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From Eternity Past
upon their persons and property would be necessary. The goodliest of
their young men he would require for his service. They would be made
charioteers and horsemen and runners before him. They must fill the
ranks of his army and be required to till his fields, reap his harvests,
and manufacture implements of war for his service. To support his
kingly state he would seize the best of their lands. The most valuable
of their servants and of their cattle he would take and “put them to his
own work.” Besides all this, the king would require a tenth of all their
income, the profits of their labor or the products of the soil. “Ye shall
be his servants,” concluded the prophet. “And the Lord will not hear
you in that day.” When once a monarchy was established, they could
not set it aside at pleasure.
The People Reject God as King
But the people returned the answer, “Nay; but we will have a king
over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may
judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”
“Like all the nations.” To be in this respect unlike other nations was
a special privilege. God had separated the Israelites from every other
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people, to make them His own peculiar treasure. But they desired to
imitate the heathen! As the professed people of God depart from the
Lord, they become ambitious for the honors of the world. Many urge
that by uniting with worldlings and conforming to their customs they
might exert a stronger influence over the ungodly. But all who pursue
this course separate from the Source of their strength. Becoming
friends of the world, they are enemies of God.
With deep sadness, Samuel listened to the people. But the Lord said
unto him, “Make them a king.” The prophet had faithfully presented
the warning, and it had been rejected. With a heavy heart he departed
to prepare for the great change in the government.
Samuel’s life of purity and unselfish devotion was a rebuke both to
self-serving priests and to the proud, sensual congregation of Israel.
His labors bore the signet of Heaven. He was honored by the world’s
Redeemer, under whose guidance he ruled the Hebrew nation. But the
people, weary of his piety, despised his humble authority and rejected
him for a man who should rule them as a king.