To examine this demand by the Israelites for a king—a demand and attitude which provided the situation for Saul to become king—we will consider the prompting of the demand (1 Samuel 8:1–5, 20), the praying about the demand (1 Samuel 8:6–9), the protesting of the demand (1 Samuel 8:10–18), and the persisting in the demand (1 Samuel 8:19–22). “When Samuel was old … all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah” (1 Samuel 8:1, 4)