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From: 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a

The People Ask For a King (Continuation)

[4] Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah
[5] and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways;
now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations.” [6] But the thing dis-
pleased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” And Samuel
prayed to the LORD. [7] And the LORD said to Samuel, “Hearken to the voice
of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they
have rejected me from being king over them.

[10] So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking
a king from him. [11] He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign
over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his
horsemen, and to run before his chariots; [12] and he will appoint for himself com-
manders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plough his ground
and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of
his chariots. [13] He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and ba-
kers. [14] He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and
give them to his servants. [15] He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vine-
yards and give it to his officers and to his servants. [16] He will take your menser-
vants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and put them
to his work. [17] He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.
And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for
yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

[19] But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No!
but we will have a king over us, [20] that we also may be like all the nations, and
that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” [21] And
when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears
of the LORD. [22a] And the LORD said to Samuel, “Hearken to their voice, and
make them a king.”

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Commentary:

8:1-12:25. These chapters deal with the first steps towards the establishment
of the monarchy which will last right up to the Babylonian captivity. These will be
very important years for the political life and religious practice of the chosen peo-
ple; under the guidance of the prophets they will gradually learn about the full
implications of the events that unfold.

Before dealing with the reign of the first king, Saul, the book has five chapters
about the difficulties surrounding the choice of king. They raise the whole ques-
tion of the need for and validity of the institution of kingship. Some of the narra-
tives are pro-monarchy, (cf. 9:1-10:16; 11:1-15), while others are strongly against
(cf. 8:1-22; 10:17-21; 12:1-15). It may be that in the last years of Samuel’s life
there were already these two opposed tendencies; but it is more likely that the
anti-royalist thinking in the book came from a Deuteronomic author of a later pe-
riod (sixth century BC) who was well aware of the disasters the kings caused.
Anyway, we need to remember that the last editor of this book is interpreting his-
tory in a theological way, showing how the Lord intervenes in the affairs of men,
sometimes permitting rulers to transgress gravely, sometimes punishing them to
make them mend their ways. The main message is that the Lord never remains
aloof or indifferent.

8:1-23. The misfortunes into which the kings will plunge Israel are summarized
in this chapter. The worst sort had to do with religion—apostasy and idolatry (vv.
7-8). The sacred writer stresses how sinful that was by reminding his readers
about the Israelites’ disloyalty after their escape from Egypt and by showing
that the warning comes from the Lord himself.

The monarchy was also responsible for social disasters. The so-called “statute
of the king” placed here on Samuel’s lips (vv. 10-17), is probably a summary of
an ancient document which regulated the monarchies of most of the “city-states”
of the Middle East; we find recorded here the worst abuses, so severely con-
demned in Deuteronomy (Deut 17:14-20).

However, the real danger is that the people, by choosing a king and swearing
allegiance to him, will be excluding God from the picture (cf. v. 18). From now
on the prophets will spend most of their energy convincing people that trusting in
God does not mean one has to reject human resources (such as the monarchy),
nor does the use of human resources involve turning one’s back on God. In any
event, the main danger posed by having a monarchy will be a tendency to solve
military, political and social problems without reference to God or even in contra-
vention of his Law.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.