I Samuel 8:5: “And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.(6) But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. (7) And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.”
This is a very curious story that I have pondered all my life. I learned in Sunday School as a child that God was displeased and hurt that the people wanted a king. God was their King, but they did not want Him. But as I began to study the role of judges I began to wonder just what was the difference between a judge shaphat in the Hebrew and a king melek in the Hebrew. A shaphat is one who creates order, establishes order and harmony. He champions rights and privileges. Old Testament judges led armies into war. Is that not what a king does? The word of a king or melek covers a broader range from that of an advisor, an intellectual head of the people to a supreme ruler.
Before Israel had a king they were ruled by judges, men and women anointed by God to carry out a mission to bring peace to Israel and to mediate between disputes. They also assumed duties of a military commander. Israel followed a cycle. They would worship God and live in peace, then they stopped worshipping God and foreign invaders disrupted their peace and then the people would repent and then God would raise a judge to deliver His people. Afterwards people would come to this judge to mediate disputes as he was a proven man of God anointed by God. Thus, his word would be law.
Samuel filled the role of both a judge and prophet and as he grew older he made a super big mistake. Rather than go back to the old pattern of letting the people alone without a judge he appointed his two sons to be judges. A little bit of nepotism. To be fair the people probably were concerned about what would happen when Samuel died and apparently God had not seen fit to raise a new judge so Samuel took matters into his own hands and appointed his sons as judges even though they did not have that anointing. As a result they took advantage of their position and we learn from Scripture that they were corrupt and did not walk in the ways of God.
Actually, what the people demanded was not unreasonable. Say you have a church with a Godly pastor who has two sons. Now every father wants to give his son the business. I am sure you can think of a number of cases where this did not turn out too well. The sons were either arrogant, spoiled, did not carry the vision their father carried or were down right corrupt. The people for the sake of the beloved pastor tries to accept them but before long they complain to their pastor or they just leave the church. Now to be sure this is not always the case but it was the case with Samuel. You would think he would have learned a lesson from his mentor Eli who passed the mantel to his sons who corrupted the priesthood.
Still, the request of the people seems perfectly reasonable, if this judgeship is going to be a dynasty then let’s just have a king like other nations. I believe the problem comes when they ask for a king, like all the nations. This request is really a different ball game. They did not ask for judges but for a king to perform the work of the judge.
Now ask yourself, what is the one basic role of a king? Why do people give their loyalty to a king. Why do they practically worship a king? We have a presidential election coming up. There was a presidential debate last night. If you can summarize everything they said into just four words what would it be? It would be: “I can protect you.” The role of a president, prime minister, ruler, king, dictator or most any political leader is to protect the people under them.
What are they protecting their people from? Basically invading armies and why do armies invade. The word for war in Hebrew tells you. The word in Hebrew is malechemah. If you remove the preposition Mem from the front of the word and the feminine ending ah at the end (seriously the feminine ending in Hebrew is ah) what you have left is the root word lechem which many of you recognize is the word for bread or food. Basically, the bottom line in all wars is to obtain a food supply, land rights to grow food or water rights to irrigate crops for food. I grew up in one of those “America is doomed” environment. This country was collapsing our government was going to be overthrown by revolutionaries. I heard that from my earliest childhood. I hear it now, “Oh if Hillary is elected president this nation will collapse” or if “Trump is elected president this nation will fall in ruin.”
The reality is that I am now 65 years old and like the Energizing Bunny this nation just keeps trucking along being the great democracy that we are. No matter who is president this nation will not fall until God dictates that it falls. But the simple fact is that our government makes sure everyone is well fed. Our food assistance program is the best in the world. No one in the Country needs to go hungry. We are a nation of plenty and we do everything possible to make sure everyone is fed and we share that plenty with others. Ideologies, wage inequalities, race inequalities, not getting a new car every year can cause disruption, but so long as there is enough food to go around, the government will stand. If the NWO wants to seize power they will have to starve us first, then promise to feed us. You see the word for war malechemah with the prepositional prefix and feminine suffix actually reads: To bring bread for one’s loved ones.
A judge was an instrument used by God to deliver His people and to mediate disputes. But the people still looked to God to rule. With a king, the people turned their eyes away from God and looked to a man to provide their bread and protect them.
Something to keep in mind this election. Are you voting for the person who can protect you or are you trusting God to protect you and you are just voting for God’s instrument that He will use to protect you. Are you voting for a king melek or a judge shaphat.
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