Exo 20:19 “And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
The people were distancing themselves from God.
1Sam 8:10-11, 18-20: “And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a KING. And he said, This will be the manner of the KING that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your KING which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a KING over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our KING may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” (emphasis added)
When people sought for a king God was displeased with them They wanted someone to take responsibility of doing the work of governing. They did not want the responsibility themselves and they apparently did not want to be responsible directly to God. The government (king) would be the middleman between them and God. They were distancing themselves from direct relationship with God They wanted to point to the government for the common provision and the common security, they themselves did not want to bother with it. If there was lawlessness it would be the king’s fault, if there was general immorality it would be the king’s fault. The king would pay for their health care and for their education. The king would be responsible for their mental health after earthquakes.
This is a common mark of irresponsibility: “Let the government do this or that for me . . .” Or, “It’s not my fault, it’s the government’s fault.”
But people do not want God, they want a king. “We will not have this man to rule over us . . .” was a cry for distance from their best source of wisdom and strength.
However, God wants each individual within himself to know and obey his law (that is Gods law). Every man is to know what God’s law is and every man should keep God’s law. We should do our diligence to hear directly from God. We can not distance ourselves from responsibility by setting up middlemen.
