The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-06-30
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INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTS FOR JULY 5.
Subjects Israel Asks For King, 1
Sam. g. Golden Text, Prov. 8:15
Commit Verses 10. 2O--Read

Sam. s. GoIden Text, Prov. 8:15
Commit Verses 10, 2O--Rea1
Deut. commentary.
EXPOSITION.--f. Jehovah tells
the people the manner Of the king
that shall reign over them. VS.. 1918.
The people were eager for a king. so
eager that they brusquely and heart
lessly tell Samuel that he is too old to
be any longer fit for the place of lead.
ership Tvs. 1-5). If Samuel's feelings
were in the way of their ambition.
they must be trampled upon, that is
all, no matter how faithful a ruler
Samuel had been q Sam 12:3-5).
But Samuel seems to have been reap
ing in part the result of his own folly.
His sons were utterly unfit to be
judges, but'he made them judges over
Israel. 1t is Gods business to appoint
judges, and not mans. The fact that
Samuel himself was Judge by divine
appointment gave him no right to
make his sons judges by his own APP
pOintment, Divine gifts and offices
are not transmissable from father to
son. 1t is a grave mistake to sacrifice
the work of God for the interests Of
our children. Fatherly ambition for
his sons seems to have led Samuel
astray, even with tie awful example
Of Eli before his eyes (cf. oh. 2:12,
13; 3:11-14). Hundreds of years be-
fore (Deut. 17;14, 15) God had an
ticipated the day when His people
should request king, but He was ncs
pleased with the request when it was
made (ch IBID. That illustrates
the difference between what God pre-
diets and what God desires. "The
thing displeased Samuel' ". g.. 1t
was right that it should; for it dis
pleased the Lord as we'll But there
seems as if there was something of a
personal element, not unmixed zeal
for Gods honor, in Samuel's dis
pleasure. But he did the wisest thing
there was to be done under the cir
cumstances. HE prayed unto the
LORI" ". 6; CT. Phil. As, ~. Sam
uel does not seem to have had word
of reproach for the ingratitude of the
elders until after he had talked it
over with the Lord. 1t was not Gods
first choice to give them a king. but
God has a way of training His chill
dren by letting them have their own
way and so find out by bitter experi-
ence how much better His way is FPS.
Sill, II; Luke 1912, 17). God
was their King. In asking a human
visible king, they had rejected the d.
vine invisible King The real root of
their error was essentially the same IS
in making thesgolden calf. The desire
SO common to-day for visible human
priest and teacher to take the Mace
of the invisible Priest and Teacher.
Jesus, is of the same character. The
1nbelieving human heart cannot walk
by faith, it wants sight. Israel's his
tory is all of piece, history of fail
ure and apOstacy ". 81. The same is
true very largely of the history of the
protesting church. God hearkened
unto their request tv. 81. 'fhe stern
est chastisement oftentimes that God
can send is just to let us have our
own way but when God does let His
w1llful children have their own way.
1t is not without solemn protest
against their folly Matt. 23:37-
22;4; 21:36, BY. When Israel chose
a king it was in the face of the full
revelation of what manner the kings
should be. So men get their own
way to-day in the face of tbe
clear revelation of what that wav
involves. Samuel was in MANY re-
spects model preacher, he kent
silent until he got a message from the
Lord, and then he delivered it in fu]l
". 1O). He spoke only what the
Lord gave him to speak and he smoke
all of that. 1t was not very pleas.
ant or very welcome message, but II
was the one God gave him and he de-
liyered it all. They thought that they
might be very victorious and joyouS
and glorious if they could only have a
King, but they would find it quite diff
ferently (v. 49,. He would bring
tears and not rejoicing. So it turned
out. What curse to them. Israel's
kings taken as a whole, were. How
accurately God pictures the manner Of
the coming kings.
III. THAT we also may be like all
the nations" vs. 1922. The people
were not at all moved by Gods pic
ture of the woes the king would BRING
upon them. They refused to. obey,
They had made up their minds and
said I'VE will, and that settled If
When any man sets up his will against
Gods, then his ruin is certain. Their
hearts were fully set within them ia
do evil, and their whole after history
shows the bitter consequences thew
reaped. They desired king only to
be like the surrounding nations Tvs
10, 20), and they made the wayward-
ness of Samuel's sons the pretext Ior
demanding one. God had called them
to be separate people eek. 33.l6
Lev. 20:24-26; Deut. 7:6). This was
great honor lex. 1875, s.; Deut.
26:lS, l9) but Israel did not like the
place OF separation. They were daz-
zled by the seen but temporal gloriss
around them and preferred them to
things unseen but eternal (cf. Q. Cor.
4:lSC. 1t is just so with the church
to-day. We are called to be a SEN
arate people q Cor. 6:17; Rom.
l2;2; ! Pet 2:9; Phil. 1920 but the
church does not like the place IF sep
aratlon. We want to belize all the
nations. Samuel listened to All the
people had to say and then went and
poured it into the ears of III J,C-d
1t seems to have been Samuel's fixed
habit, when he was grieved, TO 20 OF
and have a talk with God about it.