Hey, Carpool Crew. I'm so glad you're back with me today. Whether you're riding in the car, getting ready for school, or just hanging out somewhere in your house, welcome back to Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible. In our first episode, we met a boy named Samuel, the boy who heard God's voice in the middle of the night at the Tabernacle in Shiloh. That moment changed his life. From that day forward, Samuel began to grow into one of the most important leaders in Israel. And the Bible says something really interesting about him. In 1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 19, it says, 'The Lord was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied.' Now, in other words, when Samuel spoke a message from God, it happened. Not some of the time, not most of the time. All the time. Because Samuel spoke for God, people all across Israel began to recognize that Samuel was truly a prophet. But now Samuel was getting older, and something was about to happen that would change Israel forever. To understand what happened, we need to understand something about Israel at that time. Okay, Carpool Crew, here's the deal. Israel didn't have a king. Most of the nations around them had powerful kings. Egypt had kings. The Philistines had rulers. The Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, all the -bites and all the -ites had kings who led their armies and ruled their people. But Israel was different. For hundreds of years, Israel had no human king, because God was their king. See, instead of kings, God raised up leaders called judges. And judges were not like what we think of today in a courtroom. These were leaders that God chose to guide the nation during difficult times. Some judges were warriors like Gideon. Some were strong fighters like Samson. Some were wise leaders like Deborah. And Samuel was the last of those judges. But something started happening as Samuel grew older. The Bible tells us Samuel had two sons who had also become leaders in Israel. But there was a problem. They were not good leaders. In 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 3, the Bible says, 'His sons turned aside after dishonest gain. They accepted bribes and twisted justice.' Now, here's something really interesting that historians always point out. In the ancient world, leaders who took bribes were incredibly dangerous. It meant rich people could pay their way out of trouble while poor people had no protection at all. And the people of Israel noticed what was happening. So the elders of Israel gathered together and traveled to Samuel, and they made a request. It was a request that would change everything. They said, in 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 5, 'You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore appoint a king to judge us, the same as all the other nations have.' This moment was huge. It was a first. Now, you might think, what sounds reasonable? They want a king. Samuel was getting older, and his sons were not trustworthy. Maybe a king would solve the problem. But Samuel was deeply troubled. Why? Because the request revealed something deeper. The people didn't just want leadership. They wanted to be like everyone else. And that was not good. See, Samuel prayed and God answered him. God told Samuel something that must have been heartbreaking to hear. God said, 'They have not rejected you. They have rejected me as their king.' That's from 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 7. And that's powerful. Imagine that. For generations, God protected Israel, guided them, rescued them, provided for them. But now the people were saying, we'd rather have a king like all the other nations have. But God didn't immediately say no. Instead, he told Samuel to warn the people what having a king would really be like. And Samuel gave them a long warning. He said kings would take their sons and make them soldiers. Kings would take their daughters and make them servants in the palace. Kings would take their best fields, their vineyards, their land, their crops for himself. Kings would collect taxes and would raise taxes if he thought it was needed. In fact, Samuel said kings would take a tenth of everything they owned. Now, here's a really interesting fact. In ancient kingdoms, kings were incredibly powerful. Some kings in the ancient Near East could take land, force people into labor (they had to work with their hands all day, sweating, hard work, with almost no pay, if any pay at all), and even send their entire villages, yeah, their entire villages, into military service. Imagine if someone came to your neighborhood and everyone in all the houses, as far as you could see, had to leave their homes and join the military. That's what could happen. But people refused to listen to Samuel. They said something very revealing, something very honest. They said, 'No, we want a king over us. Then we will be like the other nations.' See, they wanted someone who would go out before them and fight their battles. But guess what? God had already been fighting their battles for them. He had already been doing the things a king would do. Still, God allowed their request. Yeah, God said yes to a king. And that decision set the stage for the next major character in Samuel's story, a man named Saul. Next time on Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible, we'll meet the man who looked exactly like the king the people wanted. He was tall, he was strong. He looked like Pastor Justin. I mean, he looked like a leader. But as we'll see, the outside doesn't always tell the whole story. And his story will show us something really important. Sometimes the things we think we need the most aren't actually the best for us. I'll see you next time, Carpool Crew, as we continue the story of Samuel and Israel's first king.
