 It may be helpful at this point to hold in your memory the fact that in the beginning, Israel didn't have a king. It was not like any other nation. They didn't have a human king. Their king was God. And God used priests to be judges and prophets to help guide the people. And the last judge was Samuel. And when he was really old, the people of Israel got scared of who was going to lead them next, forgetting that it was God who led them.