unknown

I Samuel 8:1-22 (GSB paraphrase)

As Samuel grew old and entered his senior years, he appointed his children to be officials over the cities and towns. But his children weren’t as upright and circumspect as their father and accepted bribes and perverted justice, abandoning all they had been taught.

Finally, it was time for the national election and the two parties got together to see what options they had to offer to Samuel for future leadership of the nation. “Look,” they told him, “you are now old and your children are not like you. We can’t trust them to decide what is in our best interest. Give us a King to lead us like all the other nations around the world have.”

Samuel was disgusted with them and went to the Lord for guidance. “Don’t fight them,” the Lord said, “for they aren’t rejecting you and your leadership but they are rejecting me as their Lord and Master. They don’t want to follow My rules any longer. Ever since I rescued them from the tyranny of England, they have continually abandoned me and followed false leaders and their philosophies. Now they won’t listen to you, either. Do as they ask but seriously warn them about the consequences of this change of leadership.”

So Samuel shared the Lord’s warning as the election heated up. “Expect the new King to change the rules. He/she will take all of My rules out of your schools and replace them with ones they like better. The military will conscript both your sons and your daughters and send then off to war. No longer will the family farm be passed on to future generations because it costs so much to pay the taxes. The courts will overturn all the laws that have protected your individual rights and allow group-rights to supersede. Churches will be forced to change their standards to conform to the new rules. If they resist, they will be harassed and fear for their jobs and property. He/she will take your money, your health care, your guns, and your freedom to benefit his/her desires and plans. Taxes will reduce you to poverty level and destroy initiative. The day will come when you plead for all of this to change back, but it will be too late.”

But the Democrats and Republicans refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “We don’t care. We want our way and our King,” they said. “We want to be the strongest nation in the world and the only way is to choose one of these people to be our King.”

So Samuel reported back to the Lord the wishes of the people and the Lord told him, “Let them have their election and choose who they want to lead them.” Then Samuel told the people to do what they wanted.