Dictators (Ordinary Time - Day 24)

1 Samuel 8:1-22

Samuel is a very old man, and he has two sons - Joel and Abijah. Right off the bat, the author tells us his sons are corrupt. They are taking bribes and corrupting justice. It's been about forty years since the chest of God returned to Israel, and not once have the Israelites opened their hearts to receive God. They've repeated the same mistakes as their neighboring cities. They've created their own misery. They give lip service to God but their hearts are for many gods. 

To make matters worse, the two sons of Samuel are not fit to be leaders. They are no better than the people they are supposed to lead. So, what to the people of Israel want? A dictator. They want to be ruled. They want to be puppets. 

Crushed, Samuel prays and seeks direction on what to do. The author says God tells Samuel to give the people what they want, but to warn them about what a king would do to them. God tells Samuel that the people aren't rejecting him, but rejecting God as king.

This is what a king does with sons: makes soldiers of them, makes cavalry of them, makes infantry of them, puts them in battalions and squadrons, puts them in forced labor on his farms, puts them to plowing and harvesting, and puts them to making either weapons of war or luxurious vehicles in which he can ride in.

This is what a king does with daughters: puts them to work as beauticians, waitresses, and cooks.

This is what a king does with property: he conscripts the people's best fields, vineyards, and orchards; he hands them over to his elite friends. He taxes their harvests to support his extensive bureaucracy. He takes the best workers and animals for his own use. He lays a tax on their livestock.

This is what happens when people demand a king: They become no better than slaves. They cry in desperation to a God who gave them what they wanted.

We get whatever we want. The God I believe in is for the people. This story says that God cares so much for the people that he puts their wants over his own. They want a dictator, and he tells Samuel to give it to them. 

Our desires go one of two ways at any given point in time, at any moment. We want bondage or freedom. The author tells us that God represents ultimate free will, and contrasts that with the actions of a king. Which one do we want?

God is not a dictator.

A king is not for the people.

We know which one we want, and no one's stopping us. The question is, how much freedom do we want?