Samuel ruled over Israel as its prophet-judge for many years. However, that time of righteous and good leadership would end in failure. When Samuel's sons used their power dishonestly, the elders of the nation felt they could no longer trust God to look after their nation. Instead, they wanted a powerful and fierce king to rule over them, and to lead them in their battles. In short, they wanted to be like all the other nations.

That could have driven Samuel to despair, but instead he turned to God in prayer. God told him to allow the nation to go its own way, but first to warn them severely about what that king would do. Now, they were free people - but the king would demand taxes and force them to work for him. They would become like slaves.

Samuel's success in this crisis, as always, was to obey God's instructions.