Need versus Want: Daily Thoughts from 1 Samuel (1 Samuel 8:1-9)

My grandkids have learned a pretty neat trick. When they want something they tell me they need it. What self-respecting grandparent is going to deny a grandchild something they need? What do we really need?

God has been showing Israel that He is all they need, that He is their Stone of Help (Ebenezer) and Samuel is his chosen leader, but when the situation with Samuel changes, Israel shows that they haven’t really learned their lesson.

When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:1-9, ESV)

We need government. We know we need someone to mediate between us when there are disputes. We know we need someone to have authority to punish evil. We know we need wisdom to legislate what is best for the whole community rather than each of us following our own whims. We need the order and safety that government brings. Unfortunately, vesting authority in those among us to lead us risks putting people in control who are subject to the same sin and ignorance as the worst of us. No human government has ever yet figured out how to do away with sin in its leadership. This is why the best governments should provide checks and balances to authority as much as possible.

Samuel’s system was to put someone in charge over Israel that he trusted, his own sons, without searching to see if God had appointed them to this task. This is what kings did, assuming their offspring would be king once they died. Either Samuel did not know his sons well enough or was, like Eli, too weak to discipline them when they perverted justice by taking bribes. They were taking bribes and that is one of the most destructive things a community can experience. When I know that I can get my way by paying money I work the system to my own advantage. When I know I cannot afford to get justice I either walk in constant fear and intimidation or get fed up and seek justice by violent means. In either case, godliness goes out the window.

God was supposed to be the one who appointed judges and the one who judged them. The people wanted a king, someone they appointed, whose power would, they thought, give them the security they needed and which they felt judges had not provided them. After all, the other countries had kings. This foolish argument (“Everybody is doing it”) is met by parents of children every day somewhere in the world.

Samuel, to his credit, was upset when Israel asked for a king. I would have been upset when they told me I was old and my kids were rotten. But Samuel has his priorities straight in this regard, even if he has messed up in some other ways. He doesn’t want to give in to Israel’s request.

Yahweh said it was a rejection of Him that lay behind this request. But He was going to give Israel her way. Sometimes a parent has to show a child the hard way or they will not learn. Hannah had already predicted a king, as had Jacob (Genesis 49) and Moses (Deuteronomy 17). God knew the people would come to this place. Sometimes God gives us what we want to show us that we don’t really need it. We need Him.