God gave them the law, and they were supposed to follow it. It was not a time when a real king was available. God gave them one when they insisted, but it didn't work out because there was no true king available.
In effect, rather than accept personal responsibility for following the law, they preferred to hide behind a false king. So God agreed in order to teach them that they could not get away with that escape plan.
Unfortunately, the world has been repeating that mistake ever since then, so much so that when God grants a true king, you can be sure that they'd rather turn against him to keep avoiding having to face the law that he, as a true king, would insist they'd obey.
Its utterly childish, really. That such arrogant, cruel and spiritually stupid juvenile delinquents have been allowed to get this far, for so long, is incredible. And of course, they now consider themselves gods for having successfully refused the true law for so long.
I think they're in for a big shock.
They thought an earthly king would be more friendly towards their sinfulness.
One important thing to note is that the Law is impossible for born sinners to keep. It shows them up for the sinners they are, no matter how hard they try.
It takes salvation to give them an independent reason to care about what the Law speaks about.
Interesting comments Talisker. Thank you.