Israel’s Desire for a King

There is a strange spirit in 2025 America. One might call it an uncivil warring spirit. And it all centers around Donald Trump. One part of America sees him as the savior of the not-so United States, the other part sees him as the wrecker of these United States. One part sees him as the only trustworthy politician, and lends trust to those politicians who support him, and the other part sees him as the ultimately untrustworthy politician with all his allies as bootlicking lackeys. One part celebrates his do-something commandeering of our national government, the other part denounces his tyrannical, unconstitutional despotism. And there seems to be no ability for either side to convince the other of their point of view.

There was a similar strange spirit in Israel during the time of the priest/prophet Samuel’s administration, though to all appearances there was a hugely greater majority of Israelites on one side of this disagreement, Samuel seeming to be the only opposing viewpoint (unless you count God). The majority wanted a king and God said this was sinful. What was sinful about it?

The Sin of Idealizing Human Leaders

^8:1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s judges. ² The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they ministered at Beersheba. ³ But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (1 Samuel 8:1-5)

Samuel was Israel’s judge, leading Israel’s forces against her enemies and holding court to adjudicate conflicts, like the judges before him had done. He appointed his sons as judges and stationed them in the southern most region of Israel to provide an easier travel for people from that area. But his sons were corrupt judges, taking bribes to make certain decisions and so perverting justice. They were about enriching themselves, not about using their power to benefit their people.

Samuel was not long for this world and the elders of Israel were not pleased with the corrupt behavior of his sons, so they expressed to Samuel what they really wanted in terms of governance in Israel. They wanted a king, a king like all the other nations had to judge them. It is as if they supposed that a king would not be like Samuel’s sons, subject to corruption and self-centered leadership. In their minds a king could only be virtuous and provide the kind of salvation they needed. What naiveté, self-delusion, and fairytale dreaming! What is it that would lead otherwise intelligent people to pin their hopes on a foibled, fallible, and fractured human being?

For Israel it was undoubtedly, in part, their disappointment in the quality of leadership their current leaders were providing. Instead, however, of serving as a warning of the inevitably flawed nature of human leaders, it fueled their irrational hope for an Übermensch, a superman, who could lead their nation to glory.

This irrational hope is what has fueled America’s election of Donald Trump to the presidency. Despite many clear indicators of his corruption and egotism, he has been chosen to “save” our country. He himself has declared that only he can save our country, and even self-designated Christians have believed him.

As an indicator that Americans and Evangelicals have felt the criticism that they are giving power to a flawed individual, articles have been published citing Trump’s benevolence and self-sacrifice. This is an attempt to lionize and idealize him and offset the claims of his glaring failings. The Israelites committed the sin of idealizing human leaders and we have also.

The Sin of Envy

⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (1 Samuel 8:5)

The Israelites wanted a king like the other nations had. They envied the other nations. They did not see how God had favored their nation and designed a governance for Israel that set it apart from the other nations, the Law of Yahweh given through Moses, and regional judges elevated by God to lead the people.

There was a great deal of individual freedom for Israelites, with each tribe having autonomy, yet confederated when there was a need for fighting an enemy. But apparently the elders of Israel did not feel it was a very secure status. They had seen how the other nations around them had kings who could command the entire nation to go to war.

When our founding fathers developed our governance system in the Constitution, they assumed that the sinful lust for power would need to be checked. They devised a government of checks and balances, with three seats of power, the executive (the President), the legislative (Congress), and the judicial (the Supreme Court). This experiment in governance has seemed to work for over 200 years. But men like Trump have envied other nations with their dictators and strongmen. He said he would be a dictator at least the first day in office and has lengthened that dictatorship greatly. A dictator can get things done without having to be concerned about anyone else, and this has appealed to the American people, until they see the downside of this.

We, too, are guilty of the sin of envy.

The Sin of Rejecting God’s Authority

⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to Yahweh. ⁷ And Yahweh told him: “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. ⁸ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (1 Samuel 8:6-9)

God makes it clear to Samuel that the peoples’ desire for a king is a rejection of His authority and leadership. It is fascinating how God had been leading Israel during their governance by judges. When the tribes were wondering who should fight against the inhabitants of the land to further subdue their territory, they inquired of Yahweh and He told them Judah should (Judges 1:1-2). Judah succeeded, but the other tribes failed to conquer the Canaanites in their territories (Judges 1). Either they did not inquire of Yahweh, or they did not trust Yahweh to fight for them.

The Angel or Messenger of Yahweh, the Son of God appearing in human form, goes up to speak to the tribes and explain to them that their failure is due to disobedience. Here is God leading Israel in a very direct and concrete way. God raises up judges when Israel needs someone to deliver them from the enemy nations around them. God speaks through prophets like Samuel to lead the nation.

But now, Israel wants a human leader to lead them, not God. God is too inconvenient, He cares too much about their keeping covenant with Him (obeying His law), He lets things go too long before raising up a deliverer (He is disciplining them for covenant unfaithfulness and leading them to repentance).

Most Americans would not admit to rejecting God’s authority in electing Donald Trump as President. Just the opposite. Many evangelicals would claim that his politically motivated stance against abortion is a moral submission to God’s law and that voting for him is an acknowledgement of God’s authority. But there is a subtle way that electing Donald Trump evidences a rejection of God’s authority. Donald Trump doesn’t follow the Golden Rule, he doesn’t turn the other cheek, he calls people names, he claims anyone who disagrees with him is stupid and crazy, he bullies and runs roughshod over everyone, and uses unilateral executive actions to do an end run around congress, contrary to the constitution. He is an antichrist, a contrary-to-Christ person. He may give lip-service to God and the Bible, but he will not follow the ethic of Scripture because, apparently, we think we need him not to.

Trump’s policy of America first is a concession national selfishness. We don’t want any foreigners drawing on the benefits of our country (forget what they contribute to our country). We don’t want to help other countries fight for their survival against tyrannical invaders. We don’t even want our friends and allies to get any benefits like free trade if it in any way hurts our economy. We only want to focus on ourselves and what is good for us. We don’t want to be good Samaritans; we want to be selfish isolationists. That injured man on the side of the road…let him fend for himself. All that matters is us.

The Sin of Curbing Freedom to Coerce Policy

¹⁰ Samuel told all the words of Yahweh to the people who were asking him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. ¹² Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶ Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. ¹⁸ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but Yahweh will not answer you in that day.”

¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰ Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

Yahweh has Samuel warn Israel that the king will restrict the freedom they enjoyed, conscripting them and their children to his service, taking their land and taxing them to support his rule. They don’t care! They’re willing to give up their freedom to have a king who, in their minds, will guarantee their safety. Freedom be damned!

Electing Trump seems to signal a willingness to give up freedom. Trump would shut down the press, fire anyone who worked on the January 6 insurrection cases, shut down opportunities for minorities, send undocumented immigrants to Guantanamo with no access to legal representation, and allow ICE to arrest immigrants in church. We were warned it would be this way, but we said, “Give us a king.”

The Sin of Trusting Man Over God — Idolatry

⁸ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you…¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰ Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

Israel’s need to fight battles was due to their covenant-breaking behavior. They would begin worshiping false gods and disobeying the Law of Moses, and Yahweh would send enemy nations against them. If they repented, Yahweh would raise up a judge to lead the armies of Israel in battle against their enemies and there would be rest in the land.

But Israel did not like that way of doing things. They wanted a king to fight their battles, someone always in charge who could command the tribes to send their armies for battle. They didn’t trust Yahweh to come through for them. They trusted a king.

Of course, the religious among Trump supporters allege that God raised up Trump, like a judge of Israel, to rescue America. Rescue her from what? From evil immigrants (he represented all of them as evil), from those who identify as LGBTQ+, from the deep state led by Democrats, from the unfair treatment by other countries around the world, from world war three, from abortion (that hasn’t worked out), from lawlessness in our cities, etc., etc.

But he is our rescuer, not God. Some, without tongue in cheek, argue that God made Trump, something that Trump himself endorsed, and Trump has claimed that he is the only one who can save America. If God is the real rescuer of America, His representative would not claim that for himself. We have made an idol of Trump and worshiped at his altar.

The Sin of Rebellion

²¹ When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before Yahweh. ²² Yahweh answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”

Though it was obvious from Samuel’s response from Yahweh about having a king, that this was not Yahweh’s timing, not his desire at this point, Israel felt she had to have a king. God had predicted through Jacob that kingship would come to Israel through the line of Judah (Genesis 49:8-10), and had even given legislation about how the king should conduct himself in the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 17:14-20), but it was clear from His warning to Israel about a king’s enslavement of the people that this was not His time for them to have a king. But they did not want to hear this. They only heard the consequences of having a king and they thought they were willing to embrace those consequences for the benefit a king would bring. They rebelled.

And God permits their rebellious request. Like God granted their request for meat when they were wandering in the wilderness, with an onslaught of quail and a plague with it, so he would give them what they wanted, a king, and the onslaught that came with him.

We may say that God has granted us, too, our request, as a judgment upon our rebellious hearts. We should know that you don’t give power to a power-hungry, praise-hungry, morally impaired ego-centric. But we’re scared. Scared we are losing our way of life. And we aren’t repenting to God for the waywardness of our country. We’re looking for a man who will beat down those we consider wayward and fight our enemies for us. We’re done with turning the other cheek and the other kingdom values of Jesus.

God help us.