And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. They could not by their requisition have rejected the Lord if he had not stood in the relation of a supreme political head to Israel; because they made no proposal of renouncing subjection to Him in any other respect. They did not desire a change in their worship, nor ask a new code of civil laws. Their demand was limited to an alteration in the executive form of government (see Jamieson's 'Sacred History,' 1:, p. 312). God intimated, through Samuel, that their request would, in anger, be granted, while at the same time he apprised them of some of the evils that would result from their choice.