Yahweh said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.
Samuel experienced rejection by the people he led just as Moses, Jesus Christ, and so many of God’s faithful servants have throughout history (cf. Luke 19:14). One writer suggested that the end of 1 Samuel 8:8 should read, ". . . so they are also making a king." [Note: Scott L. Harris, "1 Samuel VIII 7-8," Vetus Testamentum 31:1 (January 1981):79-80.] Even though this translation minimizes what seems to some to be a contradiction between 1 Samuel 8:7-8, it is inferior, I believe.