Chapter 8

As Samuel gets old he sets his sons up as judges.  But they take bribes and pervert justice.  It seems that sons very often revolt against the ways of their fathers.  It is almost like it's a natural law.

Because of the evil of Samuel's sons, the leaders of Israel ask Samuel to appoint them a king.  Samuel is angered by it, but God tells him to do as they ask, after warning them of the consequences of having a king.  Maybe Samuel was seeing his sons as succeeding him in power in Israel?  Where is the high priest at this time, what has happened to the Aaronic and Levitical lines during this 400 years or so? 

2024 - Another example of a good father with bad sons.  Did Samuel do something wrong?  Did he spend too much time "circuit judging"?  Was he too dedicated to God to take care of his family, or did he just overdo the whole thing?  Eli had the same kind of problem with Hophni and Phineas.  I wonder if that's what Dad thought was going on with me in the old days?  But back to the question...is this just inevitable and unpreventable?  How can we say that being a good father and raising a son faithful to God precludes a man's full dedication to God himself?  And yet, how many times does this happen in the Bible?  Perhaps the problem was in lack of correction?  Eli knew what his boys were doing, confronted them, and was ignored.  And then he failed to remove them from their positions.  Likely Samuel also knew what his sons were doing.  He could have maybe countered the demand of the people for a King with a promise to appoint fair, righteous judges over them to replace his sons.  Hmm...In a way, both Eli and Samuel participated in the evil their sons were doing in that they could have removed them from office...taken away their power to do evil...but they didn't do that.  In these two cases at least, that seems to make sense.

2022 - This struck me as a bigger deal this year than it had before.  The people asked for a King because they were sick and tired of being taken advantage of by Samuel's own sons.  No wonder Samuel was angered by this development.  At the same time, how did Samuel not remember what had happened to Hophni and Phineas just a generation before.  Is the lesson that fathers have to treat their sons as strangers if that is what it takes to ensure the integrity of the office/family?  Surely that is at least one lesson out of this.  This verse confirms:

6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 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. [1Sa 8:6-7 ESV].  Clearly, Samuel felt that this was an affront to his own service as judge for so many years.  But God says he needs to get over himself.  It is after all God who is being rejected here, and Samuel's problems are a small matter...and perhaps one of his own making.

Basically, he tells them the king will take a tenth of everything, and all the best things, and they will more or less become the king's slaves.  He says they will get tired of this and try to undo what they've done, but God is not going to answer them when that happens.

2022 - This verse:

17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. [1Sa 8:17 ESV].  Does this really say that the one to whom you pay taxes is the one who's slave you are?  Are Americans slaves to the US and State governments?  I don't see how you can read this any other way.

God has told Samuel that this action is a revolt against God, not against Samuel.  They are saying they don't want God as king, but a man as king.

Despite Samuel's warning, the people insist on a king.  So Samuel sends them away after God says to give them what they ask.