The subsequent position of the Prophetical order at momentous periods of the national history is strikingly illustrated by the conduct of its Reformer and Organizer now. The misconduct of Samuel’s sons produced dissatisfaction and a cry for change. Samuel himself was stricken in age. He had been a man of peace. One military success and one only had distinguished his Judgeship. On the west the ever-restless Philistines gave signs of recovery from their late defeat (1 Sam. x. 5), while beyond the Jordan Nahash the Ammonite threatened the cities of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (1 Sam. xii. 12). There was no known general in Israel qualified by his position or powers to take the command of the nation’s armies, and lead them to battle. The fixed form of kingly government, which the people saw enjoyed by all the nations around, which they had themselves partially adopted under Gideon and Abimelech, under Jair and Abdon, and to which events appeared to have been rapidly tending, was not yet realized. At this juncture, then, the elders and accredited heads of the nation repaired to Ramah, and on the ground of Samuel’s advanced age, the misconduct of his sons, and, as we gather from an incidental remark of Samuel himself afterwards, an apprehended invasion by the Ammonites, they requested that the form of government might be changed, that a king might rule over them, like the nations round about (1 Sam. viii. 5). This demand was a shock to Samuel’s feelings, and _the thing displeased him_. He knew well the abuses such a form of government was too likely to entail. But he did not reject the petition of the nation. He was a true mediator between the old order that was changing and the new order, to which it was destined to give place. He prayed to the Lord for advice and direction in this great crisis, and his prayer was heard. Though he had been rightly displeased with the people’s request, though they had done worse than rejecting him and had rejected their invisible Ruler, he was directed to hearken to their voice, but he was not to leave them without warning. He was to _shew them the manner of the king that should reign over them_ (1 Sam. viii. 9). Accordingly Samuel convened an assembly, and faithfully described the Oriental court and ceremonial, which the election of a king would inevitably entail; how he would at his own pleasure take their sons and appoint them to command his chariots and his horses, would set them to ear his ground and reap his harvest, and fashion his chariots and instruments of war; how he would take their daughters to be his confectioners, his cooks, and his bakers; how their property would cease to be their own, and their fields, their oliveyards and vineyards, their flocks and herds, their menservants and maidservants would be required to be at his disposal. Under this despotism he warned them that a day would come when they would cry unto the Lord, but He would not hear them (1 Sam. viii. 10–18).