1Sa 12:1 And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.
And Samuel said - It is very likely that it was at this public meeting at Gilgal that Samuel delivered the following address; no other time seems to be given for it, and this is the most proper that could be chosen. When they recognized Saul as their king, and he was established in the kingdom, and while in the midst of their mirth and joy:
And Samuel said - this is another instance of Samuel's great wisdom and integrity. He would not reprove the people for their sin, in desiring a king, whilst Saul was unsettled in his kingdom; therefore he chose this season for it; because Saul's kingdom was now confirmed by an eminent victory; and because the people rejoiced greatly, applauded themselves for their desires of a king; and interpreted the success which God had given them, as a divine approbation of those desires.Samuel therefore thinks fit to temper their joys, and to excite them to that repentance which he saw wanting in them, and which he knew to be necessary, to prevent the curse of God upon their new king, and the whole kingdom.
I have hearkened unto your voice - respecting the affair of a king, to which it must be limited, as appears by what follows; otherwise it is possible, in some things they might apply to him about, he did not think fit to hearken to them, and grant their request, or speak for them:
have made a king over you - that is, had by the direction and appointment of God chosen one by lot, anointed and declared him king; for it was the Lord alone, that, properly speaking, made him a king.
1Sa 12:2 And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
My sons are with you - Or, among you, in the same states as private persons, as you are; if they have injured any of you, the law is now open against them; any of you may accuse them, your king can punish them, I do not intercede for them.
My sons are with you - It is generally agreed that these words intimate that Samuel had deprived them of their public employ, and reduced them to a level with the common people.
My sons are with you - as private persons in the condition of subjects, making no pretension to government; and if they had committed anything criminal, they were open to the law, and might be charged, and tried, and treated according to their deserts;
Have walked before you from my childhood - He had been a long, steady, and immaculate servant of the public. He had spent all his days in the service of God, and for the good of Israel . He had been their guide and governor; partly, as a prophet; and partly, as a judge.
I am old, and grey headed - and so unfit for government, and very willing to be eased of the burden of it: he must surely be more than fifty two years of age, as the Jews generally say he was, since it is not usual at such an age to be grey headed; on this account he merited reverence and respect, and demanded attention:
1Sa 12:3 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
His anointed - king Saul. The title Messiah, or anointed, had been given to the High Priests (Lev_4:3 : compare also 1Sa_2:10, 1Sa_2:35); but this is the earliest instance of an actual king of Israel bearing the title of God’s Christ, and thus typifying the true Messiah or Christ of God.
Any bribe - literally, a “ransom,” the fine paid by a criminal in lieu of bonds or death Exo_21:30, applied to the bribe paid to an unjust judge to induce him to acquit the guilty.
To blind my eyes - The phrase is used of one who averts his eyes, as refusing assistance, or as showing contempt, or, as here, as winking at what is wrong.
Behold, here I am - No longer the supreme governor, but a subject, and accountable for any misdemeanor charged upon him, and to which he was ready to give answer. And this protestation Samuel makes of his integrity, not out of ostentation; but for his own just vindication, that the people might not hereafter for the defense of their own irregularities, reproach his government, and that being publicly acquitted from all faults in his government, he might more freely reprove the sins of the people, and, particularly, that sin of theirs in desiring a king, when they had so little reason for it.
of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes - his meaning is, that he had never taken a gift or present from any person to favor his cause, that was to be brought before him, and give it for him right or wrong; to connive at any injury he had done, or to turn away his eyes from seeing where the justice of the cause lay; or that he had not received money to spare the life of a criminal that deserved to die.
1Sa 12:4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand.
neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand - The people answered Samuel, that he had not done them any kind of injustice.
1Sa 12:5 And he said unto them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.
And he said unto them - Should they hereafter reproach and vilify him, and charge him with any acts of corruption, injustice, and violence:
that ye have not found ought in my hand - that they had nothing to accuse him of and charge him with throughout his whole administration, but had asserted his innocence and integrity, had honorably acquitted him, and given him a fair character: and they answered, he is witness; the omniscient God is a witness against us, should we depart from this testimony, and Saul, the Lord's anointed, is a witness that we have fully cleared thee from any imputations of maladministration.
They answered - The word is singular, he "said" or answered, that is, Israel said, the whole body of the people, they all replied as one man: the reason why Samuel made such a speech at this time, when he resigned his government to Saul, was not only to secure his own character, but to suggest to Saul how he should rule and govern according to his example; and that having established his own character, he could the more freely, and with the better grace, reprove the people for their sin.
1Sa 12:6 And Samuel said unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
it is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron - raised them from a low estate, the one in a foreign country in Midian, the other in bondage in Egypt , to be deliverers, guides, and governors of his people Israel . Samuel’s purpose is to impress the people with the conviction that Yahweh was their God, and the God of their fathers; that to Him they owed their national existence and all their national blessings, and that faithfulness to Him, to the exclusion of all other worship 1Sa_12:21 was the only safety of the newly-established monarchy. Observe the constant reference to the Exodus as the well-known turning-point of their national life (see 1Sa_4:8; 1Sa_6:6).
Samuel said unto the people - Having cleared and established his own character, he proceeds to lay before the people some of the great things God had done for them formerly, and quite down to the present time, the more to aggravate their ingratitude in rejecting God as their King:
Samuel said unto the people - if Jehovah, who redeemed Israel out of Egypt by the hands of Moses and Aaron, and exalted it into His own nation, was witness of the unselfishness and impartiality of Samuel's conduct in his office of judge, then Israel had grievously sinned by demanding a king. In the person of Samuel they had rejected Jehovah their God, who had given them their rulers (1Sa_8:7). Samuel proves this still further to the people from the following history.
brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt - when they were in bondage there, and that by the means of Moses and Aaron, by whose hands he wrought signs and wonders and inflicted plagues on the Egyptians, which made them willing at last to let Israel go.
1Sa 12:7 Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.
Now therefore stand still - The burden of this faithful and uncompromising address was to show them, that though they had obtained the change of government they had so importunely desired, their conduct was highly displeasing to their heavenly King; nevertheless, if they remained faithful to Him and to the principles of the theocracy, they might be delivered from many of the evils to which the new state of things would expose them. And in confirmation of those statements, no less than in evidence of the divine displeasure, a remarkable phenomenon, on the invocation of the prophet, and of which he gave due premonition, took place.
Now therefore stand still - Keep your place, and do not as yet break up the assembly, but wait a little longer patiently, and with reverence and attention hearken to what I have further to say:
of all the righteous acts of the Lord - not only in a way of judgment delivering them into the hands of their enemies, when they sinned against him, but rather in a way of mercy and kindness in delivering them out of their hands.
1Sa 12:8 When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.
The Lord sent Moses and Aaron - He shows them that through all their history God had ever raised them up deliverers, when their necessities required such interference. The first proof of this was furnished by the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt , and their safe guidance into Canaan (“this place” is the land of Canaan ). The second was to be found in the deliverance of the people out of the power of their foes, to whom the Lord had been obliged to give them up on account of their apostasy from Him, through the judges whom He had raised up for them, as often as they turned to Him with penitence and cried to Him for help.
When Jacob was come into Egypt – Literally with his family to see his son Joseph, and dwell there; the posterity of Jacob are meant, who settled in Egypt , and continued there many years, and at length were oppressed by the Egyptians, and brought into hard bondage:
made them dwell in this place - the land of Canaan; they conducted them through the Red sea, guided them through the wilderness, and accompanied them, especially Moses, to the borders of the land of Canaan; for neither of them went into it, but died before the people's entrance there. Joshua, the successor of Moses, of whom Samuel makes no mention, introduced Israel into it, conquered the land for them, and settled them in it;
1Sa 12:9 And when they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.
According to the present arrangement of the Book of Judges, and the common chronology, the oppression of Sisera must have occurred about 200 years after the entrance into Canaan . But Samuel here places it as the first great servitude, before that under Eglon king of Moab , or that from which Shamgar delivered them. And this is in accordance with the internal evidence of the Book of Judges itself. It is also the order of Jdg_10:11, except that there the Ammonites Jdg_3:13 are placed before the Philistines.
they forgat the Lord their God - They fell into idolatry, which is a plain instance and proof of forgetfulness of God; for such that neglect his worship, and serve idols, may be truly said to forget him:
1Sa 12:10 And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.
And they cried unto the Lord - When in the hands of their enemies, and in bondage to them, and cruelly oppressed by them:
and said, we have sinned - the wording in the manuscript is such that it may signify, that everyone of them had a sense of their sin, and made acknowledgment of it; their confession was universal, as their sin was:
deliver us out of the hand of our enemies - they did not ask for a king to go before them, and fight their battles, as they did now, but applied to the Lord for deliverance, promising to serve him as their King and their God.
1Sa 12:11 And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe.
Bedan - No such name occurs among the Judges who delivered Israel . Some versions and commentators read “Barak,” the form of the letters of both words being in Hebrew somewhat similar.
Bedan - instead of Bedan, whose name occurs nowhere else as a judge or deliverer of Israel , the Septuagint have Barak. Many commentators are of this opinion; but one scholar thinks that Jair is intended, who judged Israel twenty-two years, Jdg_10:3. Instead of Samuel some texts read Samson; and it is most natural to suppose that Samuel does not mention himself in this place. Paul’s authority confirms these alterations: The time would fail me, says he, to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David, etc. Hebrew 11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah; also David, and Samuel and the prophets,
Bedan - if this was one of the judges, he must have two names, or is one that is not mentioned in the book of Judges; the Targum interprets it of Samson.
And Samuel - There is nothing improper or out of place in Samuel mentioning his own judgeship. Samuel speaks of himself as of a third person, as Lamech does, Gen_4:23 and this he did not out of ostentation, but to observe that God had made him an instrument of delivering them out of the hand of the Philistines. It had supplied a remarkable instance of God’s deliverance 1Sa_7:12-15; and, as it was the last as well as one of the very greatest deliverances, it was natural he should do so. The passage in Heb_11:32 is quite as favorable to the mention of Samuel.
the Lord sent Jerubbaal - That is, Gideon for Jerubbaal was the name given to Gideon, when he first became a judge, Jdg_6:32.
delivered you out of the hands of your enemies - not the judges, but the Lord; for the word for "delivered" is singular
ye dwelled safe - in the greatest security and confidence, without any fear of enemies, having God their King in the midst of them, and stood in no need of any other king to protect and defend them.
1Sa 12:12 And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God was your king.
When ye saw that Nahash - This was not the first time they had demanded a king; see before, 1Sa_8:5. But at the crisis mentioned here they became more importunate; and it was in consequence of this that the kingdom was a second time confirmed to Saul. Saul was elected at Mizpeh, he was confirmed at Gilgal.
a king shall reign over us - though Samuel told them they had no need of one:
when the Lord your God was your King - and would protect and defend them, if they applied to him, and would put their trust in him; and he himself Samuel was their judge, and would be their general and commander, and they had experience of success under him to the utter destruction of their enemies, 1Sa_7:10 and yet, notwithstanding all this, they insisted upon it to have a king.
1Sa 12:13 Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you.
behold the king whom ye have chosen - For though God chose their king for them, it was at their request; they chose to have a king, and desired one, and they approved of and consented to, and confirmed the choice he had made, and so it was in effect their own:
the Lord hath set a king over you - he gratified them in their desires; though he did not suffer them to make themselves a king, he suffered them to have one, and he gave them one; this power he reserved to himself of setting up and pulling down kings at his pleasure.
the Lord hath set a king over you - After the prophet had thus held up before the people their sin against the Lord, he bade them still further consider, that the king would only procure for them the anticipated deliverance if they would fear the Lord, and give up their rebellion against God.
1Sa 12:14 If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God:
If ye will fear the Lord - On condition that ye rebel no more, God will take you and your king under his merciful protection, and he and his kingdom shall be confirmed and continued.
If ye will fear the Lord - All worship and service of God, and obedience to his word and ordinances, should spring from fear and reverence of him; and therefore the whole of worship, both external and internal, is sometimes expressed by the fear of the Lord:
continue following the Lord your God - which was their duty to do, and this therefore is rather a promise of some benefit and privilege to their duty, and to encourage them to it, since it stands opposed to the threatening of punishment in the next verse;
continue following the Lord your God - God shall still go before you, as he hath hitherto done, as your leader or governor, to direct, protect, and deliver you; and he will not forsake you, as you have given him just cause to do.
continue following the Lord your God - Still, since the Lord had given them a king, the further welfare of the nation would depend upon whether they would follow the Lord from that time forward, or whether they would rebel against Him again.
1Sa 12:15 But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.
But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord - They and their king, by sinning, disregarding his precepts, both affirmative and negative:
then shall the hand of the Lord be against you - by sending some judgments upon them, as famine, sword, or pestilence, particularly captivity and subjection to their enemies:
as it was against your fathers - who had no king; and it is suggested that their case, who had one, would be no better than theirs; their king would not be able to save them from the hand of God: The allusion to the fathers is very suitable here, because the people were looking to the king for the removal of all the calamities, which had fallen upon them from time immemorial. The mistake, if we think we can evade God's justice, by shaking off his dominion. If we will not let God rule us, yet he will judge us.
1Sa 12:16 Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.
This great thing - This unusual occurrence meaning the storm of thunder and rain which presently followed; which coming at a time when such things were not usual, and on a day when there was no appearance or likelihood of anything of this kind, and suddenly, at once, upon the prayer of Samuel, it was no less than a miracle, and might be called a "great thing", new and unheard of, and the pure effect of almighty power.
Now therefore stand - Which does not so much respect the position of their bodies as the fixed attention of their minds:
This great thing - At Samuel's word, God sent thunder and rain, at a season of the year when, in that country, the like was not seen. This was to convince them they had done wickedly in asking a king; not only by its coming at an unusual time, in wheat harvest, and on a clear day, but by the prophet's giving notice of it before. He showed their folly in desiring a king to save them, rather than God, or Samuel; promising themselves more from an arm of flesh, than from the arm of God.
1Sa 12:17 Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.
Wheat harvest - Between May 15 and June 15 according to some, and end of June to beginning of July to others. Rain usually fell in Judea only twice a year, called the former and the latter rain; and from the seventeenth of Nisan or March, to the sixteenth of Marchesvan or October, it was usually dry, especially during harvest time.
1Sa 12:18 So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
The Lord sent thunder and rain that day - immediately, though there was no appearance of it; it was harvest time, and a fine harvest day. This was totally unusual; and, as it came at the call of Samuel, was a most evident miracle.
Greatly feared the Lord - the Lord that sent this tempest, and Samuel who had such power with God in prayer. They dreaded His terrible majesty. This miracle therefore inspired the people with a salutary terror.
So Samuel called unto the Lord - Not in an authoritative way, or by way of command, but by prayer; so the Targum renders the clause in the preceding verse,"I will pray before the Lord:"
1Sa 12:19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.
Pray for thy servants - As they knew they had rebelled against God, they saw that they had every thing to fear from his justice and power.
We have added unto all our sins this evil - It is no sin to have a king; a good king is one of the greatest blessings of God’s providence; but it is a sin to put a man in the place of God. Is it not strange that they did not now attempt to repair their fault? They acknowledged their sin, but did not put it away. This is the general way of mankind.
we have added unto all our sins this evil - to ask for a king; though Samuel had laid before them the evils and inconveniences of having a king, and had in the name of the Lord charged them with rejecting God as their king; yet nothing convinced them of their evil till this storm came, and then all their sins came fresh to their minds; and this added to the weight of them, and lay heaviest on them, that they had rejected the Lord, and slighted his prophets, and, notwithstanding all remonstrances, resolved on having a king.
1Sa 12:20 And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
Ye have done all this wickedness - That is, although ye have done all this wickedness: what was past God would pass by, provided they would be obedient in future. Though they were guilty of so heinous a sin, yet there were grace and mercy with God, and they should not despair of it, so be it that they did not depart from him, but cordially served him
And Samuel said unto the people, fear not – Do not fear being destroyed by the tempest: he would not have them despond or indulge slavish fear.
yet turn not aside from following the Lord - provided they did not depart from the Lord, and forsake his worship, word, and ordinances, they need not fear utter ruin and destruction, though they had been guilty of this sin:
1Sa 12:21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
After vain things - That is, idols; which he calls here “hattohu”, the same expression found Gen_1:2. The earth was “tohu”; it was waste, empty, and formless: so idols; they are confusion, and things of naught, for an idol is nothing in the world, it is not the representative of any intelligent being. 1Co_8:4 Then concerning the eating of the things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except one.
Vain things - So idols are called, Deu_32:21They have moved Me to jealousy with a no-god. They have provoked Me to anger with their vanities. And I will move them to jealousy with a no-people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation; Jer_2:5 So says the LORD, What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me and have walked after vanity, and have become vain, and so they are, being mere nothings, having no power in them; no influence upon us, nor use or benefit to us.
which cannot profit nor deliver - neither bestow good things on their votaries, nor deliver them from evils, or from the hands of their enemies
1Sa 12:22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
The Lord will not forsake his people - He will not as yet cast you off, though you have deserved it. His purpose in preserving them in their land and religion was not yet accomplished. It was not however for their sake that he would not cast them off, but for his own great name’s sake. He drew his reasons from himself.
His name's sake - For the sake of himself, his honor and glory; should he forsake his people, and suffer them to come to ruin, his name would be blasphemed among the nations; he would be charged either with want of power to help them, or with want of faithfulness to his promise to them, and with inconstancy to himself, or want of kindness and affection for them; all which would reflect upon his honor and glory:
His name's sake - That is, for his own honor, which would suffer much among men, if he should not preserve and deliver his people in eminent dangers.
it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people - it was not owing to any worth or worthiness in them that they became his people, but to his own sovereign good will and pleasure; and therefore, as it was nothing in them that was the cause of their being taken by him for his people, so nothing in them could be the cause of their being rejected by him as such; it was of free grace and favor that they were taken into covenant with him, and by the same would be retained.
1Sa 12:23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
God forbid that I should sin - They had earnestly begged him, 1Sa_12:19, to pray to God for them, that they might not die; and he tells them that he should consider himself a sinner, should he cease to be their intercessor.
God forbid that I should sin - for since they had returned to the Lord, and acknowledged their sin, it would have been an evil in him not to pray for them, that they might share in the pardoning grace and mercy of God, and have all good things bestowed upon them they stood in need of; this he judged to be his duty to do, and therefore abhorred the thought of being indifferent to it, negligent of it, or of dropping it:
But I will teach you the good and the right way - I will show you, as long as I am with you, what true religion is; it is the way to happiness and heaven. It is right - there is no crookedness in it; it is good - there is no evil in it.
But I will teach you the good and the right way - would not only pray for them, but instruct them in the way of their duty; a way that was a good one, agreeable to the will and word of God, and in walking in which good things were enjoyed, and which being a good way, must needs be a right way; though Samuel ceased to be a judge and chief magistrate among them, he should not cease to act the part of a prophet to them, both by his prayers and by his instructions.
1Sa 12:24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
Only fear the Lord - Know, respect, and reverence him.
Only fear the Lord - Fear him not with a servile fear, but with a filial fear, a reverential affection for God; and includes the whole of religious worship, internal and external; explained further by serving him according to the truth of his word, and in a cordial, sincere, and affectionate manner; and if this was wanting in them, he suggests that his prayers and instructions would be of little avail, and not to be depended on:
Serve Him in truth - Be ever honest, ever sincere; with all your heart - have every affection engaged in the work of obedience; act not merely from a principle of duty, but also from a pious, affectionate sense of obligation.
Consider how great things - Review the history of your fathers, review your own life; see what interpositions of power, mercy, goodness, and truth, God has displayed in your behalf!
Consider how great things he hath done for you - in bringing them out of Egypt: settling them in the land of Canaan; giving them his laws, statutes, commands, and ordinances; sending prophets unto them, and raising up judges for them, and bestowing all good things on them, in nature, providence, and grace; though some restrain this to the great thing he had done that day, to convince them of their sin, and by which they were returned to the Lord, namely, the violent storm of thunder; which wonderful instance of the power of God, and token of his displeasure against them, they were to lay up in their minds, and not forget, that it might be a means of preserving them from sin for the future.
1Sa 12:25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.
Ye shall be consumed - If ye do wickedly you shall be destroyed, your kingdom destroyed, and your king destroyed. Their king would be so far from protecting, that he should perish with them. Here they had set before them life and good, death and evil. Here was a people fully warned, and a people who profited little by the warning.
But if ye shall still do wickedly - Continue to rebel against God, revolt from him, and depart from his worship, and despise his prophets, and serve idols.
