Sermon 28: 1 Samuel 8:1-10 continued

1. But the Lord said to Samuel: Listen to the voice of the people in all things that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, but me, that I should not reign over them. 8. According to all the works which they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day — as they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they are doing also to you. 9. Now therefore listen to their voice; nevertheless, solemnly warn them and declare to them the right of the king who shall reign over them. 10. So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked a king from him.

In yesterday's sermon we learned that God assented to the wishes of the people asking for a king, although it was not for their good and benefit; and accordingly it is not therefore better for us when God fulfills our desires and wishes, because they are often rash and ill-considered, and we do not know what is useful and advantageous for us; indeed,

rather we seek things that are harmful and detrimental rather than what God knows to be beneficial. Therefore, when God shows himself ready to hear our prayers, it is not for that reason a sign of his grace, but rather of his just indignation, punishing our rashness and arrogance in this way. For this reason the Israelites are specifically said here to have rejected what was pleasing and acceptable to God, lest he should reign over them. This is a sign that their petition did not please him, since it was full of rebellion and stubbornness. For God's glory and honor ought to have been put before all things, since we know that God charges and requires nothing of men so much as that he be glorified among them and the glory of his name be advanced. When therefore his sovereignty is diminished, how abominable must we consider that to be in his sight? Nevertheless, he gives the people the power to do what they wish. God indeed not approving what the people were doing, but tolerating it. This saying is therefore true: whoever changes any of God's institutions resists God. For so Paul speaks when he says: 'Whoever opposes the power resists God's ordinance; and those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves.' Nor does Paul in that passage distinguish kings from tyrants, nor legitimate magistrates from those who are given to avarice and plundering, for he rests on this foundation: it is not to be debated whether they discharge their office rightly or not; but since they have been raised by God to that dignity, and he accordingly wills us to be subject to them, changes are not to be rashly introduced. For you may see many who would gladly change the order of worldly affairs according to their own judgment and divide kingdoms according to their own opinion, devoting all their effort to how the world might be governed according to their view, and they weary themselves and others with questions that ought to have been buried a hundred times over. But Paul with one word commands all to be subject to constituted authorities, against which no one is permitted to rise up, whatever pretext of occasion may be offered. This pronouncement is therefore true: all who rise up against the powers constituted by God wage war against God himself. But here there is a special reason in Samuel's case. For God had made him illustrious with such notable marks that no one among the people could be ignorant that he had been raised to this dignity not by some chance, but by the hand of God himself, and honored with so many distinctions. For from infancy he had been made distinguished by the gift of prophecy; then, as if by God's own hand, he was raised up as governor of the people. Moreover, we saw above that under his leadership the Philistines were defeated and overcome in a notable defeat, and were compelled to return the towns they had previously taken from the Israelites. And so under Samuel's leadership the Israelite people had recovered their former glory; therefore there was no room left for dispute whether he had been chosen by God or not, for the matter was sufficiently evident in itself. Therefore when they reject Samuel, that malice surely affected God rather than a mortal man. From this a useful doctrine is to be drawn for us: namely, if anyone is deterred from performing his duty by disturbances and seditions, God himself will eventually also take action. For this is usually the reason why magistrates often fall into contempt among men — that they persuade themselves it is a human institution, and accordingly if anything happens contrary to their expectation and will, they cannot bear it. Are they then mindful of the divine promise by which he himself pledged that he would be their avenger? Or do they call his power into question? Therefore whoever among magistrates has been raised to the helm of office and sincerely and uprightly discharges his duty and lives quietly and peacefully — if he finds enemies rising against him and disturbing his administration — he ought to be certain that war is being waged not only against him but against God himself, and that God will accordingly be his avenger and defender. Then this too must be observed here: each person is admonished neither to rise up against those whom God has set over us, nor to withdraw from them, but rather to submit our necks to the burden that God himself has placed upon us. Therefore we must take care not to envy the dignity of those whom God has embraced with some special favor and goodwill; for whoever does otherwise will seem to make light of God himself and to trample him underfoot. For whoever disturbs someone whom God has raised up will seem to have wished to detract from God's own glory. Therefore we must take the greatest care not to rise up against any man of distinguished rank, because it is certain that such stubbornness, which is insulting to God himself, will not go unpunished.

Next it is said that Samuel proclaimed all the words of the Lord to the people, as though God had given him free rein. And accordingly Samuel told them to try the experiment, because they would receive the reward of their folly — when he bids them consider what the right of the king they had demanded would be. Here therefore they are forewarned that the king will exercise tyranny over them, which they will have to bear and endure, because there will no longer be room for rebellion, and accordingly the yoke of his dominion will be heavy. Now when he speaks here of the right of the king, it is by no means to be inferred from these words that kings are permitted by right to do what he will mention below. But there is a twofold consideration of right when it comes to the higher power. For those who sit at the helm receive from prescribed laws what their duty is, with God himself as teacher and master. For in Deuteronomy 17 God prescribes what the future right of the king shall be, as we shall see below. But there is another kind of right, namely with respect to the subjects, who must submit themselves to the royal will and obey it in all things, and must recognize with the greatest humility the servitude imposed on them by the Lord. Therefore, if you inquire what the right of all magistrates is, no less than that of kings, you must first consider what God himself requires of them, and what they ought to do according to his prescription. Then, in turn, what the duty of the subjects is toward them. For otherwise, if subjects should criticize or make light of something that magistrates command, and accordingly obey them only according to their own judgment, what great confusion of all things would be introduced? However, even if the higher magistrates do not discharge their duty, subjects must nevertheless patiently bear injuries, acknowledging that this happens by God's just judgment. This is evident from any private household. For if you ask what a husband's right over his wife is, it must be admitted that authority over her belongs to him; but in turn he ought to spare her and treat her as part of himself. And this is the husband's right over his wife, if you ask what his duty is. But the wife's duty is to submit herself willingly to her husband and to accommodate herself to his will as much as she can; and even if she has a rather harsh and difficult husband by whom she is badly treated, she must nevertheless bear his character and submit to him, and meanwhile groan and sigh to God; for it is not right for her to cast off the yoke that God has placed upon her. Let the same be said of servants and of children. For the right of fathers over their children is to bear with their children and not provoke them to anger, as Paul admonishes; and yet the authority of a father over a son permits him to rebuke, to strike, to punish — not indeed because this, as a matter of equity, is permitted to him, or because he does well in it, but because children must bear it. For if a son should say he is being treated unjustly and should want to take revenge, who would tolerate it? Who would not rightly censure and condemn him? From all this it is clear that when the right of the higher powers is discussed, it is twofold: one with respect to the superiors and those who rule, the other with respect to the subjects and inferiors. About the first kind of right, Moses speaks at greater length and describes it in Deuteronomy 17, when he says: 'When you have entered the land that the Lord your God is giving you, to possess it by hereditary right, and you dwell in it, if you say: I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me; only set over yourself the king whom the Lord your God shall choose; from among your brothers set a king over yourself; you may not set over yourself a foreigner who is not your brother' — so that he might walk with sincerity and integrity, and not give himself to idolatry, to which a foreigner might seduce the people. And surely we know that this king had to be an image of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ; and further, that he was to be chosen from the tribe of Judah, whose kingdom would endure until the coming of the Redeemer whom God had promised to the fathers. So Jacob specifically predicts: 'The scepter shall not depart from the tribe of Judah until the coming of this Messiah and Redeemer' — which things surely could not apply to a foreigner. And for this reason the people are expressly forbidden to choose a king from foreign nations; for he, as we said, had to be an image and figure of Jesus Christ, and his kingdom had to be consecrated to him until his coming. Then Moses, pursuing the right of the king at greater length, adds: 'Neither shall he multiply horses for himself; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. But it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one that is in the presence of the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe the words of this law and these statutes, by doing them.' From these words it is clear that God set limits to the power of kings, and did not allow them the license to do whatever they pleased; but on the contrary, as if putting a bridle on them, he restrained them lest they be carried away by excessive magnificence and pomp. And this is the real challenge. For as experience teaches, kings and princes delight in pomp, magnificence, and great display, and would gladly have themselves exempted from the number of other men; and for this reason they transform themselves into various shapes. And indeed they would wish to be raised to such a height of dignity that they would not only be honored with respect and reverence, but would even become objects of wonder and amazement. Then from pomp and magnificence God turns to avarice, forbidding them to multiply gold or silver for themselves. And no one is unaware that princes are like vast gulfs who squander the money they have scraped together even on frivolous and worthless things; for they extract nothing that they are not prepared to waste. Therefore when they have plundered the wretched common people, neither gold nor silver is spared, but it is poured out most lavishly on display, on splendid trappings, on luxuries and harlotry. For this reason God forbade the king of the Israelites to multiply gold or silver for himself. And then God also forbids him to multiply wives. For when he saw this evil creeping in Judea, with men allowing themselves a plurality of wives and covering themselves with the example of Abraham and Jacob, God specifically forbids kings to bring in a multitude of wives, and accordingly also private persons, since the privileges of kings are greater than those of private individuals. But this above all must be noted: that the king is commanded by God to read and meditate in the book of the law, so that he may learn from it what his duty is. Surely that king David, whose excellence is well known, made good use of this precept; and there is no doubt that before he was raised to royal dignity he had already grasped the precepts of the law in his mind, in which he afterward continued to exercise himself. And we know that he was most abundantly endowed with divine gifts and graces; but nevertheless he too had to be subject to this precept. Let this therefore be the right of the king, with respect to the one who has attained that height of dignity, and accordingly not what subjects owe to him, but what kings owe to subjects according to the divine command must be carefully observed. But in this passage the other part of that right is treated — what subjects owe to kings — namely, that they must be subject not only to good kings and rulers, but also to those by whom they are treated tyrannically and harshly; and indeed they must patiently bear that tyranny, acknowledging that these things happen not by chance but by God's providence, by which God tests them.

Now then, come, etc.

The pastor's illness made this sermon shorter than the preceding ones, by which he was prevented from proceeding further. Therefore it must be joined with the following one.

7. The Lord said to Samuel: 'Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.', 8. 'According to all the deeds which they have done since the day I brought them up from Egypt to this day — in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods — so they are doing to you also.' 9. 'Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the custom of the king who will reign over them.' 10. So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked of him a king.

In yesterday's sermon we learned that God assented to the wishes of the people asking for a king — though not for their good and benefit. It is not therefore better for us when God fulfills our desires and wishes, for our desires are often rash and poorly considered, and we do not know what is truly useful and beneficial for us.

Rather, we seek things that are harmful and damaging rather than what God knows to be good for us. When God shows Himself ready to hear our prayers, it is not for that reason necessarily a sign of His grace — it may instead be a sign of His just indignation, punishing our rashness and arrogance in this way. For this reason the Israelites are specifically said here to have rejected what was pleasing to God, refusing to let Him reign over them. This makes clear that their petition was not pleasing to Him — it was full of rebellion and stubbornness. God's glory and honor should have been placed above all things, since we know that God requires of men nothing more than that He be glorified among them and the honor of His name be promoted. When His sovereignty is diminished, how abominable must that be in His sight? Yet He gave the people the power to do as they wished. God did not approve of what the people were doing — He was merely tolerating it. This is therefore true: whoever changes any of God's institutions resists God. Paul says as much when he writes: 'Whoever opposes the governing authority resists God's ordinance; and those who resist will bring condemnation upon themselves.' Paul in that passage does not distinguish kings from tyrants, nor legitimate magistrates from those given to greed and plunder. He rests on this foundation: whether they discharge their office rightly is not the question to be debated. Since they have been raised by God to that dignity, and He accordingly wills us to be subject to them, changes are not to be rashly introduced. You may see many who would gladly rearrange the order of worldly affairs according to their own judgment, dividing kingdoms according to their own opinion, devoting all their effort to how the world should be governed by their lights — exhausting themselves and others with questions that should have been buried long ago. But Paul with one word commands all to be subject to constituted authorities — against which no one is permitted to rise up, whatever apparent occasion or pretext may be offered. This statement is therefore true: all who rise up against powers constituted by God wage war against God Himself. But here there is a special reason in Samuel's case. God had so clearly marked Samuel with notable signs that no one among the people could have been ignorant that he had been raised to this dignity not by some chance, but by God's own hand, honored with so many distinctions. From infancy he had been made distinguished by the gift of prophecy. Then, as if by God's own hand, he was raised up as governor of the people. We saw above that under his leadership the Philistines were defeated in a notable rout and compelled to return the towns they had previously taken from Israel. Under Samuel's leadership the Israelite people had thus recovered their former glory — so there was no room for doubt whether he had been chosen by God. The matter was plain enough in itself. Therefore when they rejected Samuel, their hostility struck God Himself far more than any mortal man. From this a useful teaching can be drawn: if anyone is deterred from performing his duty by disturbances and seditions, God Himself will eventually take action. This is usually why magistrates fall into contempt — they tell themselves their office is a human institution, and so when anything happens contrary to their expectation and will, they cannot bear it. But are they then mindful of the divine promise by which God pledged to be their avenger? Or do they call His power into question? Therefore, whoever among magistrates has been raised to office and discharges his duty sincerely and uprightly — if he finds enemies rising against him and disrupting his administration — he ought to be certain that war is being waged not only against him but against God Himself, and that God will accordingly be his avenger and defender. This also must be observed: each person is instructed neither to rise up against those whom God has set over us, nor to withdraw from them, but rather to submit our necks to the burden God Himself has placed upon us. We must take care not to envy the dignity of those whom God has embraced with special favor and goodwill. Whoever does otherwise makes light of God Himself and tramples Him underfoot. Whoever disturbs someone whom God has raised up has in effect wished to take something from God's own glory. We must therefore take the greatest care not to rise up against any person of distinguished rank — for it is certain that such stubbornness, which is an insult to God Himself, will not go unpunished.

Samuel is then said to have proclaimed all the words of the Lord to the people, as though God had given him free rein. He told them to go ahead and try the experiment — because they would receive the reward of their folly — when he instructed them to consider what the authority of the king they were demanding would mean for them. They were being forewarned here that the king would exercise tyranny over them, which they would have to bear and endure — there would be no more room for revolt, and accordingly the yoke of his rule would be heavy. Now when he speaks here of the 'right' of the king, we must by no means conclude from these words that kings are permitted by right to do all that he will describe below. There are two ways of considering the authority of the higher powers. Those who sit at the helm of government receive from God's prescribed laws what their duty is — with God Himself as teacher and master. In Deuteronomy 17 God sets out what the king's proper authority shall be, as we shall see below. But there is another kind of authority — the one that applies to subjects, who must submit themselves to the royal will, obey it in all things, and humbly recognize the servitude placed upon them by the Lord. So if you ask what the authority of all magistrates — including kings — consists of, you must first consider what God Himself requires of them and what they ought to do according to His prescription. Then, in turn, what the duty of subjects is toward them. For if subjects were to question or dismiss whatever magistrates command, obeying only as much as their own judgment approves, what great confusion would be introduced into everything? Even if the higher magistrates fail to discharge their duty, subjects must still patiently endure injuries, recognizing that this happens by God's just judgment. This is plain from any private household. If you ask what a husband's authority over his wife consists of, we must grant that authority over her belongs to him — but in turn he ought to spare her and treat her as a part of himself. That is the husband's authority as regards his own duty. But the wife's duty is to submit willingly to her husband and accommodate herself to his will as much as she can. Even if she has a harsh and difficult husband who treats her badly, she must still bear his character and submit to him — while groaning and crying to God in the meantime. It is not right for her to throw off the yoke God has placed upon her. The same applies to servants and children. A father's proper authority over his children, as Paul teaches, is to bear with them and not provoke them to anger — yet the authority of a father over a son allows him to rebuke, to strike, to punish. Not because strict equity permits it as such, or because he always does well in doing it, but because children must bear it. If a son were to say he is being treated unjustly and wanted to take revenge, who would tolerate it? Who would not rightly rebuke and condemn him? From all this it is clear that when we speak of the authority of the higher powers, it is twofold: one applies to those in authority, and the other to those under it. About the first kind of authority, Moses speaks more fully in Deuteronomy 17, when he says: 'When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you, and you say: I will set a king over me, like all the nations around me — you shall appoint the king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your brothers you shall set a king over yourself; you may not set over yourself a foreigner who is not your brother.' This requirement ensured he would walk with integrity and not lead the people into idolatry, as a foreigner might. We know that this king had to be a picture of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and furthermore that he was to be chosen from the tribe of Judah — whose kingdom would endure until the coming of the Redeemer whom God had promised to the fathers. Jacob specifically predicts: 'The scepter shall not depart from the tribe of Judah until the coming of this Messiah and Redeemer' — which could not apply to a foreigner. For this reason the people were expressly forbidden to choose a king from other nations. As we said, the king had to be a figure and image of Jesus Christ, and his kingdom had to be consecrated to Him until His coming. Moses then goes on to describe the king's proper authority in more detail, adding: 'He shall not multiply horses for himself; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the copy kept by the Levitical priests. It shall remain with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life — that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe the words of this law and these statutes, and to do them.' From these words it is clear that God set boundaries on the power of kings and did not give them license to do whatever they pleased. He put a bridle on them, restraining them from being carried away by excessive magnificence and pomp. And this is where the real challenge lies. Experience teaches that kings and princes delight in pomp, magnificence, and grand display, and would gladly be exempted from the ordinary ranks of men. For this reason they transform themselves into various spectacles. They would wish to be raised to such heights of dignity that they would not only be honored and reverenced but would become objects of wonder and amazement. From pomp and magnificence God then turns to greed, forbidding them to multiply gold or silver for themselves. Everyone knows that princes are like vast gulfs who squander whatever they have scraped together even on frivolous and worthless things — they extract nothing they are not prepared to waste. When they have plundered the wretched common people, neither gold nor silver is spared — it is poured out lavishly on display, on splendid trappings, on luxury and immorality. For this reason God forbade the king of Israel to multiply gold or silver for himself. God also forbids him to multiply wives. When He saw this evil creeping into Judea — men allowing themselves multiple wives and hiding behind the example of Abraham and Jacob — God specifically forbade kings to bring in a multitude of wives, and by extension also private persons, since the privileges of kings are greater than those of private individuals. But above all this must be noted: the king is commanded by God to read and meditate daily on the book of the law, so that he may learn from it what his duty is. King David, whose excellence is well known, made good use of this precept. There is no doubt that before he was raised to royal dignity he had already grasped the precepts of the law in his mind, in which he afterward continued to exercise himself. We know he was abundantly endowed with divine gifts and graces — yet he too had to be subject to this precept. Let this, then, be understood as the king's authority as it applies to one who has attained that height of dignity — not what subjects owe to him, but what kings owe to subjects according to God's command. This must be carefully observed. But the passage before us treats the other side of that authority — what subjects owe to kings — namely, that they must be subject not only to good and fair rulers, but also to those who treat them tyrannically and harshly. They must patiently endure that tyranny, recognizing that these things happen not by chance but by God's providence, by which He tests them.

Now then, come, etc.

The pastor's illness made this sermon shorter than the preceding ones, as it prevented him from proceeding further. It must therefore be read together with the following sermon.