Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Samuel 8-10.

Much as Eli before him, Samuel did a poor job raising his sons.  This led the Israelites to ask Samuel anoint a king over them.  Which goes to show that even back then people did not really think through what they asked of their government.  They asked for a king because Samuel’s sons were corrupt and evil and Eli’s sons had been the same before Samuel.  Now, in what way did a king differ from being ruled by judges as had happened in Israel up until now?  The difference was that one of the king’s sons would succeed their father as ruler.  Under the system which they had, Samuel’s sons and Eli’s sons, only had authority because the people of Israel gave it to them out of respect for their fathers.  That authority could be taken from them whenever the people so chose.  While the same is true of a king’s son, that is much harder.  In any case, the Israelites revealed the real reason they wanted a king…to be like every other nation.  And that is the root of many mistakes we make in our lives, wanting to be just like everyone else.  God has special plans for us, let’s not settle for being like everyone else.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.