1 Samuel 8:19–22 (ESV)

But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be 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.” And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

Today’s reading begins with two interesting Hebrew idioms. The first, translated as “obey the voice” (לִשְׁמֹ֖עַ בְּקֹ֣ול, le-sha-mah bcole), is literally “listen in the voice”. In Hebrew, you can either listen to a voice or listen in a voice. “Listening in” means taking heed or obeying. “Listening to” means just hearing the words. This idiom gives the sense that if you listen to someone’s voice, but ignore the advice, you weren’t listening very well.

The people refused to listen in to the voice of Samuel. Also, the Hebrew word translated as “but they refused” (וַיְמָאֲנ֣וּ, vah-ymah-ah-noo) is a deliberate refusal, not just that they failed to listen in. This adds to the sense that the people weren’t really listening.

The second Hebrew idiom is the word that’s translated as “But” (כִּ֥י אִם, key eem). It’s a somewhat emphatic idiom of contrast that means “except”, “only”, or, “on the other hand”. The ESV tries to capture the emphasis by putting an exclamation point after “No.”

That slightly misses the point. They weren’t disagreeing with Samuel’s claim that a king would take their stuff (in 1 Samuel 8:11–18).

They were saying (with emphasis) that they wanted a king anyway.

So, we get the strong sense that the people had made up their minds about a king and weren’t open to any discussion. Given the radical nature of such a change in the structure of their government, this is astonishing. Thorough debate is clearly warranted. So we get yet another example of the goofiness of sin. What were they thinking?

The obvious comeback is, “They weren’t thinking.” However, there is a legitimate reason mentioned in the text—“our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

The idea that they need a king to fight their battles is still nuts—the LORD has given them a long hiatus from any battles—but it does explain why they think that a king would be useful. This is about national security. Despite the many amazing ways that the LORD has provided for them in battle, they want a king to lead their army.

That concept of a military king is at the root of their expectation of a military messiah.

Thus, this seemingly insignificant passage is the first reference for why the Jews mistook Jesus for a pretender.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.