Thank you for the question on I Samuel 12, “According to 1 Samuel chapter 12, if Israel asking of a king is a sin, why is it that God was the one that choose Saul? Why did God partake in the process?”
Here is a thought for your consideration: The Israelites sinned because they insisted on having a king instead of asking God to reveal his king to them. God gave the Israelites what they asked for, not what he wanted to give to them.
A. Deuteronomy 17 states the manner in which the Israelites were to ask for a future king of Israel.
14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you a king the LORD your God chooses.
Before the Israelites entered the Promised Land, God stated the conditions and qualifications of a king when the Israelites were to ask for one. There will come a day when the Israelites want a king over them like the other nations. The exhortation to the Israelites was to appoint a king that God has chosen for them. This leaves the possibility that the Israelites would choose a king whom they want rather than whom God has chosen for them.
B. I Samuel 8 states that the Israelites demanded a king to lead their army.
As one reads I Samuel 8, the Israelites said this, “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[b] us, such as all the other nations have. 6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king…19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king” (NIV ).
The text states that the Israelites didn’t ask God to show them the king he had for them. They wanted someone who is the physical champion in leading the Israelites’ army. They wanted someone to lead them into battle and fight our battle. The qualification by the Israelites was the man’s physique and bravery.
C. I Samuel 10 states the insistence of the Israelites and the kind of person that the Israelites wanted was revealed to them.
The text states this, “17 Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the LORD at Mizpah 18 and said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19 But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, ‘No, appoint a king over us.’ So now present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans…They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people” Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!” (NIV).
God gave them the Israelites the kind of man the Israelites wanted. Samuel clearly states that they had rejected God. Because they have rejected him, God gives them the person who will fight their battles but does not have the heart to shepherd the Israelites. He was a warrior.
D. I Samuel 12 restates the willfulness of the Israelites in wanting their king.
The text says this, “12 But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king. 13 Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the LORD has set a king over you” (NIV).
As one reads on in the chapter, the Israelites confessed that they had added to their sins by their demand of king.
As one reviews the text, Samuel warned the Israelites that their choice of a king who is like the other kings of their surrounding nations were an inadequate choice. A warrior king is not all the Israelites needed. They also needed a shepherd-king.
God will not prevent someone for being self-willed in their choice. Warnings may be given to that person or nation, but if the nation or person insists, God will allow that them to experience the consequences of their choices.
Summary: The Israelites insisted on the qualifications of their king instead of waiting on God to reveal his qualification for their king. Samuel pointed out that their choice is not a spiritual choice, but an appearance or physical choice. That’s what they wanted, so God gave them what they wanted.
-Kingston