Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 8:22
And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
A repetition for the third time 1Sa 8:7, 1Sa 8:9 of the expression of Gods will in the matter, marks Samuels great unwillingness to comply with the peoples request. Besides the natural aversion which he felt to being thrust aside after so many years of faithful and laborious service, and the natural prejudice which he would feel at his age against a new form of government, he doubtless saw how much of the evil heart of unbelief there was in the desire to have a visible king for their leader, instead of trusting to the invisible Lord who had hitherto led them. But God had His own purpose in setting up the kingdom which was to be typical of the kingdom of His only begotten Son.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Sa 8:22
Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.
Vox populi, vox Dei
Perhaps there is no proverb which is more familiar, as it is certain there is none more faulty, than this: The voice of the people is the voice of God. And since the motto is Latin, it might as well go now with a comment upon it from one of the greatest of the old Roman philosophers, even Cicero himself, who says in his treatise Concerning Laws: It is most absurd to suppose that all the things are just which are found in the enactments and institutions of a State. There is no such power in the sentence and command of fools as that by their vote the nature of things can be reversed. The law did not begin when first written, but when it first had existence; that is, when the Divine mind first had existence.
1. The story gives us the date to start with, and connects present histories with those of a great and honoured past. Samuel is still at the nations head, but failing: And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Piety cannot be transmitted according to physical laws; and yet it seems as if we might insist, upon the signal benefits of being born of good stock rather than of corrupt.
2. Who were these sons of Samuel? Unfortunately there is no account of them that gives any satisfaction. The lesson we learn here is worth pressing a little: noble names do not change bad hearts nor make wicked men fit to hold high office. Samuel probably hoped a great deal for those sons of his when he fixed upon them such names as these in the reverent regard for the old faith of Israel. Joel signifies Jehovah is God; and Abiah means Jehovah is my Father. We have no evidence that these children cared for their fine names while they were little, as Samuel did for his when he moved reverently around in the ministrations of the Tabernacle, a devout lad, obedient to God and to Eli. We surely might expect that a maiden called Sophia ought not to be a fool, for her name means wisdom. And just so Gertrude suggests a character of all-truth. And Alfred becomes a pledge of all-peace. And Leonard must not be a coward as long as he is called lion-like. Francis is to be frank, and Anna is to be gracious, or intelligent people will laugh when their names are called out in the room. Surely Nathanael, Theodore, Elnathan, and Dorothy ought to bear in mind every day and hour that their names all alike signify the gift of God.
3. The illustration of all this grows more and more vivid as the story moves on; the next verse reads: And his sons walked not, in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes and perverted judgment. The lesson we learn from this is explanatory as well as full of admonition: covetousness is idolatry. A curious word is this here rendered lucre; it is precisely that which Moses employed when he was defining the duties and charactor of a judge: Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness. That word covetousness is the same as the word lucre in this verse before us. The old Hebrew Targum translates it, the mammon of falsehood.
4. At this point the Scripture narrative begins to indicate the effect of all this disastrous corruption in Samuels own family. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah. Croakers always find easy companionship: that is our lesson now. Ravens are said to detect afar off birds of the same black feather and the same lugubrious voice. These elders of Israel in the story might surely have been about better business than ministering to popular discontent. They were living under a theocracy, and God was overhead; they could have interfered before for the suppression of these corrupt judges, and in a wiser way. It was a remark of Lord Beaconsfield that it is much easier to be critical than to be correct. Joel and Abiah were bad enough; we wonder if the monarchists liked the atmosphere better when Saul came into power. The plan proceeds plausibly. It is fashionable to prate about the voice of the people: vox populi, vox Dei: here the voice of the people is directly against the voice of God on a great moral and political issue. A thousand votes for a wrong is not enough to make it right: once nothing is nothing, twice nothing is nothing, tea times nothing is nothing, a thousand times nothing is nothing: how many Israelite elders would be necessary so to multiply nothing as to make it foot up something at last? Just as many, we reply, as at any time it would take of wrong-headed men to make wrong right.
5. But now let us bear in mind that when a mean thing has to get itself done somehow, it requires a vast amount of meaningless talk for its advancement into recognition and success. Our practical lesson from this part of the story is this: graceful language is sometimes used to conceal thought, and not express it. Diplomacy has a certain strong flavour of antiquity about it. Just notice how these crafty elders plead their hypocritical arguments for an overthrow of the government, and shake the conscientious scruples of the faithful old man by the humiliating and cruel arraignment of his sons. Those were not the real reasons why they wanted a king. Lord Bacon declares that in all wise human governments they that sit at the helm do more happily bring their purposes about, and insinuate more easily into the minds of the people, by pretext and oblique courses than by direct methods; so that all sceptres and maces of authority ought in very deed to be crooked in the upper end. It was an old saying of Pascal that the world is satisfied with words, and few care to dive beneath the surface of them. Logic has very little to de with the utterances of a bad heart when politicians begin to reason; and there is truth in the sarcasm of one of the wittiest of Frenchmen: When the major of an argument is an error, and the minor a passion, it is to be feared that the conclusion will be a crime, for this is a syllogism of self-love. Why did they not suppress the sons and cling to God.
6. We become more and more sure as we read on that majorities are not to be trusted among even the wisest of men. Majorities can be gotten on almost every occasion for the right or for the wrong indiscriminately, according to the popular epidemic of enthusiasm at the time. What is wanted in our day is the virtue of an individual courage and of a personal conviction. We need voters with a conscience that impels them to stand by the right measures and support the righteous men for administering them. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. Hearken unto their voice] Let them have what they desire, and let them abide the consequences.
Go ye every man unto his city.] It seems the elders of the people had tarried all this time with Samuel, and when he had received his ultimate answer from God, he told them of it and dismissed them.
ON this account we may observe:
1. That GOD did not change the government of Israel; it was the people themselves who changed it.
2. That though God permitted them to have a king, yet he did not approve of him.
3. That, notwithstanding he did not suffer them to choose the man, he ordered his servant Samuel to choose him by lot, he disposing of that lot.
4. That God never gave up the supreme government; he was still KING in Israel, and the king, so called, was only the vicegerent or deputy of the Lord.
5. That no king of Judah attempted to be supreme, therefore they never made new laws, nor altered the old; which was a positive confession that God was the supreme Legislator.
6. That an absolute monarchy is always an evil, and is contrary to all the rights, civil and religious, of mankind; a mode of government that all people should avoid, as pregnant with evils to mankind.
7. That although it was a sin in the Israelites to desire a king, that is, to change a constitution of which God was the author, yet kingly government, properly understood, is a good of the first magnitude to the civil happiness of mankind.
8. That by kingly government, properly understood, I mean such a monarchical government as that of Great Britain, where the king, the nobles, and the people, are duly mixed, each having his proper part in the government, and each preventing the other from running to excess, and all limited by law.
9. That the three grand forms of government which have obtained among mankind, viz., monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, have each certain advantages without which no state can be well preserved; but they have evils by which any state may be injured.
10. That, from a proper mixture of these, the advantages of the whole may be reaped without any of their attendant evils, and that this is the British constitution; which, not merely the wisdom of our ancestors, but the providence of God has given unto us, and of which no other state has had common sense enough to avail themselves, though they see that because of this the British empire is the most powerful and the most happy in the universe, and likely at last to give laws to the whole world.
The manner of our king is constitutional, widely different from that of Saul, and from that of any other potentate in the four quarters of the globe. He is the father of his people, and the people feel and love him as such. He has all the power necessary to do good; they have all the liberty necessary to their political happiness, had they only a diminution of taxes, which at present are too heavy for any nation to bear.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Betake yourselves to your several occasions, till you hear more from me in this matter; for God hath heard your words, and will give way to your irregular and obstinate desire; and accordingly I shall wait upon God for the determination of the person, which he hath wholly reserved to himself, as for judges, so for the king also, Deu 17:15, and for the regulation of all the circumstances.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the Lord said to Samuel,…. an audible voice, or by an impulse upon his mind:
hearken unto their voice, and make them a king; since they will have a king, let them have one, and let them know that they shall have one:
and Samuel said unto the men of Israel: the elders of the people that addressed him on this occasion, 1Sa 8:4
go ye every man unto his city; signifying they might return in peace, and be assured their request would be granted, and a king would be appointed in a short time, and which they might report to their fellow citizens; and they might expect to hear from him quickly, as soon as he had instructions from the Lord who should be their king, which right he had reserved to himself; and therefore in the mean while they might rest contented that they would have one in a little time.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(22) Hearken unto their voice.And for the third time (see 1Sa. 8:7; 1Sa. 8:9) the voice of the Eternal, which Samuel the seer knew so well, used the same expression, bidding the reluctant and indignant old man comply with the request of the people. God had allowed His servant to remonstrate, well knowing all the time what would be the result of his remonstrances.
So now, with the self-same words with which He had spoken to the seer when at the first he laid the petition of Israel before the eternal throne, He finally directs Samuel respecting the course of action he was to pursue on this momentous occasion.
The men of Israel.That is, to the elders. The words which follow, Go ye every man unto his city, show that these elders were in truth a representative body, drawn from the chief centres of the land.
Attention has already been drawn to the perfect trust which the Eternal must have placed in Samuel the judge, seeing that He entrusted him with all the arrangements connected with this vital change in the Hebrew constitution, although his own downfall from power was necessarily involved in it. The confidence of the God-Friend of Israel in their upright judge was evidently shared in by the people. It was to their ruler, to the earthly head of their republic, that they in the first instance carried, through their representative chiefs, their request, which in other words said, Let kings for the future, and not judges like yourself, rule over us. The elders of Israel seem to have listened respectfully to the urgent remonstrances of their great judge, and to have deliberated carefully over them, and then, still respectfully, but firmly, to have reiterated their first request, which asked for a king instead of a judge. Again they watched him go alone into the presence of the Eternal, and after the seers solitary prayer, the elders, at the bidding of their judge, dispersed quietly, each one journeying to his own city. They loved and trusted the patriot Samuel, and though they were ready to depose him, they waited till he should give them a sign.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
AMIDST the growing age and infirmities of all God’s faithful servants, though we see Samuel and all the holy men and prophets going the way of all flesh, what a sweet and soul-reviving thought is it, that our Jesus liveth forever! Yes! thou precious Holy One of Israel, thou ever livest; and because thou livest, we shall live also. Triumph my soul in this well-founded confidence!
And here, Lord, let me learn, from the rebellion of Israel in desiring a king, when thou thyself wast the gracious king of thy people, let me learn how prone the heart, even of thy people, is to rebel against thee. Oh! ye wretched, misguided, unhappy sons of men, who by deeds, if not by words, are continually saying: We will not have this man to reign over us. Think, I charge you, ere it be too late, whether he hath not a right to govern, who, as one with the Father is God; and as Mediator, hath all power in heaven and in earth. Is not every creature his, both by creation and redemption? And shall not every knee bend before him, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father! Oh! kiss the Son lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the right way. Acknowledge him now for your lawful king and sovereign, before he comes in the clouds as your just Judge. If his wrath be kindled, yea but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
As for my soul, let angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, let all heaven and earth bear witness for me, that I desire no other king, neither will I know any other but he that is a Priest upon his throne. Do thou holy, blessed, royal Lord Jesus, reign in me, and over me, and establish, and preserve, and maintain thy rightful kingdom in my soul, against all there enemies, my lusts and corruptions, as well as the world, and the powers of darkness. Oh! do thou bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of our Christ! Do thou manifest thyself to my soul, in all thy sovereignty, grace, and goodness, in thy kingdom, both temporal and spiritual. Do thou pardon my sins as a king; do thou rule over my affections as a king; do thou bestow all needed grace as a king; do thou bless, protect, restrain; subdue, regulate and dispose of all things concerning me as a king, the glorious, gracious king which our God hath set in Zion. And by thus living under thine own kingly influences here below, mine eyes continually beholding the king in his beauty; in that tremendous day, when thou shalt come to take away all things that offend out of thy kingdom, my soul will find a growing confidence in thy salvation. For sure I am, since none but Jesus is king, h e who hath borne my sins will not plead against me in judgment. The language of my heart, will be like the church of old; the Lord is our judge: the Lord is our Lawgiver: the Lord is our King; he will save us.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.” 1Sa 8:22 .
A most awful communication this to make on the part of the living God. There are some compliances which indicate the deepest of all differences. God gives men the request of their heart, and sends leanness into their soul. They who rejoice in answers to prayer should recall the nature of the prayer itself, and ascertain thoroughly that the prayer was founded in wisdom and expressed a real necessity of the life. Where our prayer expresses nothing but whim, prejudice, passing taste, or changeful mood; or where it is inspired by a spirit of selfishness, the answer to it is the most tremendous condemnation which even God can inflict upon the suppliant. Answered prayer is in itself nothing; we must first know what the prayer is, and having discovered the nature of the prayer we should be able to estimate the value of the answer. All king-making is child’s play. The people asked for a king as they might have asked for an idol; it was no spirit of loyalty that was rising in them towards monarchical institutions; it was simply the play of a fickle spirit, the action of a soul that was devoid of all moral permanence in its elections and pursuits A king elected so easily and so superficially may be thrown off with equal facility. It is the same with the election of friends. They who make their friends easily, dispose of them easily. It is the same with learning, with discipline, with all manner of high pursuit; “easy come, easy go,” is a proverb which may apply very fittingly to them. The king was made at God’s command, in the sense of God’s permission being given. It does not therefore follow that the king was of God’s choice. A fatal thing it may be for a man to have his own way; for the moment it is pleasant, for the moment the man may congratulate himself upon the happy issue; but all things are to be tested by the end. When once the heart goes roving after new sovereigns, it is impossible to tell how the fickleness may culminate. The love of change grows by exercise of choice. He has attained the highest point of discipline who accepts the highest ordinations of providence and waits for God himself to open new doors and create new opportunities. Whatever we change, we must never change the kingship of Jesus Christ. All other kings whom he may send to reign over us intermediately must be left to his control and discipline; he sets up and he puts down, and all his providence is an exertion on behalf of the fullest and deepest interests of his kingdom. Man is fond of creating institutions. Such creation gives an opportunity for the exercise of his inventive faculties to make a new toy, to establish a new order, to invent a new decoration, to bring about the setting up of a new throne; all these are the infantile exercises of the human mind. He only is right who says, The Lord reigneth, and by virtue of his sovereignty he will control all under-reigns, and bring all the forces and ministries of life to co-operate in the outworking of a divine dominion.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
1Sa 8:22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
Ver. 22. Go ye, &c., ] q.d., Your request is granted, and shall shortly be accomplished. Meanwhile wait God’s pleasure.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
men. Hebrew. ‘enosh. App-14.
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1Sa 8:7, Hos 13:11
Reciprocal: Exo 18:23 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 8:22. Go ye every man unto his city Betake yourselves to your several homes and employments, till you hear more from me in this matter. Thus he bade them leave the business unto him, intimating, that he doubted not but God would set a king over them.