The Divine Right of Kings:

We have observed before that Heaven is a kingdom. In that regard, God is its Monarch. We have heard it said, "All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." God is the sole exception to this worldly rule. Despite the fact that Heaven is going to be a kingdom, we find that on earth, kingdoms are a form of government much subject to abuse. For a kingdom to prosper it needs a wise and good King and tyrants find few checks and balances to obstruct them in a kingdom. Historically, the kingdom was not always an earthly construct. God first used Patriarchy to relate to mankind, then what I have humorously termed "Judiciocracy." The children of Israel themselves knew Monarchy, but God was their king, and they were not satisfied with his delegates. In Judges 17:
[6] In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
...we see that there was actually no physical king. This is in line with the New Testament pattern that Christ invoked when he said in Jno 18:
[36] Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
... that his servants would defend him on a national basis if he was an earthly king over a physical kingdom. God made a special relationship with the children of Israel because of their forefather Abraham, and he gave them laws accordingly to teach them spiritual lessons that he did not teach the "nations 'round about" them. We know from 1 Sam 8:
[5] And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
... that the nations the children of Israel observed around them had kingdoms, but that they regarded these Monarchs as serving in a Judicial capacity. God did not make himself difficult of entreaty, but rather explained to Samuel that it wasn't him, it was them, in verse
[7] 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. God showed that, whether by prescience or by foresight (due to observation of these surrounding nations,) he knew what was coming down the pike, and gratified them anyway:
[8] (God continues,) According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. (Subtext: Samuel, ever since I brought them out of Egypt we have had an on-again off-again relationship, and now they'll treat you just like they treated me!)
[9] Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
[10] And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.
[11] And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
[12] And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
[13] And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
[14] And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
[15] And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
[16] And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
[17] He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.
[18] And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
[19] Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;
[20] That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
[21] And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.
[22] And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
Thereafter, the anticipated problems did not indict God for negligence. Despite the observed fact that God did not attempt too recommend a Monarch who could be tempted with evil, all we have in the Bible is the story that Kingdoms didn't work out, not an explanation of why this should or should not be. This is a recurring theme in the Bible and King David observed it in Ps 119:
[97] O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
[98] Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
[99] I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
[100] I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
[101] I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
[102] I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
He knew before Paul of the New Testament, that the old law was glorious (2 Cor 3:
[7] But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
[8] How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?)
We all know the cliché that goes "Easy Come, Easy Go!" By this we mean that achievements that do not entail effort are not much valued in our hearts (Pr 13:
[11] Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.)
By the same rule, lesson learned too easily do not "stick." Combine that with the lesson that we obtain favor with God by suffering for his cause (1 Pet 2:20,) and we see that he has our best interest at heart in a wear out, rather than rust out arrangement on earth. This is echoed by other applications of teaching, most notably in Martial Arts. Rather than hold a student back in a helpless state of weakness, the teacher gives the student a set of rules under which the student is to abide, and then sets him a task or subjects him to adversity. Instead of allowing himself to break the rules, the talented martial artist abides under law, but in the process learns to investigate perspectives and viewpoints he might never have inspected without a limiting influence. Having observed the rule to apply outside a spiritual context, it is only left to observe that King David was fascinated by the Old Testament law in this way, and New Testament Apostle Paul, who had access to both found little to choose between them: Ps 19:[7] The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul...