The Stench of a Rat: The High Cost of Statism Text: 1 Samuel 8:10-22
Introduction: The Great Rejection
We come now to one of the saddest and most instructive moments in the history of Israel. It is a hinge point, a moment of covenantal crisis where the people of God, with their eyes wide open, choose the fleeting security of man over the absolute security of God. They had been set apart, made peculiar, a nation unlike any other, with Yahweh Himself as their king. But they looked over the fence at the pagan nations, saw their shiny chariots and their tall kings, and they were overcome with a bad case of geopolitical envy. They wanted to be like everybody else. And in so doing, they rejected not just Samuel, but God Himself.
This passage is far more than ancient history. It is a timeless diagnosis of the central political idolatry of man. It is a prophetic warning against the ever-encroaching, ever-devouring nature of the state. What Samuel lays out here is not just a description of Saul or David; it is the job description of every state that sets itself up as a rival to God. The state always promises security and deliverance, but it always delivers servitude. It promises to fight your battles, but it does so by taking your sons. It promises to provide for you, but it does so by taking your fields, your vineyards, and your livelihood. The state is a ravenous beast, and its appetite is never satisfied.
The Israelites' sin was not in wanting a king, per se. God had anticipated this and made provision for it all the way back in Deuteronomy 17. He had laid out the blueprint for a constitutional, limited, godly monarchy, a king who would be a brother among his people, who would not multiply horses or wives or gold, and who would be subject to the law of God, not above it. But that is not what the people asked for. They did not ask for God's kind of king. They asked for a king "like all the nations." They wanted a pagan king, a statist king, a king who would be their savior. And God, in His disciplinary judgment, gave them exactly what they asked for, good and hard.
We live in an age soaked in socialism and statism, where men look to Washington D.C. as their savior, their provider, and their defender. We must therefore pay close attention. Samuel, like a good prophet, tells the people plainly what this will cost them. He smells a rat. He lays out the bill for their rebellion in excruciating detail. But like all who are bewitched by idolatry, they refuse to listen. They want what they want, and they are willing to pay any price for it, even their own freedom.
The Text
So Samuel spoke all the words of Yahweh to the people who had asked of him a king. And he said, “This will be the custom of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen, and they will run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male slaves and your female slaves and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but Yahweh will not answer you in that day.” Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to 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, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” So Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of Yahweh. Then Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”
(1 Samuel 8:10-22 LSB)
The King's Custom: A Litany of Taking (vv. 10-17)
Samuel, having been instructed by God, comes back to the people and gives them the unvarnished truth. He doesn't sugarcoat it. He says, "This will be the custom of the king who will reign over you." The word "custom" here can also be translated as "manner" or "right." This is the way of man-centered government. And what is that way? It is the way of "taking." Notice the repetition of that verb. He will take, he will take, he will take.
"he will take your sons... he will take your daughters... He will take the best of your fields... He will take a tenth of your seed... He will take your male slaves... He will take a tenth of your flocks..." (1 Samuel 8:11-17)
This is a portrait of the confiscatory state. First, the king will take your sons (v. 11-12). This is the military draft and the creation of a standing army. Your sons will not be working their own inheritance; they will be conscripted into the king's service, to run before his chariots as a display of his power, to be his officers, to plow his fields and make his weapons. The family is the basic unit of society, and the first thing the idolatrous state does is attack the family by claiming ownership of the children. This is the seed of every form of totalitarianism, from Sparta to the modern secular state that claims the right to educate, indoctrinate, and form our children in its own image.
Second, he will take your daughters (v. 13). They will be conscripted for domestic service in the king's court, becoming his perfumers, cooks, and bakers. The integrity of the household is further eroded. The king's appetites and luxuries now take precedence over the needs of the family.
Third, he will take your property (v. 14). The best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves, the very basis of your wealth and sustenance, will be expropriated and given to his servants. This is the birth of the bureaucratic class, the cronies and loyalists who are rewarded with wealth that has been taken from others. This is redistribution of wealth, not from rich to poor, but from the productive to the politically connected. This is a direct assault on the eighth commandment, "You shall not steal," and the tenth, "You shall not covet." When the state becomes the chief coveter and the primary thief, the moral fabric of a nation begins to unravel.
Fourth, he will take your income (v. 15, 17). He will take a tenth of your seed, your vineyards, and your flocks. This is the institution of systematic taxation. Now, we should be clear. The tithe to the Lord through the Levites was God's system, and it supported the ministry of the covenant. But this is a second tithe, a state tithe, on top of God's tithe. And where does it go? To his officers and servants. It feeds the ever-growing state apparatus. The state does not create wealth; it can only take it. And as it grows, its appetite grows with it.
Finally, Samuel sums it all up with a brutal conclusion: "and you yourselves will become his slaves" (v. 17). This is the logical end of all statism. You begin by giving the state your sons, your daughters, your land, and your money. You end by giving it yourselves. When the state owns the fruit of your labor, it effectively owns you. You become a cog in the state's machine, a servant of its purposes. This is the bargain they are striking: give us a king to keep us safe, and we will give you our liberty.
The Point of No Return (vv. 18-20)
Samuel then delivers the final, chilling warning. There will come a day of reckoning.
"Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but Yahweh will not answer you in that day." (1 Samuel 8:18 LSB)
This is the terrible logic of sin. Sin always seems like a good idea at the time. It promises freedom, or security, or pleasure. But the bill always comes due. And when the consequences of their choice come crashing down on them, when the boot of the state is on their necks, they will cry out to God. But God says, "I will not answer you." Why? Because this was a choice. "Your king whom you have chosen for yourselves." God is not mocked. We cannot reject His reign, choose a rival king, and then expect Him to bail us out from the consequences of our own rebellion. He will let them sit in the mess they have made. He will let them eat the bitter fruit of the tree they planted.
This is a terrifying principle. There are moments in the life of a man, and in the life of a nation, where a choice is made that sets a course from which there is no easy return. God gives them over to their desires. It is a form of judgment. You want a king like the nations? You shall have him. You want to be slaves to a man instead of sons of God? So be it.
And how do the people respond to this stark, terrifying prophecy? "Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel" (v. 19). Their hearts are hard. Their minds are made up. The allure of the idol is too strong. They double down on their rebellion. "No, but there shall be a king over us."
And here they state their reasoning plainly, exposing the root of their sin: "that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles" (v. 20). This is the great temptation: the desire for normalcy, for worldly acceptance, to fit in. God had called them to be a peculiar people, a holy nation, a kingdom of priests. Their glory was in their distinctiveness, in the fact that Yahweh was their king. But they saw this as a liability. They wanted to be just like the Philistines, the Ammonites, the Egyptians. They wanted a human king they could see, a man on a tall horse to lead them into battle. They had ceased to trust in the invisible King who had parted the Red Sea and brought down the walls of Jericho.
They wanted a king to "judge" them and "fight our battles." This is the fundamental trade-off of statism. We hand over responsibility to the state in exchange for security. We want the state to be our judge, our provider, and our savior. We want a human government to go out before us and solve all our problems. But in doing so, we abdicate our own God-given responsibilities and place our faith in a fallible, sinful, and ultimately tyrannical human institution.
The Permissive Will of God (vv. 21-22)
Samuel's heart must have been broken. He has delivered God's word faithfully, but the people have rejected it. So what does he do? He takes their words and repeats them "in the hearing of Yahweh" (v. 21). He is the faithful mediator, bringing the case before the Great King.
"Then Yahweh said to Samuel, 'Listen to their voice and appoint them a king.' So Samuel said to the men of Israel, 'Go every man to his city.'" (1 Samuel 8:22 LSB)
And God's response is a solemn confirmation of His judgment. "Listen to their voice and appoint them a king." This is not God's approval. It is not His ideal will. It is His permissive will. It is the same principle we see in Romans 1, where God "gave them up" to their own lusts. When a people are insistent in their rebellion, one of the most severe judgments God can enact is to simply get out of their way and let them have what they want.
He is going to give them a king in His anger (Hosea 13:11). He will grant their request, and in so doing, He will teach them a hard and painful lesson about the folly of trusting in man. The entire history of the monarchy, with a few bright exceptions, will be a story of idolatry, corruption, and covenant failure, leading ultimately to exile. The king they hoped would save them would be the very instrument of their ruin.
Conclusion: Our True King
The story of Israel's demand for a king is our story. The temptation to trade freedom in Christ for the perceived security of a human system is perennial. We are always tempted to look for a political savior, a party platform, or a government program to fight our battles for us. We want a king we can see, rather than trusting the King of kings who reigns from heaven.
Every warning Samuel gave about the grasping nature of the state has been proven true a thousand times over in history. Governments always take. They take our sons for their wars, our wealth for their bloated budgets, and ultimately, our freedoms for their control. The modern secular state is the most ambitious king of all, seeking to regulate every aspect of life from the cradle to the grave, redefining marriage, indoctrinating children, and demanding ultimate allegiance.
But the good news is that God did not leave His people in the failure of their human kings. This entire sorry episode points us forward to the true King that God had promised. The failure of Saul, the sins of David, and the folly of Solomon all cry out for a different kind of king. Not a king "like the nations," but a King from heaven. Not a king who takes, but a King who gives.
Jesus Christ is the King that Deuteronomy 17 envisioned. He is the King who did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). The pagan king takes your sons and makes them die for him. Our King, the Son of God, died for us. The pagan king takes your fields and vineyards. Our King gives us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade (1 Peter 1:4). The pagan king makes you his slaves. Our King makes us sons and heirs of God.
The Israelites cried out because of the king they had chosen, and God did not answer. But we are invited to cry out to King Jesus, and He promises to hear us. He is the King who truly judges us in righteousness and who truly fights our ultimate battles against sin, death, and the devil. The choice before us is the same as the choice before Israel. Will we demand a king like the nations, a human system to save us? Or will we bow the knee to the one true King, Jesus Christ, and find our security, our identity, and our freedom in Him alone? Do not refuse to listen to the voice of the prophet. Do not choose the slavery of man over the glorious liberty of the sons of God. For there is no other king, and no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.