“They are doing to you exactly what they have been doing to me, from the day I brought them out of Egypt until today, by abandoning me and serving other gods. So do what they say, but give them a sober warning, telling them what kinds of rulings their king will make.”1 Samuel 8:8-9
We’re gonna get into some Hebrew today…
So buckle in as we get started…
First, recall how the Lord made it clear to Samuel the people were NOT rejecting him…
But they were rejecting God when they asked for an earthly king.
Take a look at verse 9 where it says “give them a sober warning”.
The English here is way off from the original Hebrew.
The actual Hebrew is HA’ED TAID.
And it has nothing to do with “warning” the people.
It’s more of a “legal declaration”.
So a better way to translate that part would be to say “Legally declare unto the people”…or something of that nature.
God is telling Samuel that once Israel installs an earthly ruler over themselves…
From that moment onwards a legal relationship between them and the new human king will be established.
And that relationship will be far different than the covenant relationship they now have with God.
Next take a look at verse 10:
“Sh’mu’el reported everything
Adonai had said to the people
asking him for a king“.
There’s an interesting word play here that’ll completely fly over your head if you don’t understand the Hebrew.
The verb “ask” in this sentence is HA SHA’AL.
So it says “the people have HA SHA’AL for a king”…
Meaning they have “asked” or “requested” to have a king placed over them.
This declaration turned out to be quite prophetic.
Why?
Because who turned out to be the first king of Israel?
SHA’UL, right?
Notice how SHA’UL and HA SHA’AL sound alike.
More often than not, if the pronunciation of two words are similar…
That means their meanings are also similar.
And indeed it is so!
Because SHA’UL means “the requested one”.
We’ve got the Lord laying down some prophetic puns here…
And also demonstrating quite a flair for the ironic!
Now ain’t that the coolest thing you’ve heard this whole week?
The main point Yehovah is communicating to Samuel is that a human king is far different than a divine king.
In requesting an earthly ruler, the people have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into.
Things aren’t gonna turn out as planned.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
How many times have you asked, possibly even pleaded to God to give you something you were so certain would benefit you and your life…
And then it turned out to be a complete and utter disaster?
Maybe it was asking for a certain person to fall in love with you so they would become your wife or husband…
Or maybe it was requesting to land a job at some company…
Or whatever it was.
So the Lord granted your request because you wouldn’t shut up about it…
But then it turned out to be a complete and utter disaster.
The person you married was abusive and the relationship ended in divorce.
You landed the hot job but then the company went out of business….
And so on and so forth.
I think you get the idea.
The point is God always knows what’s best for us in the long run…
Even if our flesh seems to be screaming out for something different in the moment.
So be careful what you HA SHA’AL or request for...
Because you just may get it.
Ya feel me?
That’s a good ‘un! Thanks for the insight and application.
Glad you liked this one Eric! Be blessed!