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No.11.
8: 6 - 18.
pp. 230 - 233
Samuel was now old and his two sons had turned out to be utterly unworthy to carry
on the leadership of Israel. As a result the elders of the people now came to Samuel and
demanded that he anoint them a king. Their words are: "Make us a king to judge us like
all the nations" (8: 5). These words must have been a severe blow to Samuel. All his
life his one aim had been to keep Israel faithful to Jehovah, their covenant God. He
recognized the sinfulness of this demand. It was in direct opposition to the will of the
Lord, for His word was clear that HE, Jehovah, was Israel's King. So the desire to anoint
one of their number as king was to depose Israel's true King, and put in His place one
"like unto the nations".
The Lord who knows the hearts of all men had foreseen this, however, for He had
made provision for such a request in His instructions to Moses:
"When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt
possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the
nations that are about me; thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord
thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou
mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply
horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should
multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord has said unto you, `Ye shall henceforth return no
more that way'. Neither shall he greatly multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not
away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. And it shall be, when
he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a
book out of that which is before the priests the Levite: and it shall be with him, and he
shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to
keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: that his heart be not lifted
up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right
hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his
children, in the midst of Israel" (Deut. 17: 14-20).
Jehovah would not allow a foreigner to reign over His people. Polygamy and wealth
to excess were not to be permitted. He must not rely on horses and chariots, and he must
write out a copy of the law and meditate upon it all the days of his life. The prophetic
words of Deuteronomy we shall see were going to be fulfilled with unfortunate
consequences as Israel's kings failed to comply with these requirements. We read that
Solomon had 40,000 horses and 12,000 grooms in his stables. No wonder his heart was
lifted up. It was David, the Lord's anointed who wrote "Some trust in chariots and
horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God" (Psa. 20: 7), and "The king
shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord; and in Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!"