King Saul Chosen by the People or the Lord

1 Samuel 8:18; 1 Samuel 10:24; 1 Samuel 12:13  •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 6
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Answer: The quotations of the querist afford the answer. It was Israel’s rebellious will to have, as they said, “our” king, instead of waiting for Jehovah’s purposed King (1 Sam. 2:1010The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. (1 Samuel 2:10); Psa. 210Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. (Psalm 2:10); compare also Num. 24:77He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. (Numbers 24:7); Deut. 17:14, 15; 28:3614When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. (Deuteronomy 17:14‑15)
36The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. (Deuteronomy 28:36); Psa. 458God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. (Psalm 47:8)), whom He will in His time yet set on His holy hill of Zion. Remonstrance and warning being alike refused, God gave them their king in His anger, but nevertheless, one “on whom was all the desire of Israel” —the people’s choice indeed—not the one after God’s own heart. “That [is] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”