guidance. In the person of Samuel they rejected the Lord and His rule. They wanted a king, because they imagined that Jehovah their God-king was not able to secure their constant prosperity. Instead of seeking for the cause of the misfortunes which had hitherto befallen them in their own sin and want of fidelity towards Jehovah, they searched for it in the faulty constitution of the nation itself. In such a state of mind as this, their desire for a king was a contempt and rejection of the kingly government of Jehovah, and was nothing more than forsaking Jehovah to serve other gods. (See 1Sa 10:18-19, and 1Sa 12:7., where Samuel points out to the people still more fully the wrong that they have committed.)
Verse 9
In order to show them wherein they were wrong, Samuel was instructed to bear witness against them, by proclaiming the right of the king who would rule over them. בּהם תּעיד העד neither means “warn them earnestly” (De Wette), nor “explain and solemnly expound to them” (Thenius). בּ העיד means to bear witness, or give testimony against a person, i.e., to point out to him his wrong. The following words, והגּדתּוגו, are to be understood as explanatory, in the sense of “by proclaiming to them.” “The manner (mishpat) of the king” is the right or prerogative which the king would claim, namely, such a king as was possessed by all the other nations, and such an one as Israel desired in the place of its own God-king, i.e., a king who would rule over his people with arbitrary and absolute power.
In accordance with the instructions of God, Samuel told the people all the words of Jehovah, i.e., all that God had said to him, as related in 1Sa 8:7-9, and then proclaimed to them the right of the king.
Verse 11
“He will take your sons, and set them for himself upon his chariots, and upon his saddle-horses, and they will run before his chariot;” i.e., he will make the sons of the people his retainers at court, his charioteers, riders, and runners. The singular suffix attached to בּמרכּבתּו is not to be altered, as Thenius suggests, into the plural form, according to the lxx, Chald., and Syr., since the word refers, not to war-chariots, but to the king's state-carriage; and פּרשׁ does not mean a rider, but a saddle-horse, as in 2Sa 1:6; 1Ki 5:6, etc.
Verse 12
“And to make himself chiefs over thousands and over fifties;” - the greatest and smallest military officers are mentioned, instead of all the soldiers and officers
