1 Samuel 8:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."

NIV: Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."

NASB: so that we also may be like all the nations, and our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.'

CSB: Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles."

NLT: We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.'

KJV: That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

NKJV: that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

At the Lord's direction, Samuel has given the Israelites a long list of reasons not to have a human king (1 Samuel 8:9). Mostly, he has warned them of all the things human kings take from their citizens, often abusing their power and reducing their subjects to a kind of slavery (1 Samuel 8:11–18). This warning is especially crucial, as Israel is not seeking a king through submission to God and His will (Deuteronomy 17:14–20). They want to be like other cultures (1 Samuel 8:4–5), something linked to their rejection of the Lord (Deuteronomy 18:9; Leviticus 20:22–23; 1 Samuel 8:7).

The Israelites, though, have insisted that they still want a human king (1 Samuel 8:19). Now they give three reasons they want a king. First, they admit their desire to be like all other nations. The people seem to believe having a king will give them greater status and belonging in the larger world.

Second, they want a king to judge them as a nation. This might mean bringing greater unity to the scattered tribes and regions of Israel. A single king would resolve disputes within and between factions. Finally, the people want a king to go before them and lead them in battle during times of conflict and war. With a king in place, the people will know where to turn when trouble comes and who is expected to carry the burden of making war and making peace.

Their arguments are compelling. These are, in fact, three of the most important duties of a king. He becomes the figurehead of the nation, the resolver of disputes, and the leader in battle. God's intent for human government falls exactly along those lines (Romans 13:1–7). Samuel's complaint is that the Lord had successfully filled these responsibilities for Israel when Israel was living in faithfulness to God. The people were not seeking to form a new government according to God's plan—they were seeking to govern as the world around them did. Still, the Lord would allow for His people to have their king.

First Samuel 8:19–22 describes the response of Israel's elders to Samuel's solemn warning from the Lord about human kings. The Israelites still insist on having a king. They want to be like the cultures around them, with a single leader to judge them and lead them in battle. When Samuel reports this to the Lord, God tells the prophet to do as the people have said and appoint a king for them. Samuel sends the elders back to their homes from Ramah.

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.

First Samuel 8 jumps forward in time perhaps thirty years from the events of the previous chapter. Samuel is now old and his sons, also judges, are corrupt. The elders of Israel gather to ask Samuel to appoint a king for them. Samuel doesn't like it, but he takes the request to the Lord. The Lord tells Samuel to do it, even though the people are rejecting Him as their king. Samuel warns the elders of all the things a king will take from them to serve himself. The elders still insist, and the Lord grants their request.

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.