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 displeased 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 commanders 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 bakers. [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 vineyards and give it to
his officers and to his servants. [16] He will take your menservants
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.”
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 people; 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 question of the need for and validity of the
institution of kingship. Some of the narratives 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 period (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 history 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 condemned 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 contravention of his Law.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.