1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders.[a] 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
Why is this happening again? To be a high priest, to be a leader in Israel you have to be solidly connected to the Lord. If not it is like you immediately will spin out of control. The temptations for dishonest gain are great, without being solidly grounded you will give in to those temptations. Eli’s sons did, and Samuel’s sons did. This is the basic concept behind our system of “checks and balances”. We understand that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Anyone can design a government where Samuel will be the leader, that is easy. But designing a government composed of sinners, that is near impossible. Look at the Philistines, they seize the ark of the covenant and within seven months they have to give it back with a gift. They were incompatible with the covenant of the kingdom.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[b] us, such as all the other nations have.” 6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
This has confused me for years. Samuel’s sons and Eli’s sons were corrupt. They accepted bribes and they corrupted justice. So why is God saying they are rejecting Him? Let’s examine this. They aren’t saying “let’s get rid of the priesthood” no, they are saying we need a king to act as a way to deal with the priesthood. This is idiotic, do you really think tht if the priests are sinners and fall into temptation that the king won’t be also? The only check and balance to sin is God. You need to follow your spirit, listen to God, obey God. But that is scary? No, that is what you have to do if you want to rule and reign with Jesus. Consider Mike Lindell. He supported Trump so he suffered the attack of the cancel culture. They called all his retail outlets and threatened them to drop his products. Ten different companies like Bed Bath and Beyond did drop him. But he stuck to his guns and people responded ordering his products online so that his business continued to grow. But then he put together a movie that explains how the election fraud took place. It is involved, it is complicated, and it involves many different witnesses and pieces of evidence. Even so he was able to put together this movie in six days. Meanwhile false stories are being spread to defame him and he is being censored and removed from social media. His movie comes out and the internet tries to pull the plug on it so that many of the sites that were going to show it all of a sudden come down. Meanwhile Lou Dobbs is fired from Fox because he also was a supporter of Trump’s policies. It is scary to do what is right, there is a price to pay. But that is what it means to rule. They were saying we aren’t willing to pay this price, but let’s pick someone to do it for us.
8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
The siren song of tyrants is “I’ll take care of you”. This is true, they mean it. They will provide your health care, they will provide your education, and they will provide your job. In fact they will treat you the same way you might treat a pet. If the state is low on funds they will figure out how to save money. For example, NY State recently saw a huge number of the elderly in retirement homes die from the pandemic. Sadly the governor ordered people with this highly contagious disease which is quite deadly to seniors to be treated in the retirement homes rather than hospitals. But the silver lining is that their deaths will save the State a lot of money. Another example, suppose we have many contracts with police, firefighters and teachers and we have to figure out how to cut the cost of those contracts. It is too hard to actually renegotiate a lower salary, doesn’t work. So instead, why not double the minimum wage? When you double the minimum wage it causes massive inflation to ripple throughout the economy. So a dollar is now worth half what it used to be. You don’t need to renegotiate the contract, do this instead and you can cut the “real” salaries in half.
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for 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 groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
This is what tyranny is. Any country with a large standing army is a tyranny. Why? Because people don’t send their kids to foreign countries to die in wars by choice. They will choose to fight for self defense, but they won’t choose to go to Vietnam or Korea or Iraq by choice. The risk is far greater than any possible reward. But tyrants will send your kids, that is because to them the risk of your kids dying is far less than the possible reward of large oil fields or weapons contracts.
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
Again, this is the siren song of tyrants, “I’ll go out before you and fight your battles”. The gospel is that Jesus Christ is in us, He wants to be one with us to fight our battles.
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.” Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”
Why is this happening again? To be a high priest, to be a leader in Israel you have to be solidly connected to the Lord. If not it is like you immediately will spin out of control. The temptations for dishonest gain are great, without being solidly grounded you will give in to those temptations. Eli’s sons did, and Samuel’s sons did. This is the basic concept behind our system of “checks and balances”. We understand that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Anyone can design a government where Samuel will be the leader, that is easy. But designing a government composed of sinners, that is near impossible. Look at the Philistines, they seize the ark of the covenant and within seven months they have to give it back with a gift. They were incompatible with the covenant of the kingdom.
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[b] us, such as all the other nations have.” 6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
This has confused me for years. Samuel’s sons and Eli’s sons were corrupt. They accepted bribes and they corrupted justice. So why is God saying they are rejecting Him? Let’s examine this. They aren’t saying “let’s get rid of the priesthood” no, they are saying we need a king to act as a way to deal with the priesthood. This is idiotic, do you really think tht if the priests are sinners and fall into temptation that the king won’t be also? The only check and balance to sin is God. You need to follow your spirit, listen to God, obey God. But that is scary? No, that is what you have to do if you want to rule and reign with Jesus. Consider Mike Lindell. He supported Trump so he suffered the attack of the cancel culture. They called all his retail outlets and threatened them to drop his products. Ten different companies like Bed Bath and Beyond did drop him. But he stuck to his guns and people responded ordering his products online so that his business continued to grow. But then he put together a movie that explains how the election fraud took place. It is involved, it is complicated, and it involves many different witnesses and pieces of evidence. Even so he was able to put together this movie in six days. Meanwhile false stories are being spread to defame him and he is being censored and removed from social media. His movie comes out and the internet tries to pull the plug on it so that many of the sites that were going to show it all of a sudden come down. Meanwhile Lou Dobbs is fired from Fox because he also was a supporter of Trump’s policies. It is scary to do what is right, there is a price to pay. But that is what it means to rule. They were saying we aren’t willing to pay this price, but let’s pick someone to do it for us.
8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
The siren song of tyrants is “I’ll take care of you”. This is true, they mean it. They will provide your health care, they will provide your education, and they will provide your job. In fact they will treat you the same way you might treat a pet. If the state is low on funds they will figure out how to save money. For example, NY State recently saw a huge number of the elderly in retirement homes die from the pandemic. Sadly the governor ordered people with this highly contagious disease which is quite deadly to seniors to be treated in the retirement homes rather than hospitals. But the silver lining is that their deaths will save the State a lot of money. Another example, suppose we have many contracts with police, firefighters and teachers and we have to figure out how to cut the cost of those contracts. It is too hard to actually renegotiate a lower salary, doesn’t work. So instead, why not double the minimum wage? When you double the minimum wage it causes massive inflation to ripple throughout the economy. So a dollar is now worth half what it used to be. You don’t need to renegotiate the contract, do this instead and you can cut the “real” salaries in half.
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for 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 groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
This is what tyranny is. Any country with a large standing army is a tyranny. Why? Because people don’t send their kids to foreign countries to die in wars by choice. They will choose to fight for self defense, but they won’t choose to go to Vietnam or Korea or Iraq by choice. The risk is far greater than any possible reward. But tyrants will send your kids, that is because to them the risk of your kids dying is far less than the possible reward of large oil fields or weapons contracts.
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
Again, this is the siren song of tyrants, “I’ll go out before you and fight your battles”. The gospel is that Jesus Christ is in us, He wants to be one with us to fight our battles.
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.” Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”