1 Samuel
1 Samuel 8
1When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. 3His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 4Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah. 5They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.”
Samuel prayed to Yahweh. 7Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them. 8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so they also do to you. 9Now therefore listen to their voice. However you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.”
10Samuel told all Yahweh’s words to the people who asked him for a king. 11He said, “This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots. 12He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants. 15He will take one tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers, and to his servants. 16He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work. 17He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants. 18You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.”
19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No; but we will have a king over us, 20that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.”
21Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Yahweh. 22Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice, and make them a king.”
Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Everyone go to your own city.”
Commentary
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What others are saying
5 commentators · 46 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Two sad things we find here, but not strange things: - 1. A good and useful man growing old and unfit for service (Sa1 8:1): Samuel was old, and could not judge Israel, as he had done. He is not reckoned to be past sixty years of age now, perhaps not so much…
We have here the starting of a matter perfectly new and surprising, which was the setting up of kingly government in Israel. Perhaps the thing had been often talked of among them by those that were given to change and affected that which looked great. But we…
John Gill22
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And it came to pass, when Samuel was old,.... The common notion of the Jews is, that he lived but fifty two years (t); when a man is not usually called an old man, unless the infirmities of old age came upon him sooner than they commonly do, through his…
Now the name of his firstborn was Joel,.... In 1 Chronicles 6:28 he is called Vashni; See Gill on 1 Chronicles 6:28. This was not Joel the prophet, as some have thought, neither his parentage, nor his office, nor his times, will agree with this: and the name…
And his sons walked not in his ways,.... The meaning of which is not that they did not go the circuit he did, which is too low a sense of the words some Jewish writers give; but they did not walk in the fear of God, in the paths of religion and righteousness…
Adam Clarke10
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
When Samuel was old - Supposed to be about sixty. He made his sons judges - He appointed them as his lieutenants to superintend certain affairs in Beer-sheba, which he could not conveniently attend to himself. But they were never judges in the proper sense of…
His sons walked not in his ways - Their iniquity is pointed out in three words: 1. They turned aside after lucre; the original (בצע batsa) signifies to cut, clip, break off; and therefore Mr. Parkhurst thinks that it means nearly the same with our clipping of…
Make us a king - Hitherto, from the time in which they were a people, the Israelites were under a theocracy, they had no other king but God. Now they desire to have a king like the other nations around them, who may be their general in battle; for this is the…
Keil & Delitzsch6
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
Sa1 8:1-2 The reason assigned for the appointment of Samuel's sons as judges is his own advanced age. The inference which we might draw from this alone, namely, that they were simply to support their father in the administration of justice, and that Samuel…
Nevertheless "the thing displeased Samuel when they said," etc. This serves to explain הדּבר, and precludes the supposition that Samuel's displeasure had reference to what they had said concerning his own age and the conduct of his sons. At the same time, the…
In order to show them wherein they were wrong, Samuel was instructed to bear witness against them, by proclaiming the right of the king who would rule over them. בּהם תּעיד העד neither means "warn them earnestly" (De Wette), nor "explain and solemnly expound…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown6
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us--Personal and family feelings might affect his views of this public movement. But his dissatisfaction arose principally from the proposed change being revolutionary in its character…
This will be the manner of the king--The following is a very just and graphic picture of the despotic governments which anciently and still are found in the East, and into conformity with which the Hebrew monarchy, notwithstanding the restrictions prescribed…
he will appoint him captains--In the East, a person must accept any office to which he may be nominated by the king, however irksome it may be to his taste or ruinous to his interests.
World English Bible — Public domain