"We Want A King"
Why suddenly demand a king? In truth, there is more to the story than first appears.
1 Samuel 8:4-20
November 8, 2026
Todd R. Wright
Last week, we started our study of the historical books of the Bible, with the story of Deborah, one of twelve judges who ruled over Israel. For nearly 200 years God raised up judges to help lead the people through times of crisis. There was no sign that this pattern would ever change.
Until Samuel.
You may remember Samuel’s story. His mother, Hannah, was barren, and she prayed to the Lord for a son. When God answered her prayer, she dedicated Samuel to the Lord, and entrusted him to Eli, the priest at Shiloh. And scripture says, “[He] continued to grow in both stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.”
Eventually Samuel succeeded Eli. Scripture speaks glowingly of him:
“All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.”
He took his responsibilities as a judge seriously. “Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all these places. Then he would come back to Ramah, for his home was there; he administered justice there to Israel, and built there an altar to the Lord.”
Samuel also successfully prayed for victory over Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, and led a spiritual renewal of the nation.
But, despite all his good qualities, his sons, Joel and Abijah, were scoundrels.
Usually, when we tell today’s story, we focus on Israel’s demand for a king, like other nations.
It seems like an abrupt shift.
Why give up on a system – of God calling judges whenever needed – that had worked so well?
Why abandon their unique position as a nation formed, and saved, and ruled, by God?
Why suddenly demand a king?
In truth, there is more to the story than first appears.
We are told that when Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel.
It had never been done before – none of the previous judges had appointed a successor.
And the writer adds, darkly, “Yet [Samuel’s] sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.”
So when all the elders of Israel came to Samuel at Ramah, they are united in their concern. They cannot imagine being led by such flawed men – corrupt and unjust!
Make no mistake: the twelve figures described in the book of Judges were not perfect, but they had each been called by God to serve and save Israel.
Joel and Abijah were their dad’s choice, not God’s. Today we would call them nepo babies – defined as people who are “perceived to benefit from their parent's celebrity, social capital, or wealth to achieve success in a field of work closely related to that of their mother or father.”
So, when the elders said, “Appoint for us a king!” their request was not made in a vacuum.
It seems they only asked for a king to avoid being led by Joel and Abijah.
Samuel tries to warn them what having a king will mean, but they will not listen.
They are desperate. But they are also hopeful.
They sensed that things were bad and going to get worse unless drastic measures were taken.
They trusted that God would show Israel mercy.
And it led them to demand a change in how they were governed.
Not unlike, perhaps, the thinking that drove last Tuesday’s election results.
We might feel some sympathy for the elders of Israel.
A generation before, Eli’s sons were wicked scoundrels. They had no regard for the Lord or for the duties of the priests to the people. They were unfit to inherit Eli’s mantle. He rebuked them but did not restrain them. God was angry and promised that both sons would die and that God would raise up a faithful priest to take their place.
And God provided Samuel.
Maybe the elders were counting on God providing a faithful replacement, again.
Maybe they had convinced themselves that they were furthering God’s plan.
Maybe they thought this was the only option.
But here’s the thing: in demanding a king, they were forcing God’s hand.
Just like Abraham and Sarah, who believed God’s promise to provide an heir, but got impatient and took matters into their own hands, forcing Hagar to have Abraham’s child, Ishmael.
It was a decision that produced lots of heartbreak. And when we repeat it, it still does.
Heartbreak follows when we rush ahead of God; when we ignore God’s warnings; when we copy what everybody else does and forget that we have been set aside as holy, as different.
You know how this story turns out. (If you don’t, we’ll be tracing it over the next few weeks.)
God gives the people what they want – a human king – for the next nearly 500 years!
Some are good and some bad. It always depends on how faithful they are to God.
But they all turn out to be everything Samuel warned they would be.
And the relationship that Israel had with God, when God was their king, is tainted.
But God will not give up on Israel.
God will raise up prophets to counsel kings and remind the people of divine priorities.
God will not abandon them during the long years of Exile and will bring them home.
And one day, when the time is right, God will send a different kind of king.
To most he looked like a common carpenter or maybe a rabbi; a teacher, a healer.
He preached about the kingdom of God and entered Jerusalem on a donkey.
He did not act like the sort of king Samuel worried about, or the type the elders demanded.
Still, those in power arrested him, beat him, and mocked him with a crown of thorns.
They labeled him “king of the Jews” as a warning to anyone who would say, “We want a king” (like this man)!
And yet, I believe, (and maybe you do too), that the difference between that phrase being folly or bold faithfulness, turns on when it is said, and whether it fits God’s timeline.
May we have the sense to want what God wants … when God wants it. Amen
See 1 Samuel 2:26
See 1 Samuel 3:20
See 1 Samuel 7:15-17
See 1 Samuel 8:3
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