..and [the Lord] judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
—Psalm 9:8
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
—Psalm 23:3b
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
—Psalm 68:5
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
—1 Samuel 8:4-5, 18-20
Ashdod is not mentioned by name when the Israelite elders met with Samuel and demanded to have a king. But, as one of the Philistine strongholds, it is certainly implicitly included in their stated desire to “be like all the nations”.
The Lord rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery, demonstrating both His power and His care. And then, after leading them by Moses to the wilderness of Sinai, He began to teach them how to have the right relationships with each other and with Himself. Therefore, from the earliest times in His relationship with Israel as a people and a nation, He had shown that He could fight for them and lead them and teach them justice.
And those were the three reasons that the elders gave Samuel for "needing" a king: justice, leadership, and protection.
They had everything that they needed from the Lord. But what they wanted—and didn't need—was to be like the nations around them and to look to a mere mortal to give them justice, leadership, and protection.
Because they looked in the wrong place, they didn't find what they wanted. And they certainly didn't find what they needed.
The Instruction of Ashdod, Part 3
..and [the Lord] judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
—Psalm 9:8
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
—Psalm 23:3b
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
—Psalm 68:5
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
—1 Samuel 8:4-5, 18-20
Ashdod is not mentioned by name when the Israelite elders met with Samuel and demanded to have a king. But, as one of the Philistine strongholds, it is certainly implicitly included in their stated desire to “be like all the nations”.
The Lord rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery, demonstrating both His power and His care. And then, after leading them by Moses to the wilderness of Sinai, He began to teach them how to have the right relationships with each other and with Himself. Therefore, from the earliest times in His relationship with Israel as a people and a nation, He had shown that He could fight for them and lead them and teach them justice.
And those were the three reasons that the elders gave Samuel for "needing" a king: justice, leadership, and protection.
They had everything that they needed from the Lord. But what they wanted—and didn't need—was to be like the nations around them and to look to a mere mortal to give them justice, leadership, and protection.
Because they looked in the wrong place, they didn't find what they wanted. And they certainly didn't find what they needed.