After the wars of Joshua and the conquering of the promised land, Israel fell into turmoil (Judg. 1). The conquest remained incomplete. Their failure was the result of apostasy—tolerating and even embracing other gods. As punishment, God allowed Israel to be overrun by foreign oppressors. The book of Judges chronicles that period, which was basically a repetitious cycle of apostasy, oppression, temporary repentance, and divinely appointed deliverance by a military leader referred to as a judge.
Samuel was a judge and served the people well. Unfortunately, his sons were corrupt and unreliable judges (1 Sam. 8:2–3). The Israelites saw an opportunity to demand something more permanent. They demanded Samuel appoint a king so they could be like the rest of the nations (1 Sam. 8:4–5). Samuel didn’t like the idea and said so to both the Israelites and God (1 Sam. 8:6). God told him not to take it personally, since the request was really a rejection of God, not the prophet (1 Sam. 8:7–9).
The negative assessment has been taken by many Bible students as proof that kingship for Israel was evil. This is hard to reconcile with the fact that Deuteronomy 17:14–20 lays down rules for good kingship for Israel once it entered the land. Kingship is viewed positively even earlier than that. Genesis 49:10 says very plainly that the tribe of Judah would produce kings.
How do we reconcile the apparent conflict of interest? Clarity comes later in 1 Samuel 8. In verse five the people demanded, “Appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” The language changes a bit in verses 19–20: “There shall be a king over us, 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.”
The desire for a king to go out and fight the nation’s battles is the key to understanding why the request was offensive. In Israel’s earlier history, it was God who had fought for Israel. God had defeated Egypt and her gods (Ex. 14–15), and he had brought Israel to the promised land in the form of an angel (Ex. 23:20–23). When Israel failed spiritually after Joshua died, the angel of the Lord forsook them, initiating the chaos of the period of the judges (Judg. 2:1–5).
Having a king wasn’t the issue. Replacing God as military leader showed that Israel had not learned her lesson. There was no will to trust God with their security as Moses and Joshua had done. They wanted a tough guy. Their choice, Saul, looked the part (1 Sam. 9:1–2). God planned for Israel to have a king but one who had a heart that would trust in him. Eventually, they’d get one: David.