been wanting to do this for a while but heres a thread of exegesis on 1 Samuel 8. https://twitter.com/kierkegarchy/status/1358925731418558477

1/ v1-5. we see that under Samuel, Israel has an informal rule of judges, (local aristocrats basically in line with Hoppean thinking in From Aristocracy) the text even goes out of its way to note a difference between judges and kings demanded by Israel

2/ note also that this rule by judges (which was anarchistic) was different than other nations of the time who had kings. also interestingly the hebrew word for king-“melek”- is a semitic loanword that shares the same root as the name moloch, suggesting the concepts pagan origin

3/ v.6-7 Samuel and God both are displeased with the request for explicit political rule. God even says “they have rejected me that I should not reign over them.” in other words, explicit political rule comes between us and God’s rule.

4/ this goes back to an OT theme that the universal is an unholy mediator between man and God. in Gen 3 ethics itself was a mediator in the form of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. in Gen 11, the community is a mediator. here politics is a mediator

5/ v. 9-10: God tells Samuel to tell the Israelites how a king (not a judge) will act.
v. 11-12: Samuels first criticism is that kings are violent and destructive. they “take your sons to make chariots.”

6/ taking ones sons automatically signals the destruction of the family. no longer are men cleaving unto their wives like God intended, they are off with their mistress-the state-to commit violence for the kings glory

7/ v. 14-17: most striking is Samuel’s mention of the king taking “one-tenth.” he is explicitly comparing taxation and conscription to a tithe. in other words the king (by extension the State) views itself as God

8/ v. 18: Samuel predicts destruction as a result of replacing God with political rulers. how right he was

9/ v. 19-22. the people ignore Samuel. they literally dont even address his arguments, but just repeat what they already said. “who cares, we want to be like other nations.” it may as well have been a salon article

10/ God agrees to a king anyway. keep in mind that this is often Gods move: He loves us and if we wish to abandon Him then He allows us to out of His love for us. Hell is the ultimate act of God’s sacrificial love and our stupidity