"GIVE US A KING"

"Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us alike all the nations." -I Samuel 8:3,4.

After the Children of Israel came out of Egyptian bondage and God took Moses away from them, Joshua was appointed as their leader. He led them in the conquest of the land of Canaan. As Joshua came to the end of his days on earth, he challenged the people..."Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, will serve the Lord." - Joshua 24:14,15.

After the death of Joshua, God raised up Judges to oversee His people. This was God's plan and it prevailed for some 400 years. Samuel was the last judge of Israel.

When Samuel was old, he appointed his sons to do much of his work. His sons were unfaithful, however. They took bribes and perverted justice ( I Samuel 8:3 ). This is the verse just before our text at the beginning of this article. Because of this, the people requested that the judges should be removed and that they should have a king to rule over them. They said, in effect: "Give us a king like other nations ( V. 5). This was in violation to God's order, but He allowed them to have a king, but warned of the consequences to follow. God warned them through Samuel. Note these words:

"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. And he will appoint him captians 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. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers....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." - I Samuel 8:10-18.

Even after warning them, they still cried out..."Give us a king like everybody else." You can see that God gave warning to Israel...but, they would have none of it. Likewise, God warns us today. He has written to us in this marvelous book, the Bible, but like Israel in the long ago, we many times do not heed the message. In Hosea 13:11, God declared: "I gave them a king in mine anger, and I take him away in my wrath."

I shall not go into all the problems that occurred in Israel in reference to the fulfillment of the Word of God. Suffice it to say, they did grieve because of their king. After the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam, was to rule in his stead. However, as you know there was a division in the House of God, so that Israel was divided. Jeroboam ruled in the north with ten tribes, while Rehoboam ruled in the south. Things went from bad to worse until both parts of the kingdom were finally taken into captivity by their enemies.

This ought to be a clear cut warning to us. God's ways are always best and cannot be improved on by man. It was a sad day in Israel when she wanted to be "just like everybody else." We are not to conform to the world, but to be transformed ( Romans 12:1,2). It is a sad thing when God's people today look to be like their neighbors instead of following God's Will.

- Dan Carter