will take the tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants. And ye
will cry out in that day because of your king which ye have chosen you,
and the Lord will not hear you in that day."

Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they
said, "Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like
all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us,
and fight our battles." It would thus appear that the monarchy which the
people sought would necessarily become nearly absolute, limited only by
the will of God as interpreted by priests and prophets,--for the
theocracy was not to be destroyed, but still maintained as even superior
to the royal authority. The future king was to be supreme in affairs of
state, in the direction of armies, in the appointment of captains and
commanders, in the general superintendence of the realm in worldly
matters; but he could not go contrary to the divine commands as they
would be revealed to him, without incurring a fearful penalty. He could
not interfere with the functions of the priesthood under any pretence
whatever; and further, he was required to rule on principles of equity
and immutable justice. He could not repel the divine voice, whether it
spake to his consciousness or was revealed to him by divinely
commissioned prophets, without the certainty of divine chastisement.
Thus was his power limited, even by invisible forces superior to his
own; for Jehovah had not withdrawn his special jurisdiction over the
chosen people for whom he was preparing a splendid destiny,--that is,
through them, the redemption of the world.

Whether the people of Israel did not believe the predictions of the
prophet, or wished to have a kingly government in spite of its evils, in
order to become more powerful as a nation, we do not know. All that we
know is that they persisted in their demand, and that God granted their