So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
Comment: Having seen, in videos and photos, what goes on in royal palaces and even the residences of presidents, what Samuel describes rings very true. He will take from your families, those who can serve him best; he will take from from your produce, live stock and even from your land what he needs to form an army and to run an expensive household.
When you come crying back to God about your chosen king’s treatment, God will not answer you, at least ‘in that day’.
Prayer: Help us not to make bad choices, O God.
As I read it! 