us A King to Judge Us

1 Samuels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,  7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

 

Here God warned Israel that if they persisted in continually breaking His Laws, not only would curses come upon them. He would punish them for seven times, (a time being 360 years, seven times would be 2520 years) and would banish them from the land of Palestine and scatter them among the heathens (like lost sheep) (Lev. 26: 28-46).

 

For a good many years all went well, the people obeyed the laws of the kingdom and received the promised rewards. Then they began to tire and wanted to be like other peoples around them. First of all they desired an earthly king and God said that although in doing so, they had rejected Him, He would give them permission to have an earthly king (I Sam. 8: 7-22). Saul was then appointed as Israel's first king.

 

1 Samuel 8:1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

• Samuel means Asked of God or God-heard 
• Samuel predeceased Saul by about two years.
• Consequently he acted for thirty-eight years after Saul's anointing (1000-962 B.C.)
• When he anointed David he would be about eight-six; and lived to about the age of Eli, ninety-eight years. 

2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba.

3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

• Turned aside = stooped to extortion = took bribes
• Contrary to = Deut 16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. 

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,

5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

• The Hebrew monarchy thus began with the choosing of  Saul, and ended with the choosing of Caesar. 
• Make us a king; Hosea 13:10 I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
  11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. 
• Acts 13:20 And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
  21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. 

6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.

• Displeased = was evil in the eyes of evil, in not waiting for God's time and for God's kings, as promised.
• Genesis 17:6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
  7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
  8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
  9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
  10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
  11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
  12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
  13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
  14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
  15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
  16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
• Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 
• Sceptre =  Ruler = "Shepherd" and "Stone"  "Star"

7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

• God told Samuel.
• They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them 
• What's wrong with these people?

8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

• God is saying, I have been with you and done for you, since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

10 And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.

11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.

• This will be = fulfilled
• If you want another king over you, he will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
• 1 Samuel 14:52 And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him. 

12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.

• Ear = Plough (Anglo-Saxon) 

13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

 

14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

• God told them, another king over them would take all they have, and give them to his servants.
• Just like today, you work and they try to take all you have through taxation and their laws.
• Laws to fine businesses right out of businesses. (The book of Joel) 

15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

• Your vineyards:1 Kings 21:7 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
• He will take the tenth = He going to tax you

16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.

• Young men = oxen 

17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.

• Hear = answer 

18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.

• Hear = answer
• God's telling them, if you want a king over you, they will take all you have, and you will cry out to Me, and I will not hear you... this should of woke them up..what did they say?

19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;

• What did they said?
• Nay; but we will have a king over us

20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

• They wanted to be as the nations, they rejected God and God's ways 
• Turn the news on, look at today newspaper, people want to go as the world, not the ways of God.
• All they think of is money, and how they can rip someone off.
• Nothing is good enough, they want more. 

21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.

22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

• The Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king
• Just like today, they want to go the ways of the world = Satan's ways

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

 

•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

 

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25