1 Samuel 8:10-22

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 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.”

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.”

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.”

Questions to consider:

• What does Samuel say a human king will claim from the people?
• Who told him all these things?
• What does Samuel say the people of Israel will eventually say to those things?
• Do the people believe Samuel?
• How does God respond?

Possibilities for prayer:

Here we see an example of the way in which God allows us to make our decisions. God offers the people of Israel the truth and wisdom about what having a king will eventually mean, but they refuse to accept its truth. So God lets them make their own choice, much in the way we are always able to make our own choices. Today, let's ask for the ability to hear God's voice clearly and that we would receive and respond to the wisdom that God so graciously offers us.