Diggin' into the Word

[DavidinBulgaria]

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Let's dig into the Word of God together.

In a Bible class I was leading in Germany a couple of years ago we were studying through 1 Samuel. When we got to 1 Samuel 8:1-8 I was amazed to read what God said to old Judge Samuel. It seems the good old Judge raised two sons who weren't nearly as good at judging the children of Israel as their dad. When the elders of Israel realized the bad sons would probably take over when old Samuel died, they approached him asking that he appoint a king over them (instead of his bad sons) to lead the nation. God's response in verse 7 is what really caught my attention. It seems Samuel thought the people were rejecting his leadership (as judge) over them. When he took his petition to God, God replied, "...for they have not rejected you, but have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them) 1 Sam. 8:7b.

I'd like to discuss the ramifications of this powerful statement by God to Samuel, both in the context in which it was given and what it means to us today.

What say ye?

In His service and yours,
David in Bulgaria

 

[DaPastor]

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

Let's dig into the Word of God together.

In a Bible class I was leading in Germany a couple of years ago we were studying through 1 Samuel. When we got to 1 Samuel 8:1-8 I was amazed to read what God said to old Judge Samuel. It seems the good old Judge raised two sons who weren't nearly as good at judging the children of Israel as their dad. When the elders of Israel realized the bad sons would probably take over when old Samuel died, they approached him asking that he appoint a king over them (instead of his bad sons) to lead the nation. God's response in verse 7 is what really caught my attention. It seems Samuel thought the people were rejecting his leadership (as judge) over them. When he took his petition to God, God replied, "...for they have not rejected you, but have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them) 1 Sam. 8:7b.

It is interesting to me that God allowed them a King in anger.

I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

-Hosea 13:11

 

[Chaplain]

I think that God was seeing things taking place that he had already for-knew and was letting Samuel know that the children of Israel were not turning away from him, but from God. Just as Moses had predicted in Deuteronomy 31: 26-29 " Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; "for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD, then how much more after my death? "Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them."For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands." I think that this is the time and place where God had lifted His hand from Israel and was about to let those things Moses had warned them about to take place. It also began, for lack of a better term, Gods time clock for the first coming of Christ. Thus by Christ's coming, it opened the door for our salvation.


just my thoughts on my last day home.

 

[DavidinBulgaria]

All,

The ones who came to Samuel with a request for a king were the elders of Israel. Most certainly these "elders" were the tribal leaders of the various extended-family groups of Israelites--we'd call them the patriarchs of the families. They were the leaders of their families but they had already given up a certain amount of their authority to the system of judges. When they saw the sons of Samuel as corrupt they pleaded with Samuel to appoint a king over them like the pagan tribes around them. A point to be made here is these elders had been given all the authority they needed, straight from God, to lead their extended families and to survive in the world. Abraham would be a good example of this. The key, of course, is if the leader of the family would submit to the Kingship of God. When they tried to do things their way instead of God's way, things often didn't go well.
They should not have needed judges over them. God first approved judges when the family leaders of the exodus time needed Moses to settle disputes between families. And they didn't need an earthly king over them because they had God! He had told them how they were to live toward Him over and over throughout the years.
Samuel had been a good and successful judge. We can only guess that some of the patriarchs of the day tried to get away with selfish things and underhanded things, hoping they could maybe "pull-a-quick-one" over on Samuel. Selfishness was at the heart of the need for judges. Of course Samuel tried to do his best to judge the people. When the patriarchs asked him to appoint a king over them instead of his sons he must have felt like a failure. He seems to have been deeply hurt at their seeming rejection of him. When he took his complaint to God, God set the record straight--the request for an earthly king was a rejecion of God and His reign over them, not their rejection of Samuel. God was their God, their Lord, their King. They didn't need any earthly man to help them get along with each other or to survive in the world if they would only put their trust and faith in the God who had led and protected them successfully in the past. God allowed Samuel to give them an earthly king to prove to them how bad it was to reject God's leadership over them. The difference is, of course, that any earthly king is just a man--a sinner like them--while God is eternal and free from sin.
Now, how does all of this apply to us? What message can we take from it? God has given us His Word to guide us. He has told us in simple terms how He wants us to live with each other and in relationship with Him. He has told us what He considers sin and what we must not do. He has never been shy about telling us what sin is. At the same time I don't think He wants us to call anything sin that He has not called sin (who do we think we are, anyway?). God has given us everything in this physical world to help prepare us to know Him and everything in the spiritual world. We are without excuse. So when the patriarchs of old asked for a king or when we set up any earthly man or organization over us that takes the place of God, God can't be happy with us. Of course God foreknew all this would happen, it was no surprise to Him. But generation after new generation of people, and especially leaders of families, must learn anew that God is God and we should obey Him, follow Him, reverence Him, and allow Him to be Lord of our hearts, lives, and families.

In His service and yours,
David in Bulgaria

 

[^_^]

Yet the other interesting thing is, Moshe told these folks, actually, I think it was Yahweh who told them through Moshe, that they would have a king over them, and said king would abuse them.... so which way was it? Was it his will or no? Was this another if/then thing, it would have been OK had they wanted a king for the right reasons?