Posted on 05/07/2015 7:26:53 AM PDT by all the best
The people of Israel wanted a king. They heard of the nations around them, and they were told that these nations had strong central governments. Each was led by a king, who embodied the power, prestige, and glory of his nation-state. The system of civil rule in Israel at this time was based on decentralized tribes. Each tribe had a system of judges. There was no legislature. There was no central civil government.
Samuel was both a priest and a civil judge. Representatives of the people of Israel came to him and asked him to anoint someone to serve as a king. He warned them against this. His warning came in the form of a threat: increased taxation. Not only would they have to pay taxes to the local tribal civil governments, they would now have to pay taxes to the central government, as embodied by the king.
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles (vv. 19-20).
We might think that the threat of increased taxation would have scared them off. Not so. They wanted to be represented by someone with power, and they were willing to pay the price. The price was an additional tax of 10% of their income.
This 10% figure was the same as the tithe that was owed to the Levites, the tribe of the priesthood. Samuel warned them that the king would extract as much wealth from them as the entire priestly tribe was entitled to. This centralization of wealth and power would be enormous. But they did not care.
(Excerpt) Read more at garynorth.com ...
What we sow we shall also reap.
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