The verse in 1 Samuel 8:8 represents a significant, yet miserable, theological reality. The Lord establishes the pattern in Israel’s history “They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning me and worshiping other gods.” Against this miserable theology, Israel’s demand for an earthly king is presented as merely the latest instance of their long-standing pattern of rejection of God.
This tragic pattern in Israel’s relationship with the Lord foretells an threatening future for Israel. As envisioned by Samuel, the earthly king that Israel demanded would assume rights otherwise reserved for the Lord,
If God were Israel’s king; He would demand a “tithe” of Israel’s grain, vintage, and flocks (1 Samuel 8:15, 17; Leviticus 27:30, 32). God, as King, would lay claim to their land and even their very lives (1 Samuel 8:11–14, 16; Leviticus 25:23).
Unlike the Lord, however, a human king would not result in freedom for Israel but rather tyranny and repression similar to what the people had experienced under Egyptian slavery (Exodus 2:23; and Judges 3:9; Judges 3:15; and Judges 6:6–7).
In a move that would determine the shape of Israel’s history from that day forward, Israel’s elders ignored Samuel’s warning and repeated their demand for a human king. Consistent with His pattern of fulfilling even Israel’s sinful requests, the Lord allowed them to have a king. A troubling future for Israel was certain.