1 Samuel 8:1 - Meaning and Application

Two sad things appear here, but neither is surprising: a good and useful man growing old and less able to serve, and a good man’s children turning away from his ways.

Samuel was old and could no longer judge Israel as he had before. He was not yet very old, perhaps not even sixty, but he had begun early in life to carry serious thoughts and cares. That may have made the wear of age come on him sooner. He had spent his strength in public service, and now he found that age had reduced his ability. Those in their best years should stay active in doing life’s work, because they will later find themselves less ready and less able for it.

The other sorrow was that Samuel’s sons did not walk in his ways. He had given them a good upbringing, and they had once given promise of doing well. Because of that, he made them judges, first as helpers, and then as deputies at Beersheba, a place far from Ramah (1 Samuel 8:2). The people in the south may have wanted them there so they would not have to travel far with their cases. Samuel likely did not appoint them because they were his sons, since he had no desire to pass the government to his family, but because they seemed fit for the task. They could have eased the burden of the aged judge, and being his sons, they already had respect because of their father.

But they did not follow his example (1 Samuel 8:3). When their conduct was the opposite of his, their family tie to such a good man became more of a shame than an honor. A noble family line is a disgrace to the one who falls away from it. Good people cannot give grace to their children. It has often hurt faithful parents to see their children, instead of walking in their steps, trample over them and spoil the path they had made.

Many who begin well and seem promising later turn aside into wrong paths, to the sorrow of those who had hoped most from them. Samuel’s sons were exposed when they were made judges and placed at a distance from him. Many people behave well while under their parents’ eye, but prove bad once they go out into the world and live on their own. Others do well in humble places, but power and promotion ruin them. Honor often changes people’s minds, and usually for the worse.

Samuel’s sons do not seem to have been as openly wicked as Eli’s sons, Eli the priest’s corrupt sons. Yet, whatever else they were, they were corrupt judges. They turned aside after gain, after money, which the Chaldee version calls “the mammon of unrighteousness.” The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is harmful in anyone, but especially in judges. Samuel himself took no bribes (Job 12:3), but his sons did, even after no doubt being warned against it. As a result, they twisted justice. In deciding disputes, they looked to the bribe, not to the law. They asked who offered the most, not who was right. It is a sad thing when the public justice that should protect a people becomes the very thing that wrongs them most.