In 1 Samuel 8, the Bible recounts an ill-fated political decision.
The narrative explains that the elders of Israel come to Samuel and demand "a king to govern us, like other nations." Samuel thinks this is a terrible idea, and God agrees with him. God tells Samuel that the people are not rejecting Samuel so much as they are rejecting God in asking for a king.
They are turning to human leadership, trusting in a king rather than leaning upon a God who rules with grace not force.
God has Samuel warn the people that kings do exactly one thing well: they take. As my colleague Cameron Howard has taught me, God here recounts a very precise and evocative description of what imperial power does. The powerful will take from the weak, the center from the margins, the king from the people. Empires and kings extract the value of your land, sacrifice the lives of your children in warfare, take even your livelihoods for his advantage. Is that what you want? Is that the king you seek? A king who will enslave you and your children, not the God who liberated you from slavery in Egypt?
Despite these dire predictions, the people still demand a king, "so that we may also be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." With that vote for monarchical authority, the reign of Saul begins and so a long line of kings:
Both great and terrible but mostly terrible.
And it was also a worldly king who condemned Jesus to death and executed him.
