Why did God not want Israel to have kings?

Answer 1

Samuel who was a major prophet and judge as well, was not at all keen to have a king like the other tribes had. He strongly believed that god would lead and guide the Hebrew people if they only asked him. And so with a heavy heart he onointed Saul as the first king of Israelites.

Answer 2

The Israelites at the time of Samuel were coming to the end of an era which was unique in world history. They had undertaken a grand experiment: whether a nation could govern themselves for centuries without a king or organized government.
Instead, there were the officers of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands (Exodus ch.18), and the court of Elders, who were Torah-scholars that provided Torah-rulings and guidance. Each of the leading Judges (Gideon, Deborah etc.) was a private citizen (not a head of government) who led the nation only during a brief episode of battle.
During that era (of the Judges, about 350 years), when someone raised the possibility of having a king, the answer was: God will rule over you, not a king (Judges 8:23). The events of the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah were so fresh in the nation's memory that they didn't need a king; God was their King. (The missteps which did take place in that era, is a subject beyond the scope of the present question.)
In Samuel's time, nearly four centuries after the Exodus, the people (including their Torah-scholars) felt that the time had come to take a regular government. The Torah itself permitted this (Deuteronomy ch.17); and they saw that Samuel's sons didn't seem to have reached his spiritual level (1 Samuel 8:2-3).
Their usage of the expression "like the other nations around us" was not a problem, since they were deliberately quoting the Torah (Deuteronomy 17:14).
What then was their mistake (why did God and Samuel criticise them)?
According to the Malbim commentary (on 1 Samuel ch.8), they should have waited at least until Samuel was too old to function.
According to the K'li Yakar commentary (on Deuteronomy ch.17), their precise choice of language ("for us," instead of the "over us" which the Torah had said), hinted that they wanted a king who might be affected by public pressure (which later happened with Rehoboam). See Talmud, Yoma 22b.
According to Samuel himself (1 Samuel 8:10-18), they were taking a regrettable risk because later kings might be overbearing.

Answer 3

Samuel was never King of Israel.

Samuel was the last Judge of Israel and he appointed the first King of Israel (King Saul) when the people demanded that they have a king to rule them "like other peoples do".

Answer 4

Samuel the prophet as well as a judge , was very much against isaralites having a king, as he felt god was thee for them to rule over the people.

Answer 5

Samuel reminds the Israelite that by having a mortal king they are disobeying God, but God is giving them a chance anyway.