09/17/2008
1 Samuel 8:1 - 7 (HCSB) 1When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 2His firstborn son’s name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beer-sheba. 3However, his sons did not walk in his ways—they turned toward dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
4So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah. 5They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not follow your example. Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have.”
6When they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” Samuel considered their demand sinful, so he prayed to the LORD. 7But the LORD told him, “Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have not rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king.
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Israel was intended to be a true theocracy; that is, God, Himself, was to be their king. Israel had judges to settle disputes and the priesthood was set up throughout the nation. Israel had its ups and downs, but at this point, they were demanding a human king. Samuel, who had served God all his life, found the request offensive, but God told Samuel that the people were rejecting Him, not Samuel.
There are two things I find in this. First of all, people will always try to set up some form of control over themselves besides God. They do not want to recognize God as sovereign over their lives. Israel had fought many victorious battles without a king, so there was no reason to believe that a king was necessary for military purposes. Israel had always had some judge over them, so there was no need for a king in order to settle disputes. So, the request for a king was purely selfish—so they could be “like the other nations.”
Secondly, as Christians, we tend to take the world’s rejection of God personally, as if they are rejecting us. God told Samuel that the people were rejecting Him, not Samuel. We too need to remember that when the world rejects God, that we should not take it personal. We know that some people will reject Him. Our duty is to carry on as best we can despite their rejection.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
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