1 Samuel 8:7-22: a reflection

7The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them. 8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they also do to you. 9Now therefore, listen to their voice. However, you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.” 10Samuel told all the LORD’s words to the people who asked him for a king. 11He said, “This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots. 12He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest; and to make his instruments of war and the instruments of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even your best, and give them to his servants. 15He will take one tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work. 17He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants. 18You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” 21Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and make them a king.” Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go to your own city.”

Israel comes to Samuel demanding a king, so that they may be like all the other nations. God tells Samuel to listen to them, but with a sobering word: they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. And he has Samuel warn them plainly what a human king will do: he will take their sons and daughters for his service, take their fields and their produce, take a tenth of everything, until they become his servants. Yet the people refuse to listen: No, they insist, we will have a king, that we may be like all the nations.

Notice what drove Israel's demand: they wanted to be like all the other nations. They were meant to be a people set apart, ruled by God himself; but they looked at the surrounding nations with their kings and wanted to be like them, and in wanting that, they rejected God's own rule over them. And though God warned them of the cost, they insisted, and God let them have what they demanded, even though it was not for their good.

That reveals a temptation we share: the pull to be like everyone else. God's people are called to be distinct, set apart, living under God's rule rather than conforming to the world around them. But the pull to be like everyone else is strong, and it can lead us, as it led Israel, to reject God's ways in favor of the world's. And God sometimes lets us have what we insist on, even when it is not for our good. Beware the desire to be like everyone else at the cost of God's rule over you. Do not reject God's ways to conform to the world; be content to be his distinct people, under his kingship, rather than insisting on being like all the nations, and receiving the cost of your own demand.

Lord, Israel demanded a king so that they might be like all the other nations, and in doing so they rejected your own rule over them; and though you warned them of the cost, they insisted, and you let them have what they demanded, though it was not for their good. Show me that same temptation in myself. Your people are called to be distinct, set apart, living under your rule rather than conforming to the world; but the pull to be like everyone else is strong, and it can lead me, as it led Israel, to reject your ways for the world's. Guard me from the desire to be like everyone else at the cost of your rule over me. Keep me from rejecting your ways to conform to the world. Help me be content to be your distinct people, under your kingship, rather than insisting on being like all the nations. Rule over me, Lord, and let me not demand what is not for my good.