Below is an excerpt of a treatise by John M. Bland from 1995. His thoughts below are under the subtitle The Human Tendency Toward Irresponsibility. You can read the entire 85 pages here free. I struggled a bit on whether or not I should post this. The second half of his treatise has strong Cessationist ideology which I don’t agree with. The first half, however, is really inciteful and I would hope you would take time to read the excerpt below and the first half of his treatise.
“Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, Look, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make for us a king to judge us like all the nations…. And the Lord said to Samuel, Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them (1 Samuel 8:4-5,7,).”
The above scripture is an excellent illustration of the human tendency to ascribe to someone else one’s own God-given responsibilities. Yahweh had founded a theocratic (God ruled) nation of priests. He had chosen them to be special. He had delivered them from the rule of Pharaoh and given them equality under His reign as defined below.
“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you will be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine. And you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:4-6).”
History shows they were faithful to God for only a short period of time. They failed to obey God in driving out the inhabitants of the land. They quit inquiring into the will of God from the Levitical priests. The comment in Judges 17:6, is this. “At that time there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. Because they had rejected God’s rule, He sold them into the hands of oppressors. From time to time, God found it merciful to raise up a deliverer. They would rally around this judge and with God’s help conquer the enemy. Generally, they were called to personally participate in the war.
This was the background of things when Samuel, the last judge, was enfeebled with age. Israel was still surrounded with enemies. The people were weary of their responsibilities to confront these adversaries. They gave two reasons for their request for a king. The first is stated in the above introductory verse – that they could be like the surrounding nations. It takes courage and fortitude to be different. It takes commitment to an ideal to take a stand. It requires sacrifice to battle. From this perspective, you can understand their insistence on having a king even after the negatives were iterated. We want a king anyway, they said,
“…that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles (1 Samuel 8:19-20).”
Now we’re getting to the most important reason for their insistence. They were tired of fighting. They were glad – with some hesitation – to let others carry their responsibilities. God had warned them about the nature of kings. “They will tax you.” “They will make servants out of your children.” “They will take your sons for soldiers.” “They will make your daughters perfumers and cooks.” Etceteras! “Yeah,” they replied, “we can understand that but what is that to us?” “Give us a king!” (paraphrase mine)
Who were these responsibility shirkers? These were the elders, the older people. These were the ones whom God wished to be shepherds of His citizens: those that had the weight of age and
experience. It was going to be their sons who would end up paying the cost of their folly. It was their daughters that would be tyrannized by the kings that would follow. It was the issue of their loins that would have to give up their hard earned money to the king and his court. It was their offspring who would weep and toil in a land of captivity while they “rested with their fathers.” The consequences of their demand was far reaching and enduring and they had no Scriptural right to relinquish their responsibilities to those “who would be kings”. In doing so, God accused them of rejecting Him.This Old Testament passage illustrates the constant human disposition to make excuses and avoid personal responsibility. Adam was the first to blame someone else for his rebellion. He ended up blaming both God and his wife. In the instance of Israel, after God gave in to their wish and granted them a “substitute”, their first king Saul “shirked” his responsibility to carry out God’s desire and then blamed the people (1 Samuel 15).
In modern day vernacular we would say “let George do it”. Well, you say, that was then and this is now. Are we, the heirs of New Testament Christianity, guilty of the same?