Rejecting God's Rule: Israel Looks for a King
Have you ever put a lot of time and effort into selecting a gift for someone you love, only for that gift to go unnoticed or unappreciated? There are few feelings worse than the rejection of a gift—especially one that required a great deal of effort or sacrifice.
While our focus in 2025 is going to be on King David—from boyhood to death—the context that brought David to the throne of Israel began several years before his famous duel with Goliath. Our story begins with the Israelite people rejecting one of the greatest gifts they had been given, a gift that was given to them by God Himself.
From the time of Moses until the ministry of the prophet Samuel, Israel was ruled directly by God, through a system of government we call a theocracy.
God spoke directly to the nation’s leaders, He dictated the laws of the nation, He physically guided their steps to the Promised Land through pillars of cloud and fire. He intervened in the physics of nature to aid Israel in battles, He provided food and water at moments where the people were lacking.
This gift of a theocracy put Israel directly under the providence of God and gave them a unique communion with Him, a level of intimacy and closeness unparalleled in human history.
Because of this, the Bible reads like a tragedy when our scene opens in 1 Samuel 8, as the people of Israel reject the government of God and seek a government of man.
The elders of Israel said to Samuel, “‘Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations’” (1 Samuel 8:5).
Notice their reasoning: Give us a king “like all the nations.” This is nothing less than an attempt by the people of God to conform to the standards and traditions of culture. They effectively tell Samuel—and God—all the other nations are ruled by a king, so we want a monarchy too.
Before David is introduced in the narrative of Scripture, the events that will lead to his eventual kingship provide some key applications for believers today:
FIRST, REJECTING GOD’S GIFTS WILL HAVE CATASTROPHIC EARTHLY AND ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES.
For Israel, this choice to substitute monarchy for theocracy will lay the groundwork for the bloody and miserable split of the nation within the next three generations. The twelve tribes of Israel will be divided, embittered, and hostile toward each other. The unity of God’s people will be lost for hundreds of years.
What about us? As Christians, we can reject God’s gifts when we don’t seek His will. God may be opening doors for you, but if you aren’t seeking His will, you can miss key opportunities for ministry. Of course, for an unbelieving world, the consequences of rejecting God’s free gift of salvation are eternal.
As James will write hundreds of years after the events of 1 Samuel, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Let’s eagerly accept every good and perfect gift, and express gratitude back to our heavenly Father.
SECOND, CONFORMING TO THE WORLD WILL CAUSE US TO MISS GOD’S GREATER PURPOSE.
Israel wanted to fit in with the governmental systems of the nations around them and because of their desire to conform to the world, they traded away their unique relationship with God.
Beloved, every time we compromise theologically, every time we become more focused on the city of man than the Kingdom of Heaven, every time we are led astray by the temptations of power, fame, and influence, we do the same thing.
We don’t need to be significant in the eyes of the world in order to fulfill God’s will in the world. So, let’s make sure that we’re pursuing God’s approval, with a willingness to be different from our culture. And by being different, we will shine the unique light of Christ in an increasingly darkening world.
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