In I Samuel 8, God told Samuel to listen to the people that were asking for a king to to rule over them. They had specifically said, " Give us a king to judge us." (I Samuel 8:6). Samuel prayed to God and God said they were rejecting him and not Samuel. They didn't want God to reign over them. Additionally, God wanted Samuel to warn them what would happen if they had a king:
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” I Samuel 8:10-18
The Hebrews had decided that the 'king' system was what thy needed. They moved away from a theocracy (being governed by God) and put their trust in the the way the nations around them functioned. That kind of power usually corrupts. Money power and prestige lures rulers away from what's best for the people. They start living for themselves. It was not so for Samuel. Samuel told them what would happen and they answered:
19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
God had Samuel lay it out before them and gave them the opportunity to choose. The results were not God's fault, the blame squarely lay on the shoulders of the people. God gave them freewill choice. There is no blaming God for any misfortune; nor was Samuel to blame. God loves his people and does not want them hurt and forgives them when they are sorry, but if people don't listen, there is nothing he can do.
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