Gregory the Dialogist : Enumerating these same mercies, he says: "How Jacob entered into Egypt, and our fathers cried out to the Lord, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and He brought our fathers out of Egypt, and settled them in this place. And because they forgot the Lord their God, He delivered them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Asshur, and into the hands of the Philistines, and of the king of Moab, and they fought against you. Afterward they cried out to the Lord and said: 'We have sinned, because we forsook the Lord and served the Baals and Ashtaroth. Now therefore deliver us from the hand of the Philistines, and we will serve You.' And the Lord sent Jerubbaal, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt in safety." 5. He commemorates these acts of mercy performed according to history for this reason: so that, in the matter of having asked for a king, the people might recognize themselves as guilty before the Lord. For he who had the Lord present to remove all dangers had no need of a human king over himself. Moreover, he shows the very presence of the Lord through the mercies bestowed, since he declared that they were delivered from the hand of the Egyptians through Moses and Aaron, and from the hand of Sisera and the Philistines, and from the hand of the king of Moab through Jerubbaal, Barak, and Jephthah, and by Samuel. In this passage it must be carefully inquired why the petition by which a king is requested is so strictly reproved, and yet the very aids of divine mercy are taught to have been bestowed upon the people of God through human leaders set over them. To this matter, what must be answered except that the governance of kings is vastly different from the governance of judges? The latter preside as equals, while the former display the arrogance of domination in their power of preeminence. The latter commend the testimony of their innocence before the Lord and all the people, because they neither oppress anyone nor take anything belonging to another for their own use; the former, however, not only take away from their subjects what belongs to them, but even press down the very persons of their subjects under the burden of servitude. — Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 5, Chapter 2