1 Samuel 8 - No Kings?

Learn to think about politics from a Biblical perspective.

SINCE WE LAST LEFT OFF... the LORD was with Samuel as he grew, establishing him as a faithful prophet in Israel. Yet Israel’s spiritual condition remained fragile. The ark was captured by the Philistines and returned only after the LORD demonstrated His power over their false gods, proving that His presence could not be controlled or manipulated.

Under Samuel’s leadership, the people were called to put away their idols and return to the LORD, and He graciously delivered them from their enemies. Still, this repentance did not run deep. As Samuel grew old, his sons failed to walk in his ways. The people of Israel then began to demand a king like the nations.

1 Samuel 8:6-20 (NIV)

⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. ⁷ And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ⁸ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

¹⁰ Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. ¹² Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰ Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

Belgic Confession

Article 36: The Civil Government

...And being called in this manner

to contribute to the advancement of a society

that is pleasing to God,

the civil rulers have the task,

subject to God’s law,

of removing every obstacle

to the preaching of the gospel

and to every aspect of divine worship.

They should do this

while completely refraining from every tendency

toward exercising absolute authority,

and while functioning in the sphere entrusted to them,

with the means belonging to them.

They should do it in order that

the Word of God may have free course;

the kingdom of Jesus Christ may make progress;

and every anti-Christian power may be resisted...

Summary

Today's Summary and Dig Deeper are re-posted from December 2, 2024

God knew this day was coming - this day when His rebellious people would formally reject His divine kingship and trade it in for a cheap royalty like what everybody around them had. Even before Israel had taken possession of the Promised Land, God had laid down strict limits designed to constrain kings' ever increasing appetites. But God's prescriptions have never been a match for man's sinful nature. In today's passage God warns them that the 'security' a king might provide would come at a steep price.

It's interesting that in our day and age, we measure cost in financial terms like how many dollars a proposal will cost or how a certain policy will affect the interest rate or the stock market. In conveying the LORD's words to the people, Samuel does use one financial term, stating that kings will take a tenth of their produce, but everything else is meted out in much more personal terms.

Samuel tells them, speaking on behalf of the LORD, that the king will take the people's sons and daughters into his service. He'll conscript them into his armies, to reap his harvest and to provide for himself the finest things. In other words, the king will do much more than just than levy exorbitant taxes. He'll suck up the peoples' entire future.

  Dig Deeper  

Lots of people think there needs to be an impermeable wall of separation between the church and the state. Although it's been exhaustively demonstrated that the 'separating wall' metaphor Thomas Jefferson referred to in a personal letter has been egregiously ripped from its original context, the concept that the 'church' ought not influence the state is deeply baked into American psyche.

So it might seem surprising that our Confession, which only addresses the most central Christian doctrines, includes a relatively long article about how the ideal state ought to function. Maybe reading what we believe the Bible says about God's design for civil government makes you feel a bit smarmy, as if politics have no place in your devotions. After all, there's no shortage of political analysis on the internet... what have we become here at Unfading Truth? Shouldn't we spend our Bible reading time on something that's purer?

But the fact of the matter is that politics are an inseparable part of your life, so like every other realm of life, you need to understand politics theologically and from a Biblical standpoint. Like nearly every other topic, the Bible holds politics in tensegrity. On one hand, there is no authority except that which God has established (Romans 13). On the other, passages like today's show us that governments naturally continually grow and demand more and more of us.

Let's take two primary lessons from our passage today. First, as a voter, always be wary of government encroachment into people's lives; it will take your sons and daughters if left unchecked. But most importantly, know what a blessing it is that we have a divine King who gave of Himself rather than ripping prosperity from His people!

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who calls us to put our hope and trust in Him;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will be a good subject of the one true King even as you submit to governments here and now that are far less than ideal;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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