Why did Israel reject God as king in 1 Samuel 8?
Israel rejected God as king because the elders demanded a human king to rule them like all the other nations, wanting to be like everybody else. Though God had called them to be a set-apart, sanctified people, they turned on Jehovah; God told Samuel they had rejected Him, not Samuel.
Les explains that the elders of Israel gathered to Samuel at Ramah and complained that he was old and his sons did not walk in his ways or share his relationship with Jehovah. They asked for a king to judge or rule them like all the other nations, because everybody had their king. God had mandated Israel to be different—a set-apart, sanctified people, not like the rest of the nations—but they wanted to be like everybody else. Samuel was heartbroken, but Jehovah told him to let the people have their way, for they had not rejected Samuel but had rejected God. Israel knew the surrounding nations were pagan idolaters, and only Israel had knowledge of the one true God.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
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