1 Samuel 8 Government systems

1 Samuel 8

Samuel is now an old man and while he has been faithful in serving God and judging fairly his 2 sons are not following their fathers example.
The Elders of Israel ask Samuel to appoint a king to rule the country. They tell Samuel, in as many words, you are getting on and your sons are not like you, therefore we want a king like the other nations.

Samuel is not impressed by this and turns to God in prayer - I have to admit that far too often this is not my first priority, though I'm sure it would make me a better and more considered person, it is one of the many things I need to practise......

God tells Samuel that Israel has not rejected him, but they have rejected the rule of God, just like they had time after time since God led Israel out of Egypt.

Samuel give Israel of a what having a king will mean to them basically the king will have the right to -

• call up their children to be in his army  
• work his farms and gather his harvests
• work in munitions factories and make weapons
• make their daughters into cooks and perfumers and bakers
• commandeer the best of the land, fields, vineyards and olive groves and give them to his followers
• Impose a tax on the remaining harvest of grain, wine and olive oil and earnings
• take servants from the population for his service and the same with flocks and cattle
• basically turn the Israelites into servants of the state.

On that day they may regret their choice but God will not listen to them.

Israel responded that, thank you very much, but we still want a king.

Samuel dismissed them back to their homes and we will take the appropriate action.

As you probably know I live in the UK where we have a constitutional monarchy - the Queen is our head of state and she is advised and relies on the government and ministers to rule, manage the armed forces and generally run the country led by the "Prime Minister" (Which was originally a term of disdain and mockery) 

A parliamentary democracy with constitutional monarch seems to have similar powers to the king in this chapter - at least they tax double what the king did in this chapter!

Winston Churchill once said "Democracy is the worst form of Government except all the others that have been tried" - I hope one day to live in a theocracy where God is truly king and all people in the kingdom will serve and worship him with all our hearts, minds and souls and loving each other as ourselves.