"Retreat from Liberty"
1Samuel 8

September 9, 2007
by C.W. Powell

This brief account is the story of a revolution in the nation of Israel. There was a profound change in the nation, although it might not appear that to be the case, for many things remained seemingly as they were. The danger from the Philistines was a continuing threat to the nation, and the people were tired of war and thought to take radical steps to change the way that war was carried out.

Our founding fathers understood the danger that would come to the nation in the time of war. Because of external dangers the people will accept changes in government that will greatly affect the nation even after the external danger has passed. Such a time was the Civil War which brought about a radical change in the government of the United States. Again, World Wars I and II and the economic depression of the 30’s and 40’s brought about other great changes, followed hard by the revolution of the Viet Nam War and with the radical change in institutions and structures of government in the 60’s and continuing to our day.

The changes are often subtle and come in by increments and will not be understood by those who have little sense of history and a sense of what liberty is and what the responsibilities of liberty entail. For do not be deceived, those who reject the responsibility of being free will not long be free. Also, those who are content that others be enslaved while they themselves are free will not long be free either. The structures that are erected to keep others in bondage will eventually enslave those who erect them Those who despise the image of God in others will not long recognize the image of God in themselves. A man who does not see the image of God in his children will behave as a brute and tyrant, in the same way that a husband will behave if he does not see the image of God in his wife. You must see yourself in your children and your wives if you are to realize the purpose for which you have been created.

There is a great passage in Ephesians 6: “5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; 6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: 8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. 9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.” (Eph 6:5-9 AV)

When men turn aside from trust in God, they will erect institutions to which they will look for deliverance and salvation. Trust in God becomes an abstraction that is separated from reality in their minds. They will have many justifications from experience and many rationalizations in the mind which make the departure from God seem right and good, and even reasonable. It would seem most sensible for them to erect a kingdom and empower a king to lead them into battle against their enemies. How reasonable it seems. Samuel was just out of touch with reality and out of touch with the people if he counseled another course. Change was in the air, and it seemed exactly the right thing to do. They could even find justification in the Scripture for what they wanted to do. But it was evil; it was rebellion; and would have far-reaching consequences for the nation of Israel.

I. Samuel’s Old Age and the Corruption of His Sons: 1Sam 8:1-3: And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

A. Two reasons are given for the revolution: Samuel was old and his sons were unworthy. It was not an unusual thing for a man to get old. Neither is it unusually for children not to walk after the ways of their fathers.

B. There is not the slightest indication that Joel and Abiah were like Hophni and Phineas or that Samuel connived at their wickedness as Eli did at the wickedness of his sons.

C. It does show that heredity is no guarantee of godliness. Hence, in the church, which is not the work of the flesh, officers are to be chosen for godliness and humility, not for ambition.

D. There is no indication that Samuel forced Israel to make his sons judges, for he could not have done that. Beersheba had evidently been restored to Israel from the Philistines and Samuel’s circuit was already large, and it is probable that Joab and Abiah were minor judges working under the authority of their father. This does not make their sin less in the sight of the Lord, but it is also probable that Samuel was unaware of their greed. This good old man was not like Eli, who honor his sons above the Lord.

E. The sin of the sons was to take bribes out of greed and to corrupt judgment.

1. They used the office for their personal advantage, and not for the good of the people.

2. There are many things that will corrupt the judgment of men in office besides the love for money. The love for power, the desire to sin, the pride of government, and the attachment to a personal agenda will corrupt the mind and the heart. James says the wisdom from above is first pure: this mean unadulterated and mixed with private opinions and agenda, for the wisdom of God is for the glory of God and the good of the people of God.

3. The warning is in Deuteronomy 16: “18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment. 19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. 20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”

II. The Petition of the Elders: ISamuel 8:2-6: Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us.

A. How subtle and devious is the petition of the elders of Israel. This was probably the second generation of elders after the great victory at Mizpah, recorded in the last chapter, for twenty years or so had elapsed since that great victory. But the moss had scarcely begun to grow on the rock Ebenezer which commemorated that great victory until the hearts of Israel departed from the Lord and went after their idols and their lusts.

B. Samuel was old and his sons corrupt. This is the reason for departing from the Lord. The sin of their hearts, however, is revealed in their petition: “Make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

1. What was there about the nations that made their kings attractive? Not their godliness; not their love for God’s word; not their justice; not the liberty of their subjects…what on earth would have caused these men to lust after a kingdom like the other nations?

2. Very often great changes come because people do not look to the real reasons, but magnify faults and lust after their own advantage. Because these men were so wrapped up in their own lusts and desires, they refused to hear Samuel and insisted on having their own way, even though it would be the destruction of Israel and the overthrow of God’s rule among them. I will develop this idea as we continue.

3. Their argument: the present system isn’t working, and we have to change the system in order to make it work better. Of course, when men talk like this, it is because they want to be in the center of the new system and reap an advantage from it. They are not speaking from the love for the people or for the love of truth, but they obscure the truth, turn away from responsibility to seek and love the truth, and seek to secure themselves and their place.

4. The subtle accusation made by the elders is this: We have been oppressed by our enemies because of the weakness of our government. The system isn’t working. We need a king like the nations around us. They have been able to overthrow our nation and win victories in time past because they are better organized and have a better system than we have. We need to copy them. As it was written of King Ahaz in 2Chron 28: For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

5. What was the real reason that Israel served their enemies in the days of the Judges: it was not because of the weaknesses of the Judges, but for the idolatry of the people. It is a most distressing litany that is repeated again and again: when the judge was dead, the people turned away from the Lord and worshipped the gods of the nations around about them, and so God gave them over to the hands of their enemies who enslaved and oppressed them. And so when our Lord came, the seed to whom the promise of Abraham was given, we find the people of God enslaved by devils, by corrupt priests, by ignorant and wicked teachers, and by the cruel oppression of the Romans, witnessed by the very coins that they carried in their pockets.

6. How wicked it was to blame the age of Samuel and the wickedness of his sons! But God would comfort the heart of Samuel.

III. The Prayer of Samuel and the Answer of Jehovah. 1Samuel 1:6-9: And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

A. Even though they were departing from the Lord, the Lord yet had a purpose for Israel, and we know that this included the bringing of the Lord Jesus and establishing His kingdom forever.

B. This revolution was a rejection, not of Samuel and his sons, but of God himself, and this rejection followed the pattern of their rebellion since the days that they were delivered from Egypt.

C. Just because something is old doesn’t mean that it is godly. This rebellion had continued for a long time in Israel, for they always followed after their idols and refused to hear the voice of the Lord their God. As Stephen said just before he was stoned in Jerusalem: “51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.” (Ac 7:51-53 AV)

D. Stephen said nothing than what God said to Samuel on this occasion: that Israel had never served the Lord in truth, but were like horses and mules whose mouths were held by bits and bridles, even though the Lord had called them to understanding and wisdom.

E. God knew this day would come, and He had made gracious provision for them, and would turn their wicked kingdom to His own advantage.

1. This is the way that God would have the kingdom, if they must have a kingdom, for God will not surrender his authority. See Deut 17: “14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. 17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.” (De 17:14-20 AV)

2. All these evil things that God prohibited characterized the kingdom of Judah and Israel, especially at the time when Christ came when that most corrupt and greedy murderer Herod the Great, a usurper and stranger, sat on the throne of David.

3. But the men of Israel had other plans. They did not want a king after the order set down here, but they wanted a king like the other nations, which was certainly not patterned after the word of God. Jesus gives us the patterns of course of the world in “25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. 26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” (Lu 22:25-26 AV)

IV. The Way of Their King: 1Samuel 8:10-17: And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.

A. This is the way of the world: The erection of human power, authority, grandeur, and elitism. The organization of the state into pomp and power. Tax, tax, tax. Spend, spend, spend. If the state is to be your savior and deliver out of the hands of your enemies then.

1. It must have great authority.

2. It must have great honor and glory

3. It must be organized to reap the maximum benefit of all the wealth and power of the people; for the power of the people wins over everything, and everyone must be organized to achieve these great goals.

4. It must have the best of everything, for the savior cannot be denied anything.

5. When the people cry out, God will not hear, for they have not chosen to live under the rule of His word and His spirit, but they have put their confidence in their king and their own ways.

6. They have not believed the Lord, which had very often delivered them by raising up judges and bringing great victories, when they repented of their sins and their idolatries, the true causes of their bondage.

V. The Response of the Elder of the People: 1Samuel 8: 19-22: Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 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. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

A. Why did they refuse to hear? Because their agenda was set; their minds were made up; they were fortified against Samuel. The faults had been exaggerated, the evils magnified, the true cause of their petition suppressed:

B. What was the true cause of their petition: They had rejected God to be their king. They were serving the idols of their hearts. C. What were these idols? They are always the same in every age.

1. Ambition, wealth, glory, and dominion: the elders wanted to reap the benefits of the kingdom themselves. Even to the very end of the kingdom the rulers of Israel were looking out for themselves: “Caesar will come and take away our place and our nation. Crucify this Jesus. We will not have this man to rule over us.”

2. The sin of the Garden of Eden: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life are the evils that are at the root of all idolatry and every revolution against the Lord.

3. These men who sat before Samuel with pious looks on their faces and pious concern for the danger of the Philistines looked at the pomp and power and wealth of the kings around about them, and it seemed a shame that they couldn’t have this, too. They didn’t care about the common man and the laborer in the field; they wanted the power and the glory and the wealth for themselves. They did not think that their king would enslave THEM, no, they would have power and authority if the order were changed.

4. These diseases infect the hearts of men and are the reason for the sorrow and trouble in the world. Yet the people do not understand their idols, and would rather choose bondage to their lusts than to walk in the way of the Lord and cast away their idols.

5. The true idolatry is of the heart and the spirit, and God will deal hardly with those who reject Him and turn away to these things. But Satan’s devices are the same in all ages.

Conclusion: Everything that Samuel said would happen, happened. But neither were the kings of Israel the saviors that Israel pretended to desire. Instead, power and authority was consolidated in their hands to the corruption of Israel, and neither did God deliver Israel from bondage and oppression. Only for periods of a short time was their liberty in Israel and the godly cried out to God for deliverance, which was not to come until our Lord Jesus came with another sort of kingdom.

May God bless you.

Amen and Amen