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1 Samuel 8:5 – Motives Behind Israel Wants A King
Israel wanted a king “like the nations” (1 Sam.8:5). Deuteronomy predicts this would happen (17:14-15). A king in Israel was not against God’s plan unless we want to consider God only decided Jesus’ genealogy and kingship after Israel’s demand for a king. If not, then what was the problem? It is the same three problems mankind has always had and will continue to have. First, Israel wanted God’s gift of a king before God was ready to give it. Reminds me of Eve and Adam in the garden. They wanted knowledge before God was ready for them to receive it. Waiting on God is never easy, but it relies on God being wiser than ourselves. Second, they wanted a king to replace God as king. Again we can go back to our first parents. The fruit would make them like God meaning their knowledge could replace their need of depending on God’s knowledge. Third, being like the world is not listening to God. Should we be surprised to see this thinking in the garden too? Along comes someone who claims to know something they don’t: that God doesn’t want them to have knowledge. So Eve and Adam choose to be like the Serpent and call God a liar. This is like the world. Most everything we need to know is found in Genesis 1-3; including why we continue to choose a king other than Jesus. We want something now; something other than God; while clinging to a dangerous need to belong to something other than God.
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