SEV Biblia, Chapter 8:22
Y el SEŅOR dijo a Samuel: Oye su voz, y pon rey sobre ellos. Entonces dijo Samuel a los varones de Israel: Idos cada uno a su ciudad.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 8:22
Verse 22. Hearken unto their voice] Let them have what they desire, and let them abide the consequences. Go ye every man unto his city.] It seems the elders of the people had tarried all this time with Samuel, and when he had received his ultimate answer from God, he told them of it and dismissed them.
ON this account we may observe: 1. That GOD did not change the government of Israel; it was the people themselves who changed it. 2. That though God permitted them to have a king, yet he did not approve of him.
3. That, notwithstanding he did not suffer them to choose the man, he ordered his servant Samuel to choose him by lot, he disposing of that lot.
4. That God never gave up the supreme government; he was still KING in Israel, and the king, so called, was only the vicegerent or deputy of the Lord. 6. That no king of Judah attempted to be supreme, therefore they never made new laws, nor altered the old; which was a positive confession that God was the supreme Legislator. 6. That an absolute monarchy is always an evil, and is contrary to all the rights, civil and religious, of mankind; a mode of government that all people should avoid, as pregnant with evils to mankind. 7. That although it was a sin in the Israelites to desire a king, that is, to change a constitution of which God was the author, yet kingly government, properly understood, is a good of the first magnitude to the civil happiness of mankind. 8. That by kingly government, properly understood, I mean such a monarchical government as that of Great Britain, where the king, the nobles, and the people, are duly mixed, each having his proper part in the government, and each preventing the other from running to excess, and all limited by law. 9. That the three grand forms of government which have obtained among mankind, viz., monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, have each certain advantages without which no state can be well preserved; but they have evils by which any state may be injured. 10. That, from a proper mixture of these, the advantages of the whole may be reaped without any of their attendant evils, and that this is the British constitution; which, not merely the wisdom of our ancestors, but the providence of God has given unto us, and of which no other state has had common sense enough to avail themselves, though they see that because of this the British empire is the most powerful and the most happy in the universe, and likely at last to give laws to the whole world. The manner of our king is constitutional, widely different from that of Saul, and from that of any other potentate in the four quarters of the globe. He is the father of his people, and the people feel and love him as such. He has all the power necessary to do good; they have all the liberty necessary to their political happiness, had they only a diminution of taxes, which at present are too heavy for any nation to bear.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 22. And the Lord said to Samuel , etc.] an audible voice, or by an impulse upon his mind: hearken unto their voice, and make them a king ; since they will have a king, let them have one, and let them know that they shall have one: and Samuel said unto the men of Israel : the elders of the people that addressed him on this occasion, ( 1 Samuel 8:4) go ye every man unto his city ; signifying they might return in peace, and be assured their request would be granted, and a king would be appointed in a short time, and which they might report to their fellow citizens; and they might expect to hear from him quickly, as soon as he had instructions from the Lord who should be their king, which right he had reserved to himself; and therefore in the mean while they might rest contented that they would have one in a little time.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-22 - If they would have a king to rule them, as the eastern kings rule their subjects, they would find the yoke exceedingly heavy. Those tha submit to the government of the world and the flesh, are told plainly what hard masters they are, and what tyranny the dominion of sin is The law of God and the manner of men widely differ from each other; the former should be our rule in the several relations of life; the latte should be the measure of our expectations from others. These would by their grievances, and, when they complained to God, he would not hea them. When we bring ourselves into distress by our own wrong desire and projects, we justly forfeit the comfort of prayer, and the benefi of Divine aid. The people were obstinate and urgent in their demand Sudden resolves and hasty desires make work for long and leisurel repentance. Our wisdom is, to be thankful for the advantages, an patient under the disadvantages of the government we may live under and to pray continually for our rulers, that they may govern us in the fear of God, and that we may live under them in all godliness an honesty. And it is a hopeful symptom when our desires of worldl objects can brook delay; and when we can refer the time and manner of their being granted to God's providence __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 יהוה 3068 אל 413 שׁמואל 8050 שׁמע 8085 בקולם 6963 והמלכת 4427 להם מלך 4428 ויאמר 559 שׁמואל 8050 אל 413 אנשׁי 376 ישׂראל 3478 לכו 1980 אישׁ 376 לעירו׃ 5892
