But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD…
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king." Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Everyone go back to his town." 1 Samuel 8:6, 19-22
Poor Samuel. He had the unenviable job of representing the people to God and God to the people. From experience he had known that what God says is good, it must be good, and what He says is bad should be totally avoided. God knew his people. He knew how they would act under royalty. But because the cry of the people became so loud, He let Israel have a king.
We see this kind of behavior often in the world. Some call it "mob rule" or "herd mentality." We saw it with Moses and the people of Israel. And of course, we saw it as Pilate presented Jesus to the people.
Crucify Him, crucify Him!
But he's done nothing wrong!
Crucify Him!
It is next to impossible to calm a reckless and violent crowd. And when people in a large group get in their minds that they want something that is contrary to sound Biblical teaching ("Death to Israel" chant comes to mind), occasionally God gives it to them. The old saying still matters, "Be careful what you ask for in prayer. You just might get it."
(this is a first devotional in the series about Kings in the Bible)