Prophet Samuel (5) - Samuel and the King

The greatest prophetic incident in Samuel’s life occurred when Israel demanded a king. The Lord spoke clearly to Samuel about the evils of kingship and Moses gave a clear warning to the people. This is probably one of the most important prophetic messages in the entire Old Testament.

This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take…. He will take… He will take… He will take… He will take … and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day (1 Sam 8:11-18 truncated).

The prophecy has been fulfilled again and again through history. The warning should ring in the ears of every generation in every nation. Choosing a human ruler is rejection of God. Human rulers will take and take and take, regardless of how they have been appointed or elected. They make free people into slaves. Human government is not God’s plan for his people. He wants us to be free to trust and serve him.

The irony is that Christians have become so used to human government that we no longer heed Samuel’s warning. He said that they would “cry out for relief” to the Lord. Christians no longer do this. They have some much faith in human government, they think that if they can just get the right human government, then everything will fine. They believe that the problem will be solved at the next election. This is not true. Human government is never the solution. They only solution is to cry out to God for relief.

This full series can be found at Prophet Samuel.