1 Samuel 8:1–8:22
Sources
Reformed ConsensusReformation Study BibleGeneva Bible Notes (1599)John Trapp (1647)John Gill (1748)Matthew Henry (1714)Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBarnes (1832)Cross-References (TSK)Reformed Consensus
Israel's demand for a king in 1 Samuel 8 reveals the deep corruption of the human heart, which perpetually seeks to replace divine rule with visible, creaturely authority — a rebellion Calvin identifies as paradigmatic of mankind's preference for earthly security over covenantal dependence on God. Samuel's grief at the people's request is met by the Lord's sobering word that they have not rejected Samuel but have rejected *Him* from being king over them (v. 7), exposing that political idolatry and spiritual apostasy are never truly separable, as Matthew Henry observes in tracing this rejection back to their long pattern of forsaking God for false gods. The Lord grants their request not in approval but in judicial concession, a pattern Poole and Henry both note as one of God's most solemn judgments — giving a people what they crave so that the consequences themselves become the discipline. The "manner of the king" (vv. 11–18) that Samuel rehearses is not merely political warning but covenantal prophecy: the king-as-lord they desire will become a tyrant over their sons, daughters, fields, and flocks, demonstrating that all human sovereignty exercised apart from submission to the true King ends in bondage. That the people refuse to heed even this warning (v. 19) underscores the Reformed insistence on the totality of sin's noetic and volitional effects — they see clearly and choose wrongly, crying out for a king who will make them "like all the nations," the very condition from which God had called them to be distinct.
Reformation Study Bible
appoint for us a king. The reasons given by the elders for wanting a king, though acceptable in themselves (as confirmed by the narrator in wy. 1-3), are really a pretext; what they really wanted was to become like “all the nations” (cf. v. 20). | they have not rejected you. Since the elders couch their request in terms of a “king to judge us” (v. 5 note), Samuel initially interprets their overture as an attack on his own leadership (v. 6). But the Lord points out to him that the affront is far graver than that. they have rejected me. The offense of the elders’ request lies not in the concept of human kingship in itself, for kingship in Israel had long been anticipated (2:10 note), but in breaking their covenant relationship with God. Their sin was to reject God as their king and to take instead a human monarch (10:19; 12:12-20; and contrast Gideon's refusal in Judg. 8:23). | who were asking for a king, For the second time in 1 Samuel an individual is “asked for.” The individual given in response to the first request was Samuel (1:20 note), and it is Saul (whose name is based on the Hebrew root meaning “ask for”) who will be given in response to the second request. P | These will be the ways of the king. Israel's Canaanite neighbors and many of the Israelite kings were guilty of harsh practices like those described in vv. 11-17. run before. Compare the actions of Absalom in 2 Sam. 15:1 with Adonijah in 1 Kin. 1:5. chariots. See 2 Sam. 8:4; 15:1; 1 Kin. 4:26; 10:26-29. | fields .. . vineyards. See note 22:7. | tenth. The demands of the king will either take from what belongs to the Lord (Lev. 27:30-32; Deut. 14:22, 28) or create a tax bur- den for his subjects. | your king. See 12:13 and contrast 16:1. the Lorp will not answer you. Judging by the consequences, Israel's rejection of the Lord in favor of a human king is the moral and religious equivalent of forsaking the Lord to serve other gods (Judg. 10:10-14). | like all the nations. See note on v. 5. fight our battles. To be contrasted with “the Loro’s battles’ (18:17; 25:28). | Obey their voice and make them a king. The Lord's concession to the people's sinful request is, at this point in the account, perplexing. If their desire for a king is sinful, amounting to a rejection of God as king (vw. 7, 18 and notes), how can God grant it? One answer lies in the stan- dards of acceptable kingship that the Lord will establish. God is gra- ciously willing to give the people a king and even to bless him, although not the sort of king they envisage (10:1, 7, 8 and notes). At the same time, because they adopted kingship in unbelief, they came to suffer under kings like those of the nations. Go every man to his city. Samuel's dismissal of the men of Israel implies that appointing a king will require some preparation. The course of that preparation will be related in the chapters that follow.
Geneva Bible Notes (1599)
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he {a} made his sons judges over Israel. (a) Because he was not able to bear the charge.
John Trapp (1647)
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. And it came to pass, when Samuel was old. — Sixty at least, say interpreters; and so less able to do all himself. Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque … fert, i.e., aufert. Age disableth for duty many times. That he made his sons judges over Israel. — Substitutes to himself, not without God’s permission and consent likely, being so holy a man. It may well be thought that he had given them good breeding, and had great hopes of their good behaviour in executing their office. It is probable also that at first they carried the matter well, till puffed up with their new dignity, and corrupted by gifts. Nero’s first five years were such that Trajan was wont to say, that none ever attained to the perfection of them. Be it that Samuel was some way faulty in setting up his sons, as there is no pomegranate but hath one or more rotten kernels in it, yet it is no way likely that he was guilty of that indulgence for which his own month had denounced God’s judgments against Eli: yet he succeeded him in his cross as well as his place, though not in his sin.
John Gill (1748)
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old,.... The common notion of the Jews is, that he lived but fifty two years (t); when a man is not usually called an old man, unless the infirmities of old age came upon him sooner than they commonly do, through his indefatigable labours from his childhood, and the cares and burdens of government he had long bore; though some think he was about sixty years of age; and Abarbinel is of opinion that he was more than seventy. It is a rule with the Jews (u), that a man is called an old man at sixty, and a grey headed man at seventy: that he made his sons judges over Israel; under himself, not being able through old age to go the circuits he used; he sent them, and appointed them to hear and try causes in his stead, or settled them in some particular places in the land, and, as it seems by what follows, at Beersheba; though whether that was under his direction, or was their own choice, is not certain. (t) Seder Olam Rabba, ut supra. (c. 13. p. 35.) (u) Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21.
Matthew Henry (1714)
It does not appear that Samuel's sons were so profane and vicious as Eli's sons; but they were corrupt judges, they turned aside after lucre. Samuel took no bribes, but his sons did, and then they perverted judgment. What added to the grievance of the people was, that they were threatened by an invasion from Nahash, king of the Ammonites.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
CHAPTER 8 1Sa 8:1-18. Occasioned by the Ill- Government of Samuel's Sons, the Israelites Ask a King. 1-5. when Samuel was old—He was now about fifty-four years of age, having discharged the office of sole judge for twelve years. Unable, from growing infirmities, to prosecute his circuit journeys through the country, he at length confined his magisterial duties to Ramah and its neighborhood (1Sa 7:15), delegating to his sons as his deputies the administration of justice in the southern districts of Palestine, their provincial court being held at Beer-sheba. The young men, however, did not inherit the high qualities of their father. Having corrupted the fountains of justice for their own private aggrandizement, a deputation of the leading men in the country lodged a complaint against them in headquarters, accompanied with a formal demand for a change in the government. The limited and occasional authority of the judges, the disunion and jealousy of the tribes under the administration of those rulers, had been creating a desire for a united and permanent form of government; while the advanced age of Samuel, together with the risk of his death happening in the then unsettled state of the people, was the occasion of calling forth an expression of this desire now.Samuel makes his sons judges over Israel; their names, and ill government, 1 Samuel 8:1-3 . The people ask a king: Samuel is grieved; prays, 1 Samuel 8:4-6 . God is displeased with the people; but commands Samuel to hearken to them, and to represent to them the tyrannical government of kings, 1 Samuel 8:7-9 ; which he doth, 1 Samuel 8:10-18 . The people continue in their request: God commands Samuel to yield to them, 1 Samuel 8:19-22 . when Samuel was old, and so unable for his former travels and labours, he made his sons judges; not supreme judges, for such there was to be but one, and that of Godâs choosing, and Samuel still kept that office in his own hands, 1 Samuel 7:15 ; but his vicegerents or deputies, who might go about and determine matters, but with reservation of a right of appeals to himself. He advanceth his sons to this place, not so much out of paternal indulgence, the sad effects whereof he had seen in Eli; but because he had doubtless instructed them in a singular manner, and fitted them for the highest employments; and he hoped that the example he had set them, and the inspection and authority he still had over them, would have obliged them to diligence and faithfulness in the execution of their trust.
Barnes (1832)
This verse implies a long period, probably not less than 20 years, of which we have no account except what is contained in the brief notice in 1 Samuel 7:13-17 . The general idea conveyed is of a time of peace and prosperity, analogous to that under other Judges.
Cross-References (TSK)
1Samuel 7:17; 1Samuel 8:2; Deuteronomy 16:18; Judges 8:22; 2Chronicles 19:5; Nehemiah 7:2; 1Timothy 5:21; Judges 5:10; Judges 10:4; Judges 12:14; 1Samuel 8:1; 1Samuel 8:6; 1Samuel 8:10; 1Samuel 8:19; Judges 19:17; Judges 20:38; Ruth 1:1; 1Samuel 5:6; 1Samuel 7:15; 1Samuel 8:5; 1Samuel 8:11; 1Samuel 8:4; 1Samuel 14:48