Kings of Israel

   "...all the elders of Yisra'el gathered themselves together, and came to Shemu'el to Rama, and said to 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." (1 Samuel 8:5-6)
   "And the Lord said to Shemu'el, Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee:  for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." (1 Samuel 8:7)

    Why did Israel need to be like the other nations?  Samuel warned them that the king would just take from them, but they still wanted a king and got Saul who then lost his kingship due to taking from G_d when he took booty from a battle that G_d had allowed Saul to win.
    A king in the Torah is code for one of the 10 Sefirot, one of the 10 shells of the spiritual universe.  Kingship or Malkut is the lowest level of spiritual attainment, because a king receives his rewards in this world by purely taking.

     Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan in "The Bahir Illumination," "What are the 10 kings? They are the seven voices and three sayings (Amarim).
    "What are the three? (Proverbs 4:7) 'The beginning is Wisdom:  Acquire Wisdom, with all your acquisition, acquire Understanding."
    (Job 32:8) "The soul of Shadai gives them Understanding."
     The Bahir states, "What is the third one?  As the old man said to the child, 'What is hidden from you, do not seek, and what is concealed from you, do not probe.  Where you have authority, seek to understand, but you have nothing to do with mysteries."
     Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains the cryptic Bahir.  "The Ten are divided into two groups, seven Voices and ten Sayings.  The lowest of the Ten Sefirot are usually called Attributes (Midot), while the highest three are called Mentalities (Mochin).  An Attribute is something that is externalized, while a Mentality or mental process is completely internal.  Similarly, a voice is externalized, while a saying without voice is not.
     "The Sefirot are called Kings in many places in Kabbalistic literature, especially in their state in the Universe of Chaos before the rectification.  These are alluded to by the Kings of Edom at the end of Genesis 36.  They are called kings, since a king only takes from his subjects, and does not contribute to the economy of his kingdom.  Similarly, these Sefirot of the Universe of Chaos could only receive, but could not give.
      "Of the three Sefirot mentioned here, only Chakhmah-Wisdom and Binah-Understanding are mentioned explicitly.  With regard to Keter-Crown, we are merely warned not to speculate into its mysteries."

      Keter-Crown is the highest of the 10 Sefirot and a purely giving state, emanating G_d into this world and bringing to this world a godly domain.  This Sefirot is amazingly hard to attain by a human being.  Wisdom (Chakhmah) is a state which can be more easily attained than Keter-Crown and is the second highest Sefirot.  Understanding (Binah) is the third highest Sefirot.  All three of these Sefirot are states of giving.  The givers are servants of G_d.
     Yes, G_d did not want Israel to have kings, because kings dwell in the lowest of the 10 Sefirot, Malkut-Kingship, and are receivers, not givers.  Israel was chosen to be servants of G_d, not emperors of this world.  Israel was chosen to give to this world.  Israel rejected their mission by asking for a king.  It was not until Solomon asked for Wisdom as his only request from G_d that G_d was able to have his chosen servants build a Temple for Him.  King Solomon had asked G_d to allow him to become a giver of His light by requesting Wisdom.  Israel was again ready to give to this worldly domain by bringing G_d into it.