Later text
1 Samuel 8:5BSB
"Look," they said, "you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations."
Intertextuality Pair
1 Samuel 8:5 → Deuteronomy 17:17
Echo
Earlier text
He must not take many wives for himself, lest his heart go astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold.
Significance
Israel's demand for a king "like all the other nations" (כְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִם, kekhol-hagoyim) in 1 Samuel 8:5 echoes the very language of Deuteronomy 17:14, which anticipated Israel would say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us." However, the IP links to Deuteronomy 17:17, which specifies royal restrictions: the king must not multiply horses, wives, or wealth. The irony is that Israel's elders invoke the nations-model for kingship while ignoring the Torah's own royal charter with its distinctive limitations. Samuel's warning speech in 1 Samuel 8:11-18 describes a king who violates precisely these Deuteronomic restrictions, indicating Israel wants the wrong kind of monarchy. Deuteronomy 17:17 grounds its ban on multiplying wives in the danger to the king's heart — "lest his heart go astray" (וְלֹא יָסוּר לְבָבוֹ, velo yasur levavo) — precisely the danger Samuel's warning of royal excess anticipates.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Echo
- Connection Method(s)
- Longitudinal Theme — the link to 17:17 is thematic (restriction-charter), not verbal: 1 Samuel 8:5 shares no lexeme with Deuteronomy 17:17; the verbatim kekhol-hagoyim ("like all the nations") verbal tie is with Deuteronomy 17:14.
Related Anchor-Text Networks
Linked Mentions 2