Musar su I Samuele 8:6

We can answer this after first examining some details of the legislation dealing with the appointment of a king. All our commentators have spent long hours trying to comprehend why Samuel was so angry at the people of Israel when they asked him to appoint a king, seeing that the Torah provides for the appointment of a king. In Sanhedrin 20b, Rav Yehudah says in the name of Shmuel that all the prerogatives a king claims for himself as per Samuel I 8, 11-17 are legally his. Rav, however, said that the entire passage was only meant to frighten the people out of their demand for a king. He based his opinion on the word עליך in our verse any שום תשים עליך מלך. Rabbi Yehudah said that the Torah legislated three commandments which would become operative upon the Jewish people entering the land of Israel. They are: The appointment of a king, the destruction of the people of Amalek, and the building of the Holy Temple. Rabbi Nehorai said that verses 15-20 in our chapter in Deuteronomy are only written in anticipation of the possibility foreseen in 17,14 that the Jewish people would actually demand to be ruled by a king. Rabbi Eliezer said that the elders who lived during the reign of Samuel did no wrong by phrasing their request for a king in the words: תנה לנו מלך לשפטנו. The only people who committed a sin were the עמי הארץ, the ignorant masses, who added in Samuel I 8,19 that they wanted a king עלינו, "over us," and who wanted the king in order to be like the other nations (ibid.). Rabbi Yitzchak Abravanel quotes all the various opinions in his commentary on our פרשה. He challenges the opinion expressed by Rabbi Eliezer by pointing out that in our פרשה, too, the people are presumed to have prefaced their desire for a king by saying ככל הגוים אשר סביבותי, "just as all the other nations around me." It is worthwhile to read up what Rabbi Abravanel has to say about this. Anyone who is intelligent will realize that one has to explain the opinion of Rabbi Nehorai in accordance with the interpretation offered by Rabbi Abravanel.

In the days of Samuel, Israel sinned because they asked that the king be a judge, i.e. replace the Sanhedrin, and to base his administration of justice on Torah law. This was contrary to G–d's will. He had arranged for judges to be appointed to perform this task. The king was to usurp the powers of the Sanhedrin only when there was a הוראת שעה. The term שימה עליך is particularly appropriate for describing the הוראת שעה- nature of the king's function.