In obedience to the Lord’s command, Samuel warned the people what would happen if they had a king like the nations to rule over them. He gave a summary of the common practices associated with kings at the time,1 and made it clear that such kings would lead to future oppression2 seeing as they were all about taking and not giving (see 1 Kings 21:7; 2 Samuel 11:2–5).3 They took what rightfully belonged to the people.4 Since most of the nations around Israel had kings, Samuel would have most certainly known how those kings generally behaved,5 and now he appealed to the elders not to impose such an institution upon themselves.6
10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him.