Commenting on the situation leading to the beginning of the monarchy in ancient Israel, Wilhelm Krummacher makes a keen observation on the mindset of the nation. The nation, whose God was their King, took their eyes off their King and instead gazed at the surrounding nations and wanted what they had, a king like the surrounding nations.
“It must be with them as it was with the heathen nations. They must have in Israel a human ruler who would have control over an inexhaustible treasure of gold and silver, and over an army of horsemen, prepared at all times for battle, who would become security for the common weal of the land, would relieve his subjects from their cares as well as from the trouble of praying and waiting, and would secure for them, under the shadow of a sceptre mildly borne, and undisturbed, cheerful, and agreeable existence.”
F.W. Krummacher,
David, King of Israel, (p. 15)
This is the problem in every age for the people of God.
Will we place our trust in Yahweh who we can’t see
for a human substitute who we can?
That is not just a problem in an election year. It is a problem in every moment of every day that we breath air. But here’s the thing. Our God has visited us. He has “tabernacled” among us (John 1:14) —“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” We know what our God looks like. He looks like Jesus. And when we are tempted to trust in anything or anyone as a substitute for Him, we are following the path of ancient Israel when they turned from trusting God and wanted to be like the nations around them.
But God always knows what is in the heart of people. So when the people rejected the leader God had appointed for them, Samuel, God put the prophets focus right and warned him about how to handle their request for a king in 1 Samuel 8:
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
So the prophet Samuel tried to warn the nation:
10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
That last verse is a warning to all of us. If we want the Lord to answer us in the day we call, let us keep our eyes focused on Him (Hebrew 12:2). He is our King, the King of glory.
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