1 Samuel 8
We Want a King!
Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:1-22
Memory Verse: “For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.”
Psalm 47:2
Lesson Focus: God is our King.
Activities and Crafts: Coloring Page, Work Sheet
Craft for 1st and 2nd Graders: God is our King Head band
1. Have the kids color their Crown
2. Measure Construction paper and have the kids glue their crowns to the head band
3. Staple the head band together so that the kids can wear it.
Introduction: Game: “Who wants to be King?”
Tell the kids that you are going to state some facts and if it applies to them they have to
sit down.
1. If you are wearing blue sit down
2. If you have a little sister sit down
3. If you have brown eyes sit down
4. If you have white socks sit down
(Keep asking questions – until one child is standing. Give him/her the
crown.)
Ask the kids why they wanted to be king. What do kings get to do?
Bible Study:
1 Samuel 8:1-3:
√ What is the condition of Samuel? (Old)
√ Who did Samuel make judges over Israel? (his sons)
√ Did Samuel’s sons walk with God? (no)
√ What did they do to cheat the people? (bribes, and perverted justice)
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1 Samuel 8:4-5:
√ What did the elders of Israel come and say to Samuel?
1. You are old
2. Your sons do not walk with God
3. Make us a King like all the other nations
√ Do you think that it is good to be like all the other nations? Why or why not?
√ Do the other nations follow God?
√ Why do you think that they wanted a King?
Good leaders do not always have good sons that follow in their leadership. The elders
saw this in Samuel and basically in Eli. But they came to a bad solution to their problem.
Their solution was to be like all of the other nations. The nations that Samuel had just
asked them to turn away from and give up their idols in 1 Samuel 7. This plan is being
unfaithful to God. They are saying that God is not enough. God is not our King. We
want to look like all of the other nations that have kings that judge them and take care
of them during war.
A king would give them a stable and political center of government that would be the
head of the nation of Israel. They had been depending on a God that they could not
see. They wanted someone they could see and look up to.
1 Samuel 8:6-9:
√ Was Samuel happy about this request for a king? (The words used in the Hebrew
language indicate that Samuel saw this request as evil. He does not seem to be
concerned about his judging responsibilities taken away. But he knows that he was
appointed by God to be a judge. He sees the people taking away this responsibility from
God.)
√ What did Samuel do, even though he was not happy? (he prayed)
√ What did God tell Samuel to do?
1. Listen to the people
2. Do what they say and find them a king
3. They have not rejected Samuel – they have rejected God Himself and that He
should not reign over them.
4. Just as they have acted in the past – so they are acting now. They do not
remember God’s working in the past. They always begin to follow those
around them.
5. Choose a king for them – but warn them about what a king will do.
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1 Samuel 8:10-18:
√ What did Samuel do? (He told them what God had told him)
√ How did Samuel describe how a king would treat them?
1. He will use their sons for horseman and chariots
2. He will appoint captains to rule over groups of people. They will
choose people to farm, harvest, make weapons of war and
equipment.
3. He will take your daughters for cooks, bakers and perfumers.
4. He will take the best of your harvest.
5. He will take a tenth of your grain and vines for his officers and
servants.
6. He will take your servants and donkeys and put them to work for him.
7. He will take a tenth of your livestock.
8. You will cry out that this is all not fair – but the Lord will not hear you.
9. You will be his servants.
What Samuel is saying is that a king will “take” all the good stuff first for
himself.
1 Samuel 8:19-20
√ How did the people respond to what Samuel told them? (they refused to obey
the voice of Samuel and said they still wanted a king. The warning had
no effect. They did not care that a king would take all of the best for
himself. They are being shortsighted. They cannot hear the warning that
God is giving them through Samuel. Their blindness to what is going to
happen is because they want to be like every other nation. They think
that they do not care about the consequences.
√ How had the people’s demand changed?
1. 1 Samuel 8:5: “make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
2. 1 Samuel 8:19; “no, but we WILL HAVE a king over us, that we may be
like the other nations.”
Their demand changed greatly. They wanted what they wanted. They
would have a king no matter what. And they did not just want a king so
that they could LOOK like the other nations – they wanted a king to that
they could BE like the other nations.
√ What did the people want the King to do?
1. Be their judge
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2. Fight their battles
√ Who fought their battles before? (Deuteronomy 20:4; “For the
Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your
enemies to save you.”)
1 Samuel 8:21-22
Samuel hears the people and goes back to God in prayer. God tells Samuel to
listen to the people and give them what they want.
Conclusion:
Just like the people of Israel we need to be careful who we what we ask of God. God is
the only one who can have 1st place in our lives. When we put other things or people
there we are saying that God is not enough.
√ How do we make God the King of our lives.
√ How do we make sure that we are not trying to be like the world around us.
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God is My King
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