All the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins [this] evil, to ask us a king.
To fear and serve God faithfully, the Israelites would need to remember God’s faithfulness to them in the past, and to bear in mind the certain consequences of disobedience (cf. Deuteronomy 28:41; Deuteronomy 28:45-64; Deuteronomy 30:15-20). The dark alternative was being swept away in exile.