2 Chronicles 8-11: Any King But God

In less than a hundred years, what God told the people of Israel through Samuel when they asked for a king came to pass.   He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.  He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use.  He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.  When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
    But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us.  Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles”  - 1 Sam. 8:13-20 NIV

The people got what they wanted.  They got the kings Saul and David that fought their battles and they got Solomon who built up incredible wealth on the resources of the people.  The price they paid for having someone take care of them became a millstone around their necks and when they complained, Solomon's son Rehoboam promised to extract an even heavier price.

 “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”  - 2 Chron. 10:14 NIV

That's what governments do.  Even those which begin with God in charge eventually extract too heavy a price for the people to bear.  The United States was founded by people seeking relief from the burden placed on them by the King of England.  They tried to set up a government 'of the people' that would not rob the people of their freedom, but any government comes at a cost.  Once the trust of a nation transfers from God to the government it is inevitable that the cost will eventually become too great to bear.  Man always ends up asking for a king....any king but God.

2010 Post - 2 Chronicles 8-11:  A Kingdom Divides