1 Samuel 8, God's smater plan!

It was a long journey together to finish off the book of Judges. And, we’ve finished the first seven chapters of 1 Samuel. Yet, it is not until now in 1 Samuel 8 that we are going to see the end of the Judges period and the new season in the history of Israel, when kings would rule.

1 Samuel 7:17 closed the chapter 7 with a comment on how Samuel always went on to judge Israel from his home town of Ramah. And, 1 Samuel 8:1 begins with another comment about Samuel. He was now an aging figure in Israel; he appointed his two sons, Joel and Abijah, to serve the Lord at Beersheba, some fifty seven miles away from Ramah where he ministered. His sons had biblical and godly names: Joel “The Lord is God” and Abijah “My Father is the Lord.” And, you would think that a godly leader like Samuel would have perfectly godly children fitting their godly names. We see that this was not the case.

1. You are responsible for your own spiritual walk.

Their reputable and biblical names meant just that, names only. Verse 3 tells us that they did not walk in their father’s ways. Instead, they were after dishonest gain by accepting bribes and perverting justice. Deuteronomy 10:17 says this about God, “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.” And, his commandment was to be like him according to Deuteronomy 16:19-20, “not pervert justice or show partiality… not to accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Proverbs 17:23 says, “A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the course of justice.”

The fact that godly Samuel had wicked children teaches us this truth. We are all responsible for our own spiritual walk. Samuel’s sons could blame no one but themselves for their moral failures. Seeing the big picture of Samuel’s life, there is no doubt that Samuel instructed and trained his boys according to Proverbs 23:6, “Train a child in the way he should go.” The sons were called to walk in father’s ways. But, they didn’t. Each of us must account for our actions. You cannot blame your parents for where you are spiritually. You cannot blame the church for where you are spiritually. You cannot blame the world for where you are spiritually with God. Romans 14:10-12 says this, “… For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the LORD, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So, then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” You are responsible for your spiritual condition.

2. When you feel rejected, turn to God who can clarify you what’s really going on and what you need to do.

Verse 4 and 5, we see the all the elders of Israel confronting the aging leader Samuel at Ramah. They reasoned with Samuel. “You are old… Your sons do not walk in your ways.” On these reasons, they demanded Samuel to “appoint a king to lead” them, just like “all other nations have.”

Verse 6 shows how Samuel thought of this demand from the Israelites and how he dealt with it. Now, let’s remember that this was Samuel who secured a great victory over the Philistines for them, a lasting peace through his life time with God’s help. Now, here they were telling Samuel basically, “Samuel, you are good as dead and your sons are no good. So, let us tell you what we think is best for us. Now, we are not asking, but we are telling you, we are demanding you to give us what we want. Give us a king to lead us just like the nations around us.”

We don’t know exactly how personally Samuel took this. All we are told is that he was displeased with what they were saying to him. Perhaps, he was annoyed, upset, attacked, unappreciated, felt taken for granted, cheated, pushed aside… Perhaps, he felt that God’s honor was at stake.

Could we fault Samuel if he took things personally? How would you feel if you were Samuel? What would you do? Wouldn’t you take what they were saying personally and get upset about it? When you feel displeased by what others say to you, what do you do?

Verse 6 tells us, feeling displeased Samuel “prayed to the LORD.” Instead of exploding in anger, unleashing his wrath against the people of Israel, or arguing, defending, fighting back… he brought the matter before the LORD. The feeling of displeasure was real and strong, but what was more important for Samuel was to know how God thought of the situation and what God wanted him to do.

Verse 7-9 shows what God thought of the Israelites wanting a king for themselves. He said: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.” Let’s break down what God was saying to Samuel.

• Their rejection was ultimately the rejection of God as their king.
• This rejection of God as their king was equivalent to their forsaking him and serving other gods.
• People’s rejection of God meant the rejection of his servant, Samuel, as well.
• God’s practical solution was to grant them their demand, but only after warning them what the earthly king on the throne will do.

God clarified for Samuel what was really going on. If Samuel acted out of his impulse, he would not have gotten the big picture. The big picture was that Samuel was being rejected by people not because it was personally against him, but because people had rejected God as their king. So what was at stake was God’s honor.

God also clarified for Samuel what he had to do. There was a situation in Luke 9. Jesus sent messengers ahead of him into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him. But, the people there did not welcome him. Luke 9:54 recorded how James and John reacted to their rejection of Jesus. “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” They felt right to feel this way. But, “Jesus turned and rebuked them.” Jesus rebuked them because he instructed them earlier in Luke 9:5; “if people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” Shaking off dust off feet isn’t exactly the same thing as calling down fire from heaven to destroy, right? If Samuel acted without seeking God first, he would have acted upon his sinful impulse. He would have massed things up. Here is the truth; when we bring difficult matters to God he clarifies things for us and reveals to us what he wants us to do.

3. Sin makes you dumb.

Before the LORD agrees to give them a king, God solemnly warned them what the king they wanted would do in 1 Samuel 8:10-18; the king would make the sons of Israel serve him in his army, daughters of Israel as his perfumers, cooks and bakers, take the best of the best from the people; the king would reduce them to his slaves. This is what the kings of other nations did. And, this is what the king in Israel would do. This sounds like a bad deal! When they finally come to realize how oppressive it is to have a human king over them and ask God relief from their king they have chosen, God warned them he would not answer them. But, verse 19 tells us that this is what the people wanted!

What was better, to be ruled by the righteous, just, kind, loving, gracious and merciful God, the King of the universe or be ruled by a imperfect human king who might be after his own gain and become oppressive? The people chose latter. This points to how stupid we can become. It doesn’t make sense that the Israelites would choose the system of human kingship that would be oppressive to their daily existence over God’s rule that promises the life in the green pasture under his protection.

Sin does this… sin makes us dumb; we go after the substandard, temporary gain that we can create over the extraordinary and eternal gain God can give us.

4. God redeems you from your stupidity.

Humanly speaking, it would have been logical for God to reject people who reject him. People wanted a human king to lead them with a standing army that could defend the nation against any powerful invader. This relying on a human earthly king was to reject God’s rule, God’s protection over them, God’s kingship over them. So, why not reject those who reject him? What we learn about our God is God is the redeemer. He can redeem us from being dumb to be smart.

Few hundred years ago before Samuel’s time, God already told Moses that the elders and people would demand a king over them in Deuteronomy 17:14. When this happen, God instructed Moses to be sure to appoint over them the king the LORD their God chooses.

Here is the deeper truth. It was the will of the people of Samuel’s generation to have a human king over them for all the wrong reasons. But, it was also God’s will that there be a human king over them as well. So, God’s will and human will seem to the same. Of course, the difference is the kind of king God wanted for the Israelites to the kings the Israelites wanted for themselves. God answers to their demand to have a king because it was his will to do so even though it was not for the right reason on their part.

The king that the Israelites wanted was like the rest of the nations around Israel. Other nations had their kings as their supreme leaders. These kings of other nations considered themselves as gods who hold the ultimate power over them. The kings they wanted would be oppressive to their daily existence as pointed out already. Their desire to have a king like other nations had was really about forsaking God and serving other gods. It was a form of idolatry.

But, God’s plan was to redeem their idolatrous heart, by granting them kings who would be all about the kingdom of God. While the people wanted to have a king like other nations had, God wanted a king unlike other nations, but cut out for him.

Going back to Deuteronomy 17 passage, God gave Moses specific instruction as to what king of king they were to appoint over Israel. Here are some qualifications

• The king must be chosen by God (v. 15)
• The king must not acquire large numbers of horses; the king must not return his people to Egypt to get more horses (v. 16)
• The king must not take many wives or accumulate large amounts of silver or gold for this will head his heart astray (v. 17b).
• The king was to have his own copy of the scripture to read all the days of his life, so that he might learn to revere the LROD his God and follow carefully all the words of the scripture (v. 18-19).
• The king was not to consider himself better than his brothers (v. 20).
• God promise that he and his descendants will reign over a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

As we will learn soon, none of the kings in Israel fulfilled God’s desire completely; even the great godly king David failed to meet God’s standard of king. The only true person who was met God’s requirement to be the true king was none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus was rich, yet became poor on our behalf. He didn’t go after the earthly power during his ministry; he didn’t raise up a standing army for himself; he acquired no gold or silver; he built no place for himself; he acquired no wives for himself; what he did was to carry our sins, the rebellious hearts that reject God, allowed himself to be nailed on the cross to shed his blood and die. And, God raised him up from the dead to be the only king who truly fit for God to rule over the kingdom of God.

So, what we see is God redeeming wrongly motivated sinful will of people to fulfill his righteous will.

Applications

1. What are you doing to ensure your spiritual walk is on the solid ground? How are you taking responsibility for your own spiritual walk?
2. Do you turn to God for his counsel when you are in difficult relational situations?
3. What dumb things do you do in sin?
4. Do you believe God is smarter than you are?