This scene from the final days of the ministry of Samuel are so sad and yet so indicative of the fickle nature of the human heart. We are prone to forget God and all he has done for us and go after whatever our heart says is right. After all, considering how all of this mess started in Genesis it really isn't that surprising is it...
There are three things to take note of in this passage. The first is how starts. Remember why God put judges in place? Because a generation arose that didn't know who God was or what He did for them. Now we see Samuel's sons, who we must assume were taught about the living God and all his wondrous deeds, turing away from Him and from leading the people in righteousness. Instead they turned to personal gain. What this tells us is that just being taught about God doesn't mean that one's life will reflect that knowledge in action.
The second point to take away is that Samuel couldn't do this alone - nor could he be responsible for the outcome. He work diligently for years to teach the people and even warned them of the consequences of the path they were choosing; all to no avail. Samuel did his part and then he left it in the hands of God. Sometimes we do our best and then we have to let people crash into walls if they so choose. We just need to be sure they aren't crashing because we didn't warn them.
Finally, the call to Israel was to be a beacon to the rest of the world. To show the surrounding peoples the truth of the living God through how they lived their lives. It's the same call to God's people today. It's a call to be in the world but not of the world. To engage with the world but to demonstrate a different way that is not focussed on ourselves but on His glory. But as the Israelites drifted away they asked for just the opposite. They wanted a king so they could be like everyone else. So God obliged them so they could learn the painful lesson - again - of what it is like to live outside of His plan. Beware what you ask for because God might give it to you.
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