“Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, ‘Listen to the people, to everything they say to you; for it is not you they are rejecting; they are rejecting me; they don’t want me to be king over them.'”-1 Samuel 8:7
Alrighty, let’s get our bearings of where we’re at in our study of 1 Samuel.
The situation is that a certain group of Hebrew tribal and clan leaders had arrived at Samuel’s doorstep demanding that a king be placed over them.
This request hurt Samuel because it meant he would no longer be a ruler over Israel and neither would his sons.
So any hope he might be able to establish his family line as the ruling dynasty of Judges over Israel was dashed.
Now before we continue on, keep in mind right now we are in that section of the Scriptures modern bible critics have labelled as being unreliable and riddled with errors.
Again, this all has to do with the supposed contradiction that on the one hand God seemed to despise the idea of placing an king over Israel…
Yet on the other hand, He seemed okay with the idea and even actively participated in the process of getting an earthly ruler installed over His people.
As I’ve already said many times before, there ain’t any contradictions here homies.
I could care less what the academic critics say.
What’s actually being revealed to us are the differences between a typical gentile or man-ordained king versus a Godly king.
Let me say that again for the dull, the thick-headed and the stubborn.
What the Scriptures reveal to us are the differences between God’s ideal of a king versus a typical man-ordained king.
Got it?
Alright, let’s move on.
As I was saying, Samuel was all hot and bothered he was being asked to step down from his position of leadership.
So he decided to inquire of the Lord about the matter.
And that only made things worse.
Because God told him to go ahead and do what the leaders were asking.
However, to console Samuel, God made it clear they were not rejecting Samuel but rejecting Him.
Now one question that usually arises at this point is didn’t the children of Israel when they were at Mount Sinai already agree that only God would be their king?
Or how about that time when the rebels who were jealous of Moses decided to contest his authority?
The basis of their argument was that since only God is their king, Moses had no right to lord his power over them.
Or how about when Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land?
The same point was again repeated at that time.
The leadership said they had zero interest in a human king ruling over them because again God was their king.
My point is ever since the Exodus, whenever the leaders spoke on the topic of an earthly king, their response over and over was “We don’t need a human king because God is our King”.
So why here in 1 Samuel Chapter 8 was the Israelite leadership now demanding an earthly king patterned after the gentiles when up until now they constantly said they were happy with God as their king?
The answer may both shock and surprise you.
The truth is the people never seriously considered God to be their actual king.
Their protests were full of hot air.
They were conveniently using the “God is our King” mantra as a bs excuse to maintain their authority over their own tribes.
They never really meant what they said.
It was a nice piece of fiction they selfishly utilized as a way to keep themselves in power with no one to rule over them…
Which leads to today’s takeaway.
How often do we superficially use God as an excuse to justify our selfish behavior?
For example, somebody sincerely needs our help in some way whether it’s financial or energy and time-consuming…
And we brush them off by saying “Don’t worry. God will take care of you” while conveniently ignoring their situation and cries for help.
Or how about when we superficially tell someone we’ll pray for them when we really could care less?
Someone tells us they’re struggling with some issue and we just tell them we’ll pray for them as a convenient excuse to assuage our guilt and get rid of them.
Because we don’t wanna have to expend any energy, time or money to help them.
We’d much rather get on with our lives (usually focused on just making money).
I think you know exactly what I’m talking about…
Because I myself have engaged in this hypocrisy more times than I can count.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Suppose a brother or sister is
without clothes and daily food,
and someone says to him, “Shalom!
Keep warm and eat hearty!” without
giving him what he needs,
what good does it do?
Thus, faith by itself,
unaccompanied by actions,
is dead.”
-James 2:15-17
“The P’rushim and the
Torah-teachers asked him,
“Why don’t your talmidim
live in accordance
with the Tradition of the Elders,
but instead eat with
ritually unclean hands?”
Yeshua answered them,
“Yesha‘yahu was
right when he prophesied
about you hypocrites
— as it is written,
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far away from me.
Their worship of me is useless,
because they teach man-made rules
as if they were doctrines.’”
-Mark 7:5-7
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