Halakhah do Samuela I 8:6

Of interest in this regard is the solution advanced by Rabbenu Nissim, Derashot ha-Ran, no. 11, to the frequently posed question regarding Samuel's criticism of the populace for demanding a king as recorded in I Samuel 8:6. Those requests were, after all, ostensibly but for the fulfillment of a biblical obligation incumbent upon them. Rabbenu Nissim answers that Samuel was distressed, not at the desire for the establishment of a monarchy, but because the people expressed themselves by saying, "give us a king to judge us." A king to lead them in battle was necessary, but in a well ordered society no deterrent to potential wrong-doers beyond the established legal and judicial system should be necessary. The request for "the king's justice" reflected the conviction that administration of Torah law by the Bet Din would be insufficient and, accordingly, betrayed an ethical deficiency. A similar explanation, identical in all salient points, is also advanced by R. Abraham Samuel Benjamin Sofer in his commentary on the Bible, Ketav Sofer, Deut. 17:14.