1 Samuel 12: Why is Samuel so grumpy?

Let’s take this issue head on here. Is it good to have a king or not? Moses, through the law gives clear instruction to Israel for what a king should do and how he should act. Yet, Moses acts as if having a king is a terrible idea. Samuel, in this chapter, does the same thing? Isn’t Jesus a king? Where’s the puzzle kids?

This chapter is a landmark in the history of Israel, marking not just the transition in leadership from Samuel to Saul, but in a bigger, more important way, the transition between the influence of a judge to the sovereignty of a king. The judges were much more like the best player on the team or the wisest person in the nation (a.k.a. “the seer” 9:9). In a crisis, they would all choose to give the ball to the judge and he or she would lead them, or offer them the wisdom that they needed. The judges would emerge in each generation based upon their genuine gifting, godliness and wisdom, just as team leaders and scholars do in our day based upon their particular niche. The advantage of a judge is that you always have the right person. The disadvantage is that their authority is limited the crisis or situation they are called into. Judges couldn’t establish and a government across Israel that would establish and build order that could last through the transitions in power from one judge to the next. When Michael Jordan retires, the Bulls go back to being a bad team.

Kings, on the other hand, were given the role based upon birth order and a clear succession of leadership was always set up. The advantage of this is that a king can set up a system that can protect the country from the ups and downs of waiting for a franchise player or scholar to save the country. The disadvantage is that the collection power into the hands of one person is quite dangerous for any group of people. Political rulers, by nature carry the influence of provisional hope (for their influence over the economy, foreign relations, domestic trouble-shooting, etc.), yet when the provisional hope of political power gets mixed with the eternal hope of spiritual leadership, you have a juggernaut of power akin to a nuclear reactor. A nuclear reactor can warm an entire nation the size of Israel from one place, but if it goes south it takes the entire nation with it.

Samuel knew that kings would become mediators for their people, using their influence and example to shape the entire culture of a nation. Essentially you had the right place (of power) and hoped that the right person would fill it. Samuel knew human nature well enough to know that mankind cannot produce enough successful first round draft picks with enough succession to offer the kind of spiritual leadership Israel needed. People would look to their king and their king would eventually lead them astray.

Jesus would take the place of the king, and from the power demonstrated in his life, the love shown in his death and the vindication of his resurrection, we can be assured that he is the right person in the right place. We need to pray to him for both our spiritual and political leaders, as they shape the spiritual climate of our lives in ways that we do not even know.