1 Samuel 8.18 warns, in that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD won’t answer you in that day.

When God chose the people of Israel to live as His people in the land He designated for them to live in, He did not provide them a government structure per se. No central authority was assigned, the priests would handle legal disputes, and chosen leaders of each ‘state’ (they were called tribes in the Bible), would punish wrong doers often with the help of the community in which the transgression had occurred. (more…)