This coming Sunday we will be focusing on 1 Samuel 8.4-20 & 11.14-15. In these passages we get a glimpse at why the people of Israel decided that they wanted a king. This was something that displeased the prophet/priest Samuel. For he felt that the people were turning away from the Lord as their ruler, and instead were following the path of the surrounding nations. Up until this point the people of Israel had not been ruled by a centralized government. Instead God would raise up judges to help set free the various tribes of Israel from outside forces. But, when Samuel (the last judge) begins to get older, the elders of Israel (1 Samuel 8.4-5) thought this was as good of time as any to introduce the monarchy.
Interestingly, the Lord does not seem to be quite as mad as Samuel is about introducing the monarchy. Instead, the Lord tells Samuel to "listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you" (1 Samuel 8.7). As we then turn to chapter 11 we find the king installed ----- King Saul.
As we read these verses we understand that the people rejected the Lord in their desire for the monarchy (1 Samuel 8.7). But, we have read about how King David was a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13.14). How do those two things go together? Do we know what God has in mind when it comes to the monarchy?
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