Introduction: The Matter of the King
Chapter 8 of Sefer Shmuel A opens one of the most difficult topics in all of Tanach: the request for a king. Bnei Yisrael come to Shmuel and ask for a king, and as a result Shmuel is hurt, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, says "for it is Me they have rejected from reigning over them." The question cries out: the Torah itself said "you shall surely set a king over you"! If the Torah commanded, or at least permitted, appointing a king, what is the complaint against the people for wanting to fulfill the word of the Torah? We will go through the pesukim in order, see the words of Chazal and the Radak, and finally see how the Malbim weaves it all into one comprehensive whole.
Shmuel's Sons Judging in Be'er Sheva
וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר זָקֵן שְׁמוּאֵל וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת־בָּנָיו שֹׁפְטִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And it came to pass, when Shmuel grew old, that he set his sons as judges over Yisrael.
Shmuel grew old, and he could no longer travel around the cities of Yisrael to judge the people. Therefore he appointed his sons as judges, so that each one would travel through a different part of the land, and in this way it would be possible to judge everyone.
וַיְהִי שֶׁם־בְּנוֹ הַבְּכוֹר יוֹאֵל וְשֵׁם מִשְׁנֵהוּ אֲבִיָּה שֹׁפְטִים בִּבְאֵר שָׁבַע׃ - And the name of his firstborn son was Yoel, and the name of his second Aviyah; they were judges in Be'er Sheva.
Why does the verse emphasize "judges in Be'er Sheva"? Because this itself was the great sin. The sons did not go and travel from place to place like their father. And more than that: if one had sat in Be'er Sheva and one in Dan, that would still be tolerable. But both of them sat in Be'er Sheva! Someone who needed to come from Dan for judgment was forced to cross the entire land in order to reach the judge. They betrayed the role that their father had handed over to them, their father who used to travel from place to place.
Chazal say that they did this because when you sit in a fixed location, there is a court there, there are officials, there is an apparatus that knows how to keep things running. They wanted to enlarge the apparatus, to pay more salaries, to have people come to them, so that they would have importance and honor. Therefore the verse reckons it to them as if they took bribes.
וְלֹא־הָלְכוּ בָנָיו בִּדְרָכָו וַיִּטּוּ אַחֲרֵי הַבָּצַע וַיִּקְחוּ־שֹׁחַד וַיַּטּוּ מִשְׁפָּט׃ - And his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after gain, and took bribes, and perverted justice.
What is "they turned aside after gain"? The Radak says: their hearts leaned toward money and they were eager for wealth. And it is not good for such people to be judges, but rather "those who hate gain" as the Torah said, while these turned aside after gain.
Some among Chazal expounded that the meaning is not literal, that they actually took bribes and perverted justice, but rather that since they did not travel through the cities of Yisrael and caused people to be forced to come all the way to them, a wrong was done to the many for whom it was difficult to reach. This wrong was attributed to their name, and therefore it is called as if they turned aside after gain and as if they took bribes. And some say the matter is literal: they truly took bribes and truly perverted justice.
The Curse of a Tzaddik Comes to Pass Even When Conditional
And why did this happen specifically to Shmuel, that his sons turned out this way? It reminds us of other sons: the sons of Eli. Eli came to Shmuel and said to him, "So may God do to you and more, if you hide anything from me," meaning: just as with me, so with my sons, may Hashem do the same to you if you do not reveal it to me, that you too, God forbid, will have sons who are not upright. And indeed Shmuel revealed it to him. But Chazal say: the curse of a righteous person comes about even when stated conditionally. And here there was the curse of a righteous person, and therefore in the end Shmuel too had sons who were not upright.
The Request of the Elders
וַיִּתְקַבְּצוּ כֹּל זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל־שְׁמוּאֵל הָרָמָתָה׃ - And all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Shmuel at Ramah.
The people gather and come to Shmuel, for they know that when there is a lack of justice and perversion of law, the people of Israel are in danger, for then their enemies can overpower them. And so they come to Shmuel with a request on their lips.
וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו הִנֵּה אַתָּה זָקַנְתָּ וּבָנֶיךָ לֹא הָלְכוּ בִּדְרָכֶיךָ עַתָּה שִׂימָה־לָּנוּ מֶלֶךְ לְשָׁפְטֵנוּ כְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִם׃ - And they said to him, "Behold, you have grown old, and your sons have not walked in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations."
Here we enter the topic of the king. And as mentioned, the great difficulty: the Torah said, "When you come to the land... and you say, I will set a king over me," and if the Torah permitted it, what wrong is there if we asked for what the Torah commanded? The Torah said to establish the Chosen House, and if tomorrow we come and ask to build the Beit HaMikdash, would there be a complaint against us? The Torah said to wipe out Amalek, and I want to wipe out Amalek. The Torah said to appoint a king, and I want a king. Where is the problem here? Why is the complaint so severe that Hashem says, "They have rejected Me"?
The Reasons for the Sin in the Words of Chazal and the Radak
The Radak says: first of all, they came to him with a grievance. They did not ask for the sake of a mitzvah. Had they said, "Give us a king who will judge us justly and faithfully," there would have been no complaint. Had they said, "You judge us, or appoint for us a prophet who will judge us," that too would have been good, since it would be evident that they were seeking righteous judgment. Had they said, "Give us a king whose awe will be upon us and who will straighten the people toward the service of Hashem," that too would have been good. But they said, "a king to judge us like all the nations": not because of the mitzvah of the Torah, but because everyone has one and we too want one.
Second, "like all the nations" - in this they reveal that they do not understand that there is a difference between us and the rest of the nations. And Chazal say that because they gave precedence to "like all the nations," the punishment came. Some say that Israel asked for a king only in order to serve idolatry, as it says, "and we too will be like all the nations" - idol worshippers. And some say: the elders asked properly, "Give us a king," and it was the young people, the common folk, who corrupted matters and said, "and we will be like all the nations."
A Precision in the Language of the Verse
וַיֵּרַע הַדָּבָר בְּעֵינֵי שְׁמוּאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּ תְּנָה־לָּנוּ מֶלֶךְ לְשָׁפְטֵנוּ וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל שְׁמוּאֵל אֶל־יְהֹוָה׃ - And the matter was displeasing in the eyes of Shmuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," and Shmuel prayed to Hashem.
Notice something interesting: if the main problem is "like all the nations," the verse should have said, "And the matter was displeasing in the eyes of Shmuel when they said... like all the nations." And yet precisely those words the verse does not mention here, but only "Give us a king to judge us." What was displeasing in his eyes about the words "a king to judge us"? This question will accompany us, and it will receive its resolution in the words of the Malbim.
The Malbim's Questions
First, as noted, the Torah commanded "You shall surely set a king over yourself." Second, Chazal say that they asked out of season, since the time for appointing a king is only after the war against Amalek, and here they had not yet fought the war against Amalek. Why should there be a specific season for this?
Third, is the request for a king a bad thing or a good thing? If it is bad, why does Hashem tell Shmuel "listen to their voice" and appoint a king for them? He should have said: do not listen to them, this will only ruin and destroy them. And if, according to Chazal, they wished to worship idols, is Hashem telling him: give them what they want so they can serve idols?
Fourth, what is the meaning of "they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me"? For by requesting a king to judge them, they are signaling to Shmuel that he is not a good judge and that they want someone else. Hashem tells him: that is not their intent. Why? And furthermore: if indeed they rejected Hashem, that is an additional reason not to give them a king, not a reason to give one!
Fifth, what is meant by "and you shall tell them the law of the king"? Shmuel begins to describe how the king will oppress them and take their sons and daughters, their flocks and their produce. Yet according to the Torah this is not so: the Torah said "that his heart not be lifted above his brothers," "that he not turn aside from the commandment," and a Torah scroll is with him always. Is a king permitted to do whatever he pleases, to exploit and to rob? How can this be called "the law of the king"?
Sixth, afterward the people refuse and say again "that we too may be like all the nations" - did they not understand the first time? And seventh, they add something new that they had not mentioned at all before: "and he will go out before us and fight our battles." Why specifically now, after Shmuel's rebuke, do they come and add this? As if they are coming to upgrade their argument.
The Advantages of Monarchy
The Malbim says: there is a great advantage to having a king. First - unity: when there is a king, everyone unites around a single figure, and without him we are merely a collection of tribes, each one living for itself. Second - continuity: when there is no king, our whole reality is temporary; when there is a king there is a dynasty and there is continuity over time. Third - absolute authority: no single tribe holds such authority. Shimon will say "I decide," Yehuda will say "not at all, I am the boss," Yosef will say "our father received the kingship." There is no one whose word is decisive. But when there is a king, there is a leader. Leadership requires one person who is the ruler, and this is the advantage of monarchy over a state of having no king.
But, says the Malbim, all this fits wonderfully for all the nations, and also for Israel when Hashem does not reign over them. But when Hashem reigns over them, they have no need for any of this: there is unity, for they unite around the service of Hashem; there is continuity, for there is no greater continuity than the Creator, blessed be He; and there is absolute authority, for whatever we ask of Hashem He gives us, and absolute rule is in His hand. If so, the very request for a king says: His kingship, blessed be He, is not desired in our eyes, we do not want spiritual kingship, we want something physical, material, something we can sense.
"And you shall possess it and dwell in it" - They Asked Out of Season
Therefore, says the Malbim, the Torah comes and says: "When you come to the land and possess it and dwell in it, and you say, I will set a king over me" - only after you possess and settle in the land, after everything is concluded. What is the intent of these words? During the inheritance of the land, from the Exodus from Egypt and in the first years of the conquest, we saw open miracles: the sun stood still at Givon and the moon in the valley of Ayalon, the walls of Yericho sinking into the ground, hailstones falling from the heavens, thirty one kings. Close guidance of the Creator, open individual providence at every step.
The Torah says: all of this is an initial state, when Israel comes out of Egypt and begins its life in the land. But this is not meant to be the situation for the long term. Naturally the state is meant to shift to the guidance of nature. This does not mean, Heaven forbid, that nature is what leads, but rather that the hand of Hashem is not seen constantly, a concealment of the face - but not as a punishment. It is like a six month old child who begins to take his first steps: they give him a hand, help him walk, clap their hands, bring a camera. But a twelve year old child who needs someone to hold his hand, they no longer clap or bring cameras, but rather go to hospitals and treatments. Why? Because there comes a stage when one must begin to walk on his own, and if you do not walk on your own - that is already a problem.
So too the nation of Israel: in the early stages of its formation as a people, it needed support and assistance, miracles and wonders. But once it settles in the land and conquers the kings, that is already the stage at which the machine is supposed to run on its own. Certainly we still need Divine providence, but not in a tangible way where God accompanies us at every step. This is the stage in which we are meant to be strong in our faith and to recognize the Creator of the world even without an open miracle, even if we do not sense at every second how He responds to every prayer and every deed.
Now we can understand: as long as Shmuel was alive, there was open miraculous providence. The Philistines came against them, and God brought down thunder from the heavens, and they panicked and fled, as we saw in the previous chapter. Shmuel prays, and immediately matters are set in order. And if you have such close miraculous providence, and at this stage you come and say, "Master of the world, we do not need favors, do not perform miracles for us" - that itself is the problem. You have Shmuel, you have miraculous leadership, why do you need a king? This is the intent of Chazal, "they asked out of season": at this stage you are still worthy of open individual providence, and how do you come and say, Master of the world, we do not want You? Requesting a king is permitted by the Torah, but only in its proper time. Out of its time, it reveals that you are rejecting the kingship of God.
The Affront to Shmuel's Honor
The Malbim further says: they damaged Shmuel's honor. For had they said from the outset, "We want a king to fight our wars," there would not have been such a great disgrace to Shmuel, who is not a man of strategy, and one could understand wanting a king to fight. But they said, "Give us a king to judge us," meaning: you, Shmuel, no longer fulfill your role. And what is the role of the prophet? To judge, and this is what he did all his days, traveling from place to place to judge.
And if you saw that the sons were not conducting themselves properly, is that a reason to request a king? They should have said: give us another prophet to judge us! For Shmuel himself was still a judge, and he was the one who appointed his sons. And from Shmuel's time prophecy began to increase, like a dam that opened, to the point that Shaul merely approached him and already received prophecy, and around him were disciples of the prophets. Were there any lack of judges for Israel throughout all the generations since the death of Yehoshua and the elders? If so, why this exchange for a king? This is the intent of Chazal, "they asked out of complaint": as ones complaining about the leadership of the prophet, that they do not want the prophet to lead and judge, and they seek another judge.
Two Types of Kings
We must know that there are two types of kings, and this was the accepted practice in ancient times. One type is a king who is subordinate to the religion. Such was the case, with all distinctions, in Spain at the time of the expulsion, where the king was like a plaything in the hands of the priests. The second type is where the religion is subordinate to the kingship, and the king is the one who determines what is to be done in religious matters, and he is the ruler over the religion.
The Torah warns: "And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Torah... and it shall be with him... that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left." In the Torah's model, who rules over whom? The Torah over the king. The king is completely subordinate to the word of the Torah. And not only that, but there is one who can give the king orders: the prophet. The king is subordinate to the prophet like a common person; if a prophet comes and tells you to do something, there is no such thing as saying no. Hierarchically, the king is subordinate to the prophet.
And why? Because a king naturally has a desire to exalt himself and to rule, and we know how much authority corrupts a person, how much it can make him corrupt and hard-hearted, all because of the unlimited power given to him. Therefore the Torah says, "You shall surely set a king over you" - a king whom the Torah rules.
Where to Place the Comma
Now we can understand the sentence "Give us a king to judge us like all the nations," which is an ambiguous sentence, and therefore Chazal said that the elders requested properly and the younger ones requested for the worse. One can read it: "Give us a king like all the nations, to judge us" - meaning, just as all the nations have a king, we too want a king, and he will judge us according to the laws of the Torah. And one can read it: "Give us a king, to judge us like all the nations" - that he should judge us in the way that the kings of the nations judge their people, not according to the laws of the Torah, where the king is the ruler over the religion.
Shmuel judged them favorably and understood that their intent was for a king who would judge according to the laws of the Torah, and only like all the nations who also have a king - that is all. And since he understood it this way, it turns out that the affront was directed at him: if it is the laws of the Torah that you want, they are with me as well! Why do you need a king? And therefore, "And the thing was displeasing in Shmuel's eyes when they said, Give us a king to judge us" - it was specifically the "to judge us" that pained him, and not the "like all the nations."
"For they have rejected Me"
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־שְׁמוּאֵל שְׁמַע בְּקוֹל הָעָם לְכֹל אֲשֶׁר־יֹאמְרוּ אֵלֶיךָ כִּי לֹא אֹתְךָ מָאָסוּ כִּי־אֹתִי מָאֲסוּ מִמְּלֹךְ עֲלֵיהֶם׃ - And Hashem said to Shmuel: Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from reigning over them.
The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: Shmuel, you erred, you judged them favorably. They do not want someone who will judge them according to the laws of the Torah, but a king like all the nations, one who will judge according to the laws of the nations. And if so, you have no reason to be hurt. Had they wanted the laws of the Torah, you would be the address, and then their request would be a rejection of you. But they do not reject you at all; according to the laws of the Torah you judge excellently. They have rejected the Torah. They want other laws. And if so, whom did they reject? The Holy One, blessed be He.
כְּכָל־הַמַּעֲשִׂים אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂוּ מִיּוֹם הַעֲלֹתִי אוֹתָם מִמִּצְרַיִם וְעַד־הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה וַיַּעַזְבֻנִי וַיַּעַבְדוּ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים כֵּן הֵמָּה עֹשִׂים גַּם־לָךְ׃ - Just as all the deeds they have done from the day I brought them up from Egypt until this day, when they forsook Me and served other gods, so they are doing also to you.
The Malbim says: just as from the time of the exodus from Egypt they sought all along the way to remove Hashem's providence from over themselves and to be under natural providence, so they are doing also to you.
Why reject miraculous providence?
And we must understand: when a person is watched over by the Creator, this is a wonderful thing. There is a problem, so the prophet prays and matters work themselves out. Imagine supreme miraculous providence: you pray to Hashem, and suddenly it is announced that there was an explosion at the nuclear reactor in Bushehr. No need for airplanes or anything, everything is wonderful. You saw how thunder comes down from the heavens and they flee like mice, and all that remains is to clear away the corpses. So why reject such providence?
The answer is simple: in order to be under spiritual providence you must be on a high spiritual level at all times, and if you deviate even slightly from the path, you get hit immediately. When you are attached to the king, you cannot do foolish things; every small deviation and you catch a slap. So on the one hand this is an enormous advantage, open miracles; but on the other hand it is also an enormous demand. And therefore they come and say: Master of the Universe, we want nature. What is nature? That a person can go on for seventy years and do all that is evil in the eyes of Hashem and not catch slaps, because Hashem is not attached to him. True, afterward he will catch it, but it is hard to live in a state where there is always a magnifying glass upon you. We want to be under the governance of nature.
This is the intent of Chazal when they said "they sought to serve idolatry." The meaning is not that they explicitly said they wanted a king who would permit all the forms of idolatry, but rather the very request not to be under the umbrella of constant providence but under the governance of nature, in which there is no immediate response to every deviation, this is, as it were, a request to serve idolatry. They are saying: Master of the Universe, we do not want You, we want to be freer.
"And now listen to their voice" - why?
וְעַתָּה שְׁמַע בְּקוֹלָם אַךְ כִּי־הָעֵד תָּעִיד בָּהֶם וְהִגַּדְתָּ לָהֶם מִשְׁפַּט הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יִמְלֹךְ עֲלֵיהֶם׃ - And now listen to their voice, but you shall solemnly warn them and tell them the manner of the king who will reign over them.
Here the Malbim offers a most wonderful explanation. We asked: if the matter is so terrible, if they reject Hashem and there is in this an aspect of idolatry, what is the meaning of "and now listen to their voice"? Rather, after we have understood the matter, precisely for this reason you must listen to their voice. For once they have rejected Hashem's attached providence, are they worthy of it? Certainly not. The very request reveals their low spiritual level, the secrets of their hearts and their aspirations have been exposed. And after all this shall I give them attached providence? There is no longer any chance. Therefore: please, the governance of nature. You do not want providence, and one cannot impose providence upon a person against his will. You requested a terrible thing, but one cannot turn back the wheel.
And why the emphasis "you shall surely warn them"? So that perhaps, of their own accord and their own initiative, they will repent. And if they repent and seek Hashem, they will once again become worthy of individual providence. Even though they have rejected Him, if they return in teshuvah and seek Hashem, they return to their worthy standing.
The Law of the King
We asked: surely the entire terrible description he presents to them is not what the Torah permits, for the king is subject to the Torah! But this is precisely the point: which king did you request? A king who will judge like all the nations, according to the laws of the nations. If so, come and let me tell you how a king who follows the laws of the nations will rule over you. A king who follows the laws of Israel is subject to the religion, and therefore he must do what the Torah says; but according to the laws of the nations the king is the founder of the religion, he is the one who decides and he does everything. If so, see what he will do to you.
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל אֵת כָּל־דִּבְרֵי יְהֹוָה אֶל־הָעָם הַשֹּׁאֲלִים מֵאִתּוֹ מֶלֶךְ׃ - And Shmuel spoke all the words of Hashem to the people who were asking of him a king.
וַיֹּאמֶר זֶה יִהְיֶה מִשְׁפַּט הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יִמְלֹךְ עֲלֵיכֶם אֶת־בְּנֵיכֶם יִקָּח וְשָׂם לוֹ בְּמֶרְכַּבְתּוֹ וּבְפָרָשָׁיו וְרָצוּ לִפְנֵי מֶרְכַּבְתּוֹ׃ - And he said: This will be the law of the king who will rule over you: he will take your sons and set them for himself in his chariot and among his horsemen, and they will run before his chariot.
The first of seven things he told them: he will take your sons, and set them in his chariot and among his horsemen, and they will run before his chariot. They will be like the motorcycles that precede the prime minister's motorcade, except that these will run on foot.
וְלָשׂוּם לוֹ שָׂרֵי אֲלָפִים וְשָׂרֵי חֲמִשִּׁים וְלַחֲרֹשׁ חֲרִישׁוֹ וְלִקְצֹר קְצִירוֹ וְלַעֲשׂוֹת כְּלֵי־מִלְחַמְתּוֹ וּכְלֵי רִכְבּוֹ׃ - And to appoint for himself officers of thousands and officers of fifties, and to plow his plowing and reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and the equipment of his chariots.
The Malbim says: from those same runners he will take; some of them he will choose as officers of thousands and officers of fifties, some for working the land, to plow and to reap, and some for the craft of skilled labor to make weapons of war. And the injustice will be terrible, for there are no criteria and no transparency: those who yesterday ran before his chariot will be appointed as officers, not according to talent and merit but as it pleases him. A friend looks out for a friend, you scratch my back and I will scratch yours, without transparency and without records.
וְאֶת־בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם יִקָּח לְרַקָּחוֹת וּלְטַבָּחוֹת וּלְאֹפוֹת׃ - And your daughters he will take as perfumers, as cooks, and as bakers.
"As perfumers" - to compound perfumes and spices for the king. "And as cooks" - the Radak writes: those who cook, and likewise in Arabic the cook is called "tabach" (the kaf in Arabic being the chet in Hebrew). And another explanation: from the expression "slaughter and prepare," meaning they will slaughter. And do not think he will take them for positions of honor; he will make them maidservants, bakers, and cooks.
וְאֶת־שְׂדוֹתֵיכֶם וְאֶת־כַּרְמֵיכֶם וְזֵיתֵיכֶם הַטּוֹבִים יִקָּח וְנָתַן לַעֲבָדָיו׃ - And your fields and your vineyards and your best olive groves he will take and give to his servants.
He will take the fields and the vineyards in order to enrich his relatives and all the sycophants around him.
וְזַרְעֵיכֶם וְכַרְמֵיכֶם יַעְשֹׂר וְנָתַן לְסָרִיסָיו וְלַעֲבָדָיו׃ - He will take a tenth of your seed and your vineyards and give it to his officers and servants.
And besides this, he will take taxes from you: from the seed and from the vineyards he will take tithes. Chazal explain that this does not mean he will take the fields and vineyards themselves, but the produce: he will tithe their fruit and take it for himself.
וְאֶת־עַבְדֵיכֶם וְאֶת־שִׁפְחוֹתֵיכֶם וְאֶת־בַּחוּרֵיכֶם הַטּוֹבִים וְאֶת־חֲמוֹרֵיכֶם יִקָּח וְעָשָׂה לִמְלַאכְתּוֹ׃ - He will take your servants and your maidservants and your finest young men and your donkeys, and use them for his work.
Even his own servants will not have to do the work; rather you, the subjects of the kingdom, will do the work in their place, while his servants remain at ease. And as for his donkeys and beasts, he would rather not burden them, since he has your donkeys. Why should he trouble his own donkeys?
צֹאנְכֶם יַעְשֹׂר וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ־לוֹ לַעֲבָדִים׃ - He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants.
He will also take a tenth from the flocks. And what is meant by "and you yourselves will become his servants"? Was not everything said until now already servitude? Rather, Chazal explain: he will be able to impose taxes on you as he pleases. It will seem to you that you are working for yourself, when in fact you are working for the king, since half of your income and more the king takes for himself.
וּזְעַקְתֶּם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא מִלִּפְנֵי מַלְכְּכֶם אֲשֶׁר בְּחַרְתֶּם לָכֶם וְלֹא־יַעֲנֶה יְהֹוָה אֶתְכֶם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא׃ - And you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but Hashem will not answer you on that day.
It will become so terrible for you that you will cry out, but know that Hashem will not answer you. Since this is what you asked for, this is what you received, and you will have no grounds to complain to the Creator, blessed be He.
The People's Response: Refining the Request
וַיְמָאֲנוּ הָעָם לִשְׁמֹעַ בְּקוֹל שְׁמוּאֵל וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֹּא כִּי אִם־מֶלֶךְ יִהְיֶה עָלֵינוּ׃ - But the people refused to heed the voice of Shmuel and said: No, but a king shall be over us.
What is this "No"? The Malbim explains: they say to him, not as you say. We are not asking for a tyrannical ruler under whose feet the law is trampled and who is not himself subject to the authority of the Torah. "But a king shall be over us": a king and not a ruler, for a "ruler" means absolute power. It is not we who will be enslaved to his servants; rather he will be bound to us, to lead us according to law and justice. Here there is a certain retreat from the earlier request, about which Hashem revealed to Shmuel that they wanted a king to judge them like all the nations.
וְהָיִינוּ גַם־אֲנַחְנוּ כְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִם וּשְׁפָטָנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ וְיָצָא לְפָנֵינוּ וְנִלְחַם אֶת־מִלְחֲמֹתֵנוּ׃ - That we too may be like all the nations, and our king will judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.
Notice: here it no longer says "and our king shall judge us like all the nations." Rather, "that we too may be like all the nations" - in having a king, and nothing more. "And our king shall judge us" - that he judge us according to the Torah. The equivalence to the nations lies only in the very existence of a king, not in the manner of his judging. This is a partial retraction: they want a king, but not in the extreme form you presented.
"That he may go out before us and fight our battles"
And why do they now add the matter of the wars? The Malbim explains: one of the severe problems they faced back then was that every war was fought solely by the tribe that needed it. If the tribe of Yehudah needed to fight over a certain place, only Yehudah fought; if the tribe of Reuven, only Reuven, each with the problems surrounding it. In today's terms: it is as though there is a war in Sderot, and only the people of Sderot have to go out and fight, it is their problem. In such a situation the people of Israel were many times left to be plundered by the nations, for the nations come with a king who gathers his entire army, while we come with only a single tribe, and the chances of success are far lower.
Therefore they request: "that he may go out before us and fight our battles" - a king who will succeed in uniting the entire people, so that when there is a war against the tribe of Reuven, not only Reuven will fight, but everyone will go out, and by this our military and governmental strength will be greatly reinforced.
And the Malbim makes a further precise point: they say "our battles." A tyrannical king, when he goes out to war, attributes the war to himself: I am the one who fights, I am the victor, I am the conqueror, I take the spoils, everything is mine. But when the king is subordinate to the people, the war belongs to the people, and the king is a functionary; a true king feels that he stands in the service of the people. "Our battles" - the wars are ours, the king is for us and not we for the king.
A Parallel: Pharaoh's Dreams
And this, by the way, was the flaw in the sorcerers' interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams. Their conception was that the king stands at the center, and all of Egypt exists for the sake of the king. If so, when the king dreams, the dream is about him, for he is the center, and the people are merely scenery to serve him and bring him their produce, marionettes. Therefore they immediately interpreted for him: you will father seven daughters and bury seven daughters, you will marry seven women and lose seven women, you will conquer seven provinces and lose seven provinces. All the interpretations are individual, about the king.
Until Yosef came and said: they have a problem in the very conception. The king is not the center; the king is a servant of the people. And the moment the king dreams, his dream concerns the kingdom, because the kingdom is the essence. Therefore, seven years there will be plenty for the people and seven years there will be famine for the people. It does not speak about you, for you are the king, and both in famine and in plenty you are always sated. It speaks about the people. Yosef changed for him the entire conception of the essence of kingship: the king is not a tyrant and not a megalomaniac sick with delusions of grandeur, but a subject and a servant of the people.
In Conclusion
וַיִּשְׁמַע שְׁמוּאֵל אֵת כָּל־דִּבְרֵי הָעָם וַיְדַבְּרֵם בְּאָזְנֵי יְהֹוָה׃ - And Shmuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of Hashem.
Shmuel comes and says before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, their request is legitimate. It is not evil as it first sounded, but rather they are asking for a king who will judge them according to the holy Torah. And there is no affront to me in this, for they are asking for someone to lead them to war, and that is not something I do. And there is no affront to Hashem in this either, for they are asking for a king who will judge according to the Torah.
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־שְׁמוּאֵל שְׁמַע בְּקוֹלָם וְהִמְלַכְתָּ לָהֶם מֶלֶךְ וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל אֶל־אַנְשֵׁי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְכוּ אִישׁ לְעִירוֹ׃ - And Hashem said to Shmuel: Listen to their voice, and appoint for them a king. And Shmuel said to the men of Israel: Go, every man to his city.
"Go every man to his city" - meaning: I will do as you have asked.
Summary:
The chapter opens with the corruption of Shmuel's sons, who both sat in Be'er Sheva and did not travel about to judge as their father did, and the verse regards them as though they took bribes. As a result, the elders of Israel came and demanded a king, and their request contained three flaws according to the Malbim: they asked at the wrong time, while they still merited open, miraculous providence in the merit of Shmuel, and in this they rejected the kingship of Heaven; they asked with complaint and injured the honor of the prophet, instead of requesting another prophet to judge them; and they asked for a king "like all the nations" - a king who rules over the religion and is not subject to it. Shmuel judged them favorably and understood that they wanted judgments of the Torah, and therefore he was pained; Hashem revealed to him that the rejection was not of him but of the Creator. "Now listen to their voice" - for one who has rejected close providence is no longer worthy of it, and it cannot be forced upon him. The "law of the king" that Shmuel described is the law of a gentile king without limits, so that they would repent. And indeed the people partially amended their request: a king who would judge according to the Torah, who would unite the tribes and fight "our battles" - that the king is for the people and not the people for the king. Then Hashem responded: "Listen to their voice and appoint for them a king."