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.
This will be the manner of the king. The following is a very just and graphic picture of the despotic governments which anciently and still are found in the East, and into conformity with which the Hebrew monarchy, notwithstanding the restrictions prescribed by the law, gradually slid.
He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself. Oriental sovereigns claim a right to the services of any of their subjects at pleasure. Some shall run before his chariots. The royal carriages were generally, throughout the East (see 2 Samuel 15:1; 1 Kings 1:5), as in Persia they still are, preceded and accompanied by a number of attendants who run on foot.