Matthew Poole and continuators on 1 Samuel 8:5

5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways : now make us a king to judge us , like all the nations .

They feared, that Samuel would not live long; and that either he through infirmity and indulgence might leave the Government in his Sons hands; or that they would Invade and keep it, after their Fathers Death; and therefore they joyntly make their Complaints against them, and procure their removal from their places. Thus they are brought low, and crushed by those very wicked ways by which they designed to Advance and Establish themselves. So true is it, That Honesty is the best Policy, and Unrighteousness the greatest Folly.

Their conclusion out-run their premises, and their Desires exceed their Reasons or Arguments, which extended no further than to the removal of Samuel's Sons from their places, and the procuring some other just and prudent assistance to Samuel's Age. Nor was the grant of their Desire a Remedy for their Disease, but rather an Aggravation of it. For the Sons of their King might and were likely to be as corrupt as Samuel's Sons; and, if they were, would not be so easily removed as these were.

i. e. As most of the Nations about us have. But there was not the like reason, because God had separated them from all other Nations, and cautioned them against the imitation of their Examples, and had taken them into his own immediate Care and Government; which priviledge other Nations had not.

Marginal references: Hos. 13. [illegible: 1 word] Act. 13. 21.