Crowning the Wrong King (1 Samuel 8) - 11/16/25

Intro:

• Chapters 6–7 end with lamenting, repentance, and renewal. God gives His people an Ebenezer—a stone of help—to remind them: “The LORD has helped us.”

• But renewal that doesn’t continue in maturity slowly drifts into complacency.

  That’s the tension of 1 Samuel 8:

• Will we grow up in trust… or drift back to wanting a king “like all the nations”?
  

Conformity to the World – vv.1–5

• Samuel ages; his sons twist justice with bribes and partiality (vv.1–3). A reminder: leadership character matters (cf. 1 Tim 3:1–7).

• The elders respond: “Appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations” (v.5).

• Instead of asking, “What kind of leaders does God want?” they ask,

  “How can we look more like everyone else?”
  

They don’t just want order; they want assimilation, not sanctification. They trade God’s design for worldly imitation (Romans 12:1–2).

Rejection of the True King – vv.6–9

• Samuel is grieved, but he prays (v.6).

• God’s verdict is sobering: “They have rejected Me from being King over them” (v.7).

• This isn’t new; it’s a pattern “from the day I brought them up out of Egypt” (v.8):

  • God’s continued presence and guidance

  • Their continued distrust and disobedience

• God permits their request, but He also commands Samuel to warn them seriously (v.9).

The issue isn’t having a king; it’s what kind of king and why. We must test our motives by Scripture and ask:

Warning from the Lord – vv.10–22

Samuel lays out the cost of the king they’re asking for:

• “He will take…” (vv.11–17)

• He will take sons and daughters (vv.11–13)

• He will take fields, vineyards, flocks, and a tenth (vv.14–17)

• “You shall be his servants… you will cry out… and the LORD will not answer” (v.18).

• Yet the people insist: “No! But there shall be a king over us… to fight our battles” (vv.19–20).

• God has won every battle they’ve trusted Him with. They want victory without consecration—results without repentance.

• God grants their demand (vv.21–22), a yes that exposes their hearts and sets the stage for David—and ultimately for Christ, the true King.

“taker-king” leadership—power that uses people—instead of Christlike, servant-shepherd leadership (Mark 10:42–45; 1 Peter 5:1–4).

What Now? Living This Out

• Renewal at Mizpah points us in the right direction, but personal holiness and godly shepherding keep us going. (1 Peter 5:2; Colossians 3:1–17)

• Remember: the devil, the world, and the flesh, take—but Jesus gives. (Mark 10:45)