What does 1 Samuel 8:11 mean?
The Lord has told Samuel to allow the people to have a human king (1 Samuel 8:4–5) with one stipulation. Samuel must give them a formal warning—a legal disclaimer—about how kings will carry out their rule. The ways of the king, and the legal rights he will have, amount to what it will cost the people to live under his rule.Samuel begins by declaring that what follows will be the "ways" or "rights" or "practice" of Israel's king. This does not necessarily mean these are the rights given to the king by God. However, they are the nature of being ruled by a single person. They are the patterns demonstrated by many kings of city-states and nations during this era. Israel should know this, as they are asking to be like these other cultures.
For starters, the Israelites should expect the king to build a "standing army:" a permanent military. This will eventually be equipped with chariots. The Israelites had never had chariots before this time, but King David would begin to use them (2 Samuel 8:4) and Solomon would fully employ them for regular use (1 Kings 4:26). One of the stipulations for kings in the Mosaic law was that they not "acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses" (Deuteronomy 17:16).
The use of chariots requires the care and feeding of horses, as well as chariot riders and even men to run before the king's chariots to announce that the king was approaching (2 Samuel 15:1; 1 Kings 1:5). These chariot soldiers will be plucked from Israel's youth, Samuel warns.
First Samuel 8:10–18 describes a solemn, legal warning Samuel gives the elders of Israel. He cautions about all the things a human king will take from them. He will take their sons and daughters as his servants, their land for his officials, and a percentage of their crops and flocks. In many ways, Samuel officially warns the Israelites that they will become slaves to their own king. When that happens and they cry out to the Lord, He will not answer them because they will have chosen this for themselves.
Samuel is old, and his sons are corrupt. The elders of Israel gather in Ramah to ask Samuel to appoint a king over them. Samuel resists, but the Lord tells the prophet to do as the people have said after warning them about what a king will take from them. The list includes their children, property, fields, crops, and freedom. The Lord will not save them from their king, Samuel warns. The elders insist they still want a king like all the other nations. The Lord agrees and tells Samuel to provide them one.
