Right from the beginning the organization of Israel as a nation was in stark contrast with the nation of Egypt that had enslaved them. They not only left Egypt’s “pyramids of stone” behind; but also left Egypt’s “pyramids of state” behind them. They sought to be a “holy nation” – “not like the other nations”. They decided to have no “king”, but the “King of Glory.” Instead of a central government, they decided to have a decentralized federation of tribes. And disputes that arose were adjudicated by a series of judges.

Psa24:7Lift up your heads, you gates; that the King of glory may come in.

8Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty.
29:10(He) sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King.
11The LORD gives strength to his people; he blesses his people with peace.
146:3Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
4Their spirits depart, they return to the ground; their plans come to nothing.

5Blessed is he whose help is (in) God, 6the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them– the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
7He upholds the cause of the oppressed,gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free, 8the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, he loves the righteous.
9The LORD watches over aliens and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Until the day the people decided they wanted to have a king of their own.
“We want a king!”
Jud21:25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit in his own eyes.
1Sam.8:4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
6But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.”
10Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14He will take the best of your fields and vine-yards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
19But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
21When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
After the people of Israel were liberated, they set up a free society. A society that was built on the foundation of “trust”, rather than “security”. But when it came to the crunch, they abandoned the “politics of trust” and embraced the “politics of security”. Opting for a monarchy, just “like all the other nations”, though they knew, full well, their king would enslave them.
It’s interesting to note God’s response to the demand for a king. He knows that it represents a clear rejection of his political agenda. He says, sadly, “They have rejected me as their king”. He is implacably opposed to a top- down, centralized, political economy that disempowers people, especially the people at the bottom of society. And he warns the people of Israel not to go back to the form of government that they left behind them in Egypt, lest they “become slaves”. But the people say they want a king regardless. And in a move that shows God is passionately committed to democracy – as opposed to autocracy – he instructs his representative to recognize the right of the people to decide on the form of government they want – and “give them a king” – even though he disagrees with the decision himself.