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Instead of crying to the Lord, when Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against
them, Israel turned away from the Lord to a king of their own choice:
"Ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was
your king" (I Sam. 12: 7-12).
In these three passages we have the root of Israel's failure.
One can also see in the words of the Lord, His sense of Israel's ingratitude. This
thought frequently recurs, and several Psalms (e.g., Psa. 106: 13) refer to it. Jeremiah,
also, refers to the breaking of the covenant by Israel when the Lord led them out of
Egypt. The same spirit, alas, persists into the N.T., when we read the awful words: "We
have no king but Cæsar" (John 19: 15).
The opening chapter of Isaiah also speaks of Israel's ingratitude, and in Hosea 11: 1-5
we read of Israel's apostacy and the dominion of the king of Assyria.
Ever since they refused their Messiah, the children of Israel have been robbed and
persecuted by the kings of the earth, and they will find no rest, until they say: "Blessed is
He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 23: 39).
Returning to our structure on page 10, we have now to consider sections "B1" and
"B2"--"The manner of the king" and "The manner of the kingdom". The word
"manner" is mishpat. The primary meaning is "judgment, law or right", but it can also
mean "usage, manner or custom". So in I Samuel we find the following: "the priest's
custom" (I Sam. 2: 13); "perverted judgment" (I Sam. 8: 3); "the manner of the king"
(I Sam. 8: 9 and 11); "the manner of the kingdom" (I Sam. 10: 25); and "manner" and
"ordinance' in 27: 11 and 30: 25.
The manner of the king (I Sam. 8: 10-18).--Samuel told the people plainly what
they must expect if a king were placed over them. Their sons would be taken "for his
chariots, and his horsemen", and he would commandeer their labour in the field and at
the forge. After a long list of other exactions, Samuel warns them:
"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 Sam. 8: 18).
The manner of the kingdom (I Sam. 10: 25):
"Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and
laid it up before the Lord."
The "manner of the kingdom" expresses what is de jure; the "manner of the king",
what is de facto.
Instead of the word "manner" being repeated a third time, we have in its place a
reference to the first year of Saul's reign, when all seemed to be going well--until the