But didn’t the Israelites have kings? Doesn’t that mean having a state is okay?
Question 7 in Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded
This question is from Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded, launching June 2026 in paperback, PDF, and Kindle. Subscribe to this Substack so you don’t miss updates, previews, and the launch announcement.
It is true that the Israelites had kings, but do not forget that God brought them out of Egypt so that he alone could be their king. Their request for a human king as recorded in 1 Samuel 8 is granted, but not without a stern and prescient warning for what the government they asked for would ultimately do to them:
“These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots… He will take your daughters… He will take the best of your fields and vineyards… and you shall be his slaves. And on that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you on that day” (1 Sam 8:11–18).
This is an incredible statement! God says that because they are choosing a human king rather than God as their king, they will be set upon by the human government they have chosen. Their sons will be sent to war (conscription), the human king will take their land and possessions (taxation), and they will literally be made to be his slaves.
So much for the supposed virtue of the democratic process! Though God worked through Israelite kings to accomplish his ultimate plan, that was never God’s preference from the beginning.