We all generally understand the concept of treason against a King or Queen. Treason generally comes with the harshest of consequences. So, consider if God can play a mean game of. You treason, then I treason it’s only fair as we look at some passages from the bible.
Israel asks Samuel for a king.
1 Samuel 8:5-7 and they said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto Jehovah. 7 And Jehovah said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.
Now we need to back up for a second. Samuel was a prophet, but as a child, he was dedicated to the priesthood or promised to the Lord by his mother. This treason is about to come through the priesthood and prophets. Samuel was not happy about it. God lets Samuel off the hook when he tells him to listen to the people. Now, this is when things should have gotten scary for Israel, cause in the account we start hitting verse 9.
1 Samuel 8:9-18 Now therefore hearken to their voice: but yet testify to them, and foretell them the right of the king, that shall reign over them.10 Then Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people that had desired a king of him,11 And said: This will be the right of the king, that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and put them in his chariots, and will make them his horsemen, and his running footmen to run before his chariots,12 And he will appoint of them to be his tribunes, and centurions, and to plough his fields, and to reap his corn, and to make him arms and chariots.13 Your daughters also he will take to make him ointments, and to be his cooks, and bakers.14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your best oliveyards, and give them to his servants.15 Moreover he will take the tenth of your corn, and of the revenues of your vineyards, to give his eunuchs and servants.16 Your servants also and handmaids, and your goodliest young men, and your asses he will take away, and put them to his work.17 Your flocks also he will tithe, and you shall be his servants.18 And you shall cry out in that day from the face of the king, whom you have chosen to yourselves. and the Lord will not hear you in that day, because you desired unto yourselves a king.
The first round of treason is by Israel, Saul is selected and anointed as king by Samuel, So Israel just used Samuel to commit treason, God’s turn.
1 Samuel 15:10-11 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
You can also think of it in terms of God just rejecting Israel because they turned away and did not follow his instructions. Kings can represent the nation and they were warned they might become slaves. The list of consequences was large, but they still wanted a human king over them. So when God said I regret making Saul King. He is sounding a little sarcastic towards silly sheep if you ask me.
1 Samuel 16 1-2 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
The stakes are high with Saul being the current king. That is treason for you. The treason is about to come through the priesthood and prophet like before. God has rejected the King of Israel. When he establishes himself as king. He can/will claim for his rights what he wants.
A question, was this issue dealt with when God told Samuel to go and anoint David? Would you think this would be the end of the matter.? I don’t think so, for reasons of the priesthood, and a prophet was used. The zeal of Aron was replaced by the zeal for a king like other nations. So my short answer would be just as God replaced Saul with David, He has also in a way replaced the priesthood. There is a fork in the road and Israel picked a side. The kingship of Israel now comes through the line of David. Consider in KJV Psalms 110:4 written by David names Melchizedek as representative of the priestly line.
Psalm 110:4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”.