After God had chosen Saul to serve in the office of a king to Israel, Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, wrote down how the government of Saul would run and kept the book before the Lord.
I believe one of the reasons this was done was because before this, Israel had never had a king, priest and prophet functioning in these roles at once. So, the roles weren’t yet defined. They have had judges who temporarily led people to war and managed certain affairs during crises.
Also, Samuel had been a prophet, priest and king for all Israel, so he had covered all the offices. It was necessary that Saul, who would take up the position of a king, understand his roles and limits. One of such limits was that he wouldn’t offer sacrifices, seeing that the role was for the tribe of Levi, to which Samuel belonged. No wonder Samuel was wrathful with him when he did that before the war with the Philistines.
Furthermore, Saul was not mentored by any king or prophet as Samuel was. Usually, the priests were tutored to serve in that office until they took over – Samuel was tutored by Eli.
So, permit me to say that Saul lacked the spiritual understanding of how to closely walk with God and the leadership qualities needed to lead a nation. He was to be made king quickly, with no time for proper training. He was expected to learn from Samuel, whose children had sinned and couldn’t take over this role. And Israel needed to see that he was the one administering the nation as their visible king.
So, Samuel penning down the nature of Saul’s government was a way of giving structure to the new course that Israel had chosen and bringing it before God for his final approval. This would help guide Saul and prevent chaos in the land.
God could have chosen to speak to Samuel and Saul at every step, telling each what to do and what not to do. But he gave Samuel the wisdom to structure this nascent human government that would change Israel forever.
In the future, we would have prophets, priests and kings all having different roles in Israel.
When introducing new offices/positions in an organisation, be sure to define the roles and limits. And write them down for a guide and reference.
Scripture Reference: 1 Samuel 10:25
