1 Samuel 12 commentary

Samuel not only cleared his own character, but set an example before Saul, while he showed the people their ingratitude to God and to himself. There is a just debt which all men to their own good name, especially men in public stations, which is, to guard it against unjust blame and suspicions, that they may finish their course with honour, as well as with joy. And that we have in our places lived honestly, will be our comfort, under any slights and contempt that may be put upon us.

The work of ministers is to reason with people; not only to exhort and direct, but to persuade, to convince men's judgments, and so to gain their wills and affections. Samuel reasons of the righteous acts of the Lord. Those who follow God faithfully, he will enable to continue following him. Disobedience would certainly be the ruin of Israel. We mistake if we think that we can escape God's justice, by trying to shake off his dominion. If we resolve that God shall not rule us, yet he will judge us.

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, or from the power of prayer. Could their prince command such forces as the prophet could do by his prayers? It startled them very much. Some will not be brought to see their sins by any gentler methods than storms and thunders. They entreat Samuel to pray for them. Now they see their need of him whom shortly before they slighted. Thus many who will not have Christ to reign over them, would yet be glad to have him intercede for them, to turn away the wrath of God. Samuel aims to confirm the people in their religion. Whatever we make a god of, we shall find it deceive us. Creatures in their own places are good; but when put in God's place, they are vain things. We sin if we restrain prayer, and in particular if we cease praying for the church. They only asked him to pray for them; but he promises to do more, to teach them. He urges that they were bound in gratitude to serve God, considering what great things he had done for them; and that they were bound in interest to serve him, considering what he would do against them, if they should still do wickedly. Thus, as a faithful watchman, he gave them warning, and so delivered his own soul. If we consider what great things the Lord hath done for us, especially in the great work of redemption, we can neither want motive, encouragement, nor assistance in serving him.

CHAPTER 12

1Sa 12:1-5. Samuel Testifies his Integrity.

1-4. Samuel said unto all Israel--This public address was made after the solemn re-instalment of Saul, and before the convention at Gilgal separated. Samuel, having challenged a review of his public life, received a unanimous testimony to the unsullied honor of his personal character, as well as the justice and integrity of his public administration.

5. the Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness--that, by their own acknowledgment, he had given them no cause to weary of the divine government by judges, and that, therefore, the blame of desiring a change of government rested with themselves. This was only insinuated, and they did not fully perceive his drift.

1Sa 12:6-16. He Reproves the People for Ingratitude.

7-16. Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you--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.

17-25. Is it not wheat harvest to-day?--That season in Palestine occurs at the end of June or beginning of July, when it seldom or never rains, and the sky is serene and cloudless. There could not, therefore, have been a stronger or more appropriate proof of a divine mission than the phenomenon of rain and thunder happening, without any prognostics of its approach, upon the prediction of a person professing himself to be a prophet of the Lord, and giving it as an attestation of his words being true. The people regarded it as a miraculous display of divine power, and, panic-struck, implored the prophet to pray for them. Promising to do so, he dispelled their fears. The conduct of Samuel, in this whole affair of the king's appointment, shows him to have been a great and good man who sank all private and personal considerations in disinterested zeal for his country's good and whose last words in public were to warn the people, and their king, of the danger of apostasy and disobedience to God.

And Samuel said - It is very likely that it was at this public meeting Samuel delivered the following address; no other time seems to be given for it, and this is the most proper that could be chosen.

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.

Have walked before you from my childhood - He had been a long, steady, and immaculate servant of the public.

Witness against me - Did ever a minister of state, in any part of the world, resign his office with so much self-consciousness of integrity, backed with the universal approbation of the public? No man was oppressed under his government, no man defrauded! He had accumulated no riches for himself; he had procured none for his friends; nor had one needy dependant been provided for out of the public purse. He might have pardoned his own sons, who had acted improperly, before he quitted the government; but though he was the most tender of parents, he would not, but abandoned them to national justice, with only a tacit solicitation of mercy: Behold, my sons are with you! They have acted improperly; I deprived them of their authority; they are amenable to you for their past conduct; I have walked uprightly and disinterestedly among you; they have not followed my steps: but can you forgive them for their father's sake? As a minister of justice, he abandons them to their fate; as a tender father, he indirectly and modestly pleads for them on the ground of his own services. Had he not acted thus in both these relations, he would have been unworthy of that character which he so deservedly bears.

They said, Thou hast not defrauded - Of what minister or governor can any nation under heaven say such things?

Now therefore stand still - I have arraigned myself before God and you; I now arraign you before God.

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 hand of Sisera - See these transactions in the book of Judges, Jdg 4:2 (note).

Jerubbaal - That is, Gideon. And Bedan: instead of Bedan, whose name occurs nowhere else as a judge or deliverer of Israel, the Septuagint have Barak; the same reading is found in the Syriac and Arabic. The Targum has Samson. Many commentators are of this opinion; but Calmet thinks that Jair is intended, who judged Israel twenty-two years, Jdg 10:3. Instead of Samuel the Syriac and Arabic have Samson; and it is most natural to suppose that Samuel does not mention himself in this place. St. 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.

When ye saw that Nahash - This was not the first time they had demanded a king; see before, 1Sam 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.

If ye will fear the Lord, etc. - 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.

This great thing - This unusual occurrence.

Is it not wheat harvest to-day? - That is, This is the time of wheat harvest. According to St. Jerome, who spent several years in the promised land, this harvest commenced about the end of June or beginning of July, in which he says he never saw rain in Judea: Nunquam enim in fine mensis Junii, sive in mense Julio, in his provinciis, maximeque in Judea, pluvias vidimus. - Hier. in Amo 4:7; where he refers to this very history. What occurred now hardly ever occurs there but in the winter months.

The Lord sent thunder and rain that day - This was totally unusual; and, as it came at the call of Samuel, was a most evident miracle.

Greatly feared the Lord - They dreaded His terrible majesty; and they feared Samuel, perceiving that he had so much power with God.

Pray for thy servants - that we die not - 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 might have done it, but they did not; they acknowledged their sin, but did not put it away. This is the general way of mankind. "God help us, we are all sinners!" is the general language of all people: but though to be a sinner is to be in the most solemn and awful circumstances, yet they are contented to bear the character, heedless of the consequences!

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.

After vain things - That is, idols; which he calls here התהו hattohu, the same expression found Gen 1:2. The earth was תהו 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.

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.

God forbid that I should sin - They had earnestly begged him, 1Sam 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.

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.

Only fear the Lord - Know, respect, and reverence him.

Serve him - Consider him your Lord and Master; consider yourselves his servants.

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. Act towards your God as an affectionate child should act towards a tender and loving parent.

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! Has he not daily loaded you with his benefits?

Ye shall be consumed - If ye do wickedly you shall be destroyed, your kingdom destroyed, and your king destroyed. Here they had set before them life and good, death and evil. Never was a people more fully warned, and never did a people profit less by the warning; and they continue to this day monuments of God's justice and forbearance. Reader, What art thou? Perhaps a similar monument. Consider therefore what great things God has done for thee.

Said - While they were assembled together in Gilgal. And 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; lest through their accustomed levity, they should as hastily cast off their king, as they had passionately desired him, and therefore he chuseth 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.

Walketh - Ruleth over you. To him I have fully resigned my power, and own myself one of his subjects. Old - And therefore unable to bear the burden of government. My sons - Or, among you, in the same states 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. Walked before you - That is, been your guide and governor; partly, as a prophet; and partly, as a judge.

Behold - I here present myself before the Lord, and before your king, ready to give an account of all my administrations. 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 defence of their own irregularities, reproach his government, and that being publickly 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.

Righteous acts - Heb. the righteousnesses; that is, mercies or benefits the chief subject of the following discourse; some of their calamities being but briefly named, and that for the illustration of God's mercy in their deliverances.

This place - In this land: in which Moses and Aaron are said to settle them; because they brought them into, and seated them in part of it, that without Jordan; because they were, under God, the principal authors of their entering into the land of Canaan; inasmuch as they brought them out of Egypt, conducted them through the wilderness; and thereby their prayers to God, and counsel to them, preserved them from ruin, and gave command from God for the distribution of the land among them, and encouraged them to enter into it. And lastly, Moses substituted Joshua in his stead, and commanded him to seat them there, which he did.

Forgat - That is, they revolted from him, and carried themselves, as if they had wholly forgotten his innumerable favours. This he saith to answer an objection, that the reason why they desired a king, was, because in the time of the judges they were at great uncertainties, and often exercised with sharp afflictions: to which he answereth by concession that they were so; but adds, by way of retortion, that they themselves were the cause of it, by their forgetting God: so that it was not the fault of that kind of government, but their transgressing the rules of it. Fought - With success, and subdued them.

Bedan - This was either Samson, as most interpreters believe, who is called Bedan; that is, in Dan, or of Dan, one of that tribe, to signify that they had no reason to distrust that God, who could raise so eminent a saviour out of so obscure a tribe: or, Jair the Gileadite, which may seem best to agree, first, with the time and order of the judges; for Jair was before Jephthah, but Samson was after him. Secondly, with other scriptures: for among the sons of a more ancient Jair, we meet with one called Bedan, 1Chron 7:17, which name seems here given to Jair the judge, to distinguish him from that first Jair. Safe - So that it was no necessity, but mere wantonness, that made you desire a change.

Your king - That is, when God was your immediate king and governor, who was both able and willing to deliver you, if you had cried to him, whereof you and your ancestors have had plentiful experience; so that you did not at all need any other king; and your desire of another, was a manifest reproach against God.

Ye have chosen - Though God chose him by lot, yet the people are said to chuse him; either generally, because they chose that form of government; or particularly, because they approved of God's choice, and confirmed it. The Lord - He hath yielded to your inordinate desire.

Then, &c. - Heb. then shall - ye - be, (that is, walk, or go) after the Lord; that is, 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. Sometimes this phrase of going after the Lord, signifies a man's obedience to God; but here it is otherwise to be understood, and it notes not a duty to be performed, but a privilege to be received upon the performance of their duty; because it is opposed to a threatening denounced in case of disobedience, in the next verse.

Your fathers - Who lived under the judges; and you shall have no advantage by the change of government, nor shall your kings be able to protect you against God's displeasure. 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.

Wheat - harvest - At which time it was a rare thing in those parts to have thunder or rain; the weather being more constant in its seasons there, than it is with us. Rain - That you may understand that God is displeased with you; and also how foolishly and wickedly you have done in rejecting the government of that God, at whose command are all things both in heaven and in earth.

Samuel - Who had such power and favour with God. By this thunder and rain, God shewed them their folly in desiring a king to save them, rather than God or Samuel, expecting more from an arm of flesh than from the arm of God, or from the power of prayer. Could their king thunder with a voice like God? Could their prince command such forces as the prophet could by his prayers? Likewise he intimates, that how serene soever their condition was now, (like the weather in wheat harvest) yet if God pleased, he could soon change the face of their heavens, and persecute them with his storms.

Thy God - Whom thou hast so great an interest in, while we are ashamed and afraid to call him our God.

Fear not - With a desponding fear, as if there were no hope left for you.

Turn aside - After idols; as they had often done before; and, notwithstanding this warning, did afterwards. Vain things - So idols are called, Deut 32:21 Jer 2:5, and so they are, being mere nothings, having no power in them; no influence upon us, nor use or benefit to us.

His name's sake - That is, for his own honour, which would suffer much among men, if he should not preserve and deliver his people in eminent dangers. And this reason God alledgeth to take them off from all conceit of their own merit; and to assure them, that if they did truly repent of all their sins, and serve God with all their heart; yet even in that case their salvation would not be due to their merits; but the effect of God's free mercy. To make - Out of his own free grace, without any desert of yours, and therefore he will not forsake you, except you thrust him away.

Only, &c. - Otherwise neither my prayer nor counsels will stand you in any stead.

AND Samuel said unto all Israel , Behold, I have hearkned unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.

Whilst they were Assembled together in Gilgal. And this is another instance of Samuels great Wisdom and Integrity. He would not reprove the people for their Sin, in desiring a King, whilst Saul was raw, and unweak, and unsettled in his Kingdome, and in the Peoples hearts; lest through their accustomed levity, they should as hastily cast off their King, as they had passionately desired him, and so add one Sin to another; and therefore he chuseth this Season for it; partly, because Saul's Kingdome was now confirmed and illustrated by an eminent Victory, and so the danger of rejecting him was out of doors; which circumstance was also considerable for Samuel's Vindication, that it might appear, that his following Reproof did not proceed from any selfish respects or desires, which he might be supposed to have of retaining the power in his own hands, but meerly from the Conscience of his Duty, and a Sincere desire of all their good; and partly, because the People rejoyced greatly, as is said in the next foregoing Verse; and upon this occasion applauded themselves for their desires of a King; and Interpreted the success which God had now given them, as a Divine Approbation of those desires; whereby they were like to be hardened in their impenitency, and might be drawn to many other inconveniencies: Samuel therefore thinks fit to temper their excessive joys, and to excite them to that Repentance and Holy Fear, which he saw wanting in them, and which he knew to be absolutely necessary, to prevent the Curse of God upon their new King, and the whole Kingdom.

2 And now, behold, the king walketh before you : and I am old and gray-headed , and behold, my sons are with you : and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.

Goeth out and cometh in before you; i. e. Ruleth over you, as that Phrase signifies, Numb. 27. 16. Deut. 31. 2. 2 Chron. 1. 10. To him I have fully resigned all my Power and Authority, and do hereby renounce it, and own my self for a private Person, and one of his Subjects.

And therefore unable to bear the burden of Government, and feel my self greatly at ease to see it cast upon other Shoulders; and therefore do not speak what I am about to say, from envy of Saul's Advancement, or from discontent at the Diminution of my own Power.

Or, among you, in the same State and Place, private Persons, as you are; if they have injured any of you in their Government, as you once complained, the Law is now open against them; any of you may accuse them, your King can punish them, I do not intercede for them, I have neither Power nor Will to keep them from receiving the just Fruits of their Misdemeanours.

i. e. Been your Guide and Governor; partly, as a Prophet; and partly, as a Judge.

3 Behold, here I am, witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: Whose ox have I taken? or whose asse 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.

I here present my self before the Lord, and before your King, being ready to give an account of all my Administrations, and to make satisfaction for any Injuries that I have done. And this Protestation Samuel makes of his Integrity, not out of Ostentation or Vain glory; but partly, for his own just Vindication, that the People might not hereafter for the Defence of their own Irregularities, reproach his Government; partly, that being publickly acquitted from all faults in his Government, he might more freely and boldly reprove the sins of the People, and particularly, that sin of theirs in desiring a King, when they had so little reason for it, and they had so just a Governor, from whom they might bave promised themselves an effectual Redress of his Sons mal-administrations, if they had acquainted him therewith; and partly, that by his Example he might tacitly Admonish Saul of his Duty, and prevent his misunderstanding of what he had formerly said, chap. 8. v. 11, &c. and mistake that for the Rule of his just Power, which was onely a Prediction of his Evil Practices.

Whom have I wronged, either by Fraud and false Accusation, or by Might and Violence?

Heb. Prince of Redemption, given to Redeem an unjust and lost Cause or Person, from that Righteous Sentence which they deserved.

That I should not discern what was right and just, or dissemble it as if I did not see it. Or, that I should hide or cover mine eyes (i. e. wilfully wink at the plain truth) for it, i. e. for the Bribe; or, for him, i. e. for his sake.

k Or, and I will cover mine eyes for him, i. e. I will take shame to my self, and cover my face as one ashamed to look upon him.

Marginal references: Numb. 16. 15. Act. 20. 33.; Heb. ransom.; Or, that I should hide mine eyes at him.

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.

To wit, if you shall at any time hereafter reproach my Government or Memory. Or rather, against you, that I gave you no cause to be weary of Gods Government of you by Judges, or to desire a change of the Government; and therefore the blame of it wholly rest upon your selves. But this was onely insinuated, and therefore the People did not fully understand his drift in it.

i. e. Any thing which I have gotten by Bribery or Oppression.

Heb. he answered; i. e. the whole People, who are here spoken of as one Person, because they Answered thus with one consent.

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.

That for your sakes raised, constituted, and exalted Moses and Aaron, to that great Power and Reputation which they had, and used, to deliver you.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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 your fathers.

Since God hath laid so great Obligations upon you, let us a little consider whether you have Answered them.

Heb. the Righteousnesses, i. e. Mercies or Benefits; for so that word is oft used, as Psal. 24. 5. and 36. 10. Prov. 10. 2. and 11. 4. and that is the chief Subject of the following Discourse; some of their Calamities being but briefly named, and that for the illustration of Gods Mercy in their Deliverances.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] benefits.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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 .

In this Land: in which Moses and Aaron are said to settle them; partly, because they brought them into, and seated them in part of it, to wit, that without Iordan; partly, because they were, under God, the Principal Authors of their entring into the Land of Canaan; inasmuch as they brought them out of Egypt, conducted them thorough the Wilderness; and there by their Prayers to God, and Counsel to them, preserved them from utter ruin, and gave Command and Direction from God for the distribution of the Land among them, and incouraged them to enter into it by promises and assurances of Success. And lastly, Moses substituted Ioshua in his stead, and commanded him to carry them thither, and seat them there, which also he did.

Marginal references: Gen. [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Exod. [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Exod. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ and 4. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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 .

i. e. They revolted from him, as it is explained v. 10. and carried themselves as ungratefully and unworthily towards God, as if they had wholly forgotten his great and innumerable Favours, and their infinite Obligations to him. Forgetting of God, is oft put for all manner of wickedness, whereof indeed that is the true cause. See Isa. 17. 10. Ier. 3. 21. Ezek. 22. 12. This he saith, partly, to Answer an Objection, That the reason why they desired a King, was because in the time of the Judges they were at great uncertainties, and oft times exercised with sharp afflictions: to which he Answereth by Concession that they were so; but adds, by way of Retortion, that they themselves were the cause of it, by their forgetting of God: so that it was not the fault of that kind of Government, but their transgressing the Rules of it; and partly, to mind them, that this their ungrateful carriage towards God, was no new or strange thing, but an hereditary and inveterate Disease, that so they might more easily believe their own Guilt herein, and be more deeply humbled, both for their own, and for their Parents Sins.

To wit, with success, and subdued them.

Marginal references: Judg. 4. [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Judg. [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Judg. 3. 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 .

This certainly is one of the Judges; and because there is no Judge so called in the Book of Iudges, it is reasonably concluded, that this was one of the Judges there mentioned, having two Names, as was very frequent. And this was, either, First, Sampson, as most Interpreters believe, who is called Bedan; i. e. in Dan, or of Dan, or the Son Dan, one of that Tribe, to signifie that they had no reason to distrust that God, who could, and did, raise so eminent a Saviour out of so obscure a Tribe. Or, Secondly, Iair the Gileadite, of whom Iudg. 10. 3. which may seem best to agree, First, With the Time and Order of the Judges; for Iair was before Iepthah, but Sampson was after him. Secondly, With other Scriptures: for among the Sons of a more Ancient, and a Famous Iair, of whom see Numb. 32. 41. we meet with one called Bedan, 1 Chron. 7. 17. which Name seems here given to Iair the Judge, to distinguish him from that first Iair. Thirdly, With the following words, which shew that this Bedan was one of those Judges who delivered them out of the hand of their Enemies on every side, and made them to dwell safely; which seems not so properly to agree to Sampson, who did onely begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines; as was foretold of him, Iudg. 13. 5. as to Iair, who kept them in peace and safety, in the midst of all their Enemies, as may be gathered from Iudg. 10. 3, 4, 5, 6. And so did all the rest of the Judges here mentioned.

He speaks of himself in the Third Person, which is frequent in the Hebrew Tongue, as Gen. 4. 23. Psal. 132. 1, 10, 11. Dan. 1. 6. Isa. 1. 1. And he mentions himself not through vain ostentation, but for his own just and necessary vindication, and for the justification and inforcement of his following Reproof, to shew that he had not degenerated from his Predecessors, nor had been so inconsiderable and unprofitable to them, as to give them any occasion to contrive or desire this change of Government in his days.

So that it was no necessity, but meer wantonness, that made you desire a change.

Marginal references: Judg. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 32.; Judg. 11. [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Chap. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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 .

See the Notes on Chapter 11. 1.

i. e. When God was your immediate King and Governor, who was both able and willing to deliver you, if you had cried to him, whereof you and your Ancestors have had plentiful experience; so that you did not at all need any other King; and your desire of another, was a manifest reproach against God, as if he were either grown Impotent, or Unfaithful, or Unmerciful to you.

Marginal references: Chap. 8. 19.

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 .

Though God chose him by Lot, yet the People are said to chuse him; either generally, because they chose that Form of Government: or particularly, because they approved of Gods choice, chap. 10. 24. and confirmed it, chap. 11. 15.

He hath yielded to your inordinate desire.

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.

Heb. then shall—ye—be, (i. e. walk, or go) after the Lord; i. e. 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. Sometimes this Phrase of going after the Lord, signifies a Mans Obedience to God; but here it is otherwise to be understood (as it is no new thing, for the same Phrase in several places, to be understood in quite differrent Sences); and it Notes not a Duty to be performed, but a promise of a Priviledge to be received upon the performance of their Duty; because it is opposed to a threatning denounced in case of Disobedience, in the next Verse.

Marginal references: Heb. mouth.; Heb. be after.

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 .

Who lived under the Judges; and you shall have no advantage in that point by the change of Government, nor shall your Kings be able to Protect you against Gods Displeasure.

16 ¶ Now therefore stand , and see this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes.

He intends not the posture of their Bodies, but the consistency of their Minds, by serious and fixed Consideration.

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.

At which time it was a rare thing in those parts to have Thunder or Rain, as the Scripture oft implies; and St. Ierom affirms, who was an Eye-witness of it; the weather being more constant and certain in its Seasons there, and in divers other parts, than it is with us who live in Islands, as all Travellers inform us.

That by this unseasonable and pernicious Storm you may understand that God is displeased with you; and also how Foolishly and Wickedly you have done in rejecting the Government of that God, at whose command are all things both in Heaven and in Earth.

Marginal references: Heb. voice.

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 .

Who had such great Power and Favour with God.

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 .

For so we shall still own our selves to be, though we have got another Master.

Whom thou hast so great an Interest in, and canst so easily prevail with for any Mercy, whilst we are ashamed and afraid to call him our God, because we have so highly offended him.

That this terrible Storm may be taken away, lest our Persons and the Fruits of the Earth be all Destroyed.

So horribly were they biassed with their prejudices and passions, that nothing but a Miracle could convince them of this particular Sin.

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:

To wit, with a Servile and Desponding Fear, as if there were no hope left for you.

21 And turn ye not aside , for then should ye go after vain things , which cannot profit nor deliver , for they are vain.)

To wit, after Idols; as they had often done before; and, notwithstanding this warning, did afterwards.

Or, should ye turn aside; which words are easily to be understood out of the foregoing Branch, such Ellipses being most frequent in Scripture, as Deut. 1. 4. 1 King. 14. 14. 2 King. 9. 27.

So Idols are called, Deut. 32. 21. Ier. 2. 5. and so they are, being meer nothings, 1 Cor. 8. 4. having no Divinity nor Power in them, no Influence upon us, nor use or benefit to us.

i. e. Which will not onely be unprofitable, but highly pernicious to you; the contrary Affirmative being understood undet the Negative, as Exod. 20. 7. Numb. 21. 23. Deut. 2. 30.

22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great Names sake : because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people .

i. e. For his own Honour, which would seem to suffer much among men, if he should not preserve and deliver his People in eminent Dangers; as if he were grown feeble, or forgetful, or inconstant, or unfaithful, or regardless of Human affairs, or unkind to those who own and Worship him, when all the rest of the World forsake him. Hence this Argument hath been oft pleaded with God, not without good success, as Exod. 32. 12. Numb. 14. 13, &c. And this reason God here alledgeth to take them off from all conceit of their own merit; and to assure them, that if they did truly repent of all their sins, and served God with all their heart, which is here supposed; yet even in that case their Salvation would not be due to their Merits; but onely the effect of Gods Free Mercy.

To wit, out of his own Free Grace, without any desert of yours, as he saith, Deut. 7. 7. and 9. 5. and therefore he will not easily forsake you, except you thrust him away.

Marginal references: Psal. 94. 14.

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.

Think not that because you have so highly Disobliged and Rejected me, that I will revenge my self, by neglecting to pray for you, or by Praying against you, as I have now done for your Conviction and Humiliation, and so for your Preservation; I am sensible it is my Duty, as I am a Man, an Israelite, a Minister, a Prophet, to Pray for you.

Heb. and I will, &c. i. e. I will not onely Pray for you, which is one Branch of my Duty; but will also Teach and Instruct you, which is the other Branch of it. And though you have cast me off from being your Judge and Ruler, yet I will not cease to be your Instructor and Monitor, to keep you from Sin and Destruction.

Marginal references: Heb. from ceasing.

24 Onely fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you .

Otherwise neither my Prayer nor Counsels will stand you in any stead.

Or, among you, both at this time and formerly.

Marginal references: Or, what a great thing &c.

1Sa 12:1-2

Samuel starts with the fact, that he had given the people a king in accordance with their own desire, who would now walk before them. הנּה with the participle expresses what is happening, and will happen still. לפני התהלּך must not be restricted to going at the head in war, but signifies the general direction and government of the nation, which had been in the hands of Samuel as judge before the election of Saul as king. “And I have grown old and grey (שׂבתּי from שׂיב); and my sons, behold, they are with you.” With this allusion to his sons, Samuel simply intended to confirm what he had said about his own age. By the further remark, “and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day,” he prepares the way for the following appeal to the people to bear witness concerning his conduct in office.

1Sa 12:3

“Bear witness against me before the Lord,” i.e., looking up to the Lord, the omnipotent and righteous God-king, “and before His anointed,” the visible administrator of His divine government, whether I have committed any injustice in my office of judge, by appropriating another’s property, or by oppression and violence (רצץ, to pound or crush in pieces, when used to denote an act of violence, is stronger than אשׁק, with which it is connected here and in many other passages, e.g., Deu 28:33; Amo 4:1), or by taking atonement money (כּפר, redemption or atonement money, is used, as in Exo 21:30 and Num 35:31, to denote a payment made by a man to redeem himself from capital punishment), “so that I had covered my eyes with it,” viz., to exempt from punishment a man who was worthy of death. The בּו, which is construed with העלים, is the בּ instrumenti, and refers to כּפר; consequently it is not to be confounded with מן, “to hide from,” which would be quite unsuitable here. The thought is not that the judge covers his eyes from the copher, that he may not see the bribe, but that he covers his eyes with the money offered him as a bribe, so as not to see and not to punish the crime committed.

1Sa 12:4

The people answered Samuel, that he had not done them any kind of injustice.

1Sa 12:5

To confirm this declaration on the part of the people, he then called Jehovah and His anointed as witnesses against the people, and they accepted these witnesses. כּל־ישׂראל is the subject to ויּאמר; and the Keri ויּאמרוּ, though more simple, is by no means necessary. Samuel said, “Jehovah be witness against you,” because with the declaration which the people had made concerning Samuel’s judicial labours they had condemned themselves, inasmuch as they had thereby acknowledged on oath that there was no ground for their dissatisfaction with Samuel’s administration, and consequently no well-founded reason for their request for a king.

1Sa 12:6

But in order to bring the people to a still more thorough acknowledgment of their sin, Samuel strengthened still more their assent to his solemn appeal to God, as expressed in the words “He is witness,” by saying, “Jehovah (i.e., yea, the witness is Jehovah), who made Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt.” The context itself is sufficient to show that the expression “is witness” is understood; and there is no reason, therefore, to assume that the word has dropped out of the text through a copyist’s error. עשׂה, to make, in a moral and historical sense, i.e., to make a person what he is to be; it has no connection, therefore, with his physical birth, but simply relates to his introduction upon the stage of history, like ποιεῖν, Heb 3:2. But 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 (see 1Sa 8:7). Samuel proves this still further to the people from the following history.  “And now come hither, and I will reason with you before the Lord with regard to all the righteous acts which He has shown to you and your fathers.” צדקות, righteous acts, is the expression used to denote the benefits which Jehovah had conferred upon His people, as being the results of His covenant fidelity, or as acts which attested the righteousness of the Lord in the fulfilment of the covenant grace which He had promised to His people.

1Sa 12:8-12

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. Of the hostile oppressions which overtook the Israelites during this period of the judges, the following are singled out in 1Sa 12:9 : (1) that by Sisera, the commander-in-chief of Hazor, i.e., that of the Canaanitish king Jabin of Hazor (Jdg 4:2.); (2) that of the Philistines, by which we are to understand not so much the hostilities of that nation described in Jdg 3:31, as the forty years’ oppression mentioned in Jdg 10:2 and Jdg 13:1; and (3) the Moabitish oppression under Eglon (Jdg 3:12.). The first half of Jdg 13:10 agrees almost word for word with Jdg 10:10, except that, according to Jdg 10:6, the Ashtaroth are added to the Baalim (see at 1Sa 7:4 and Jdg 2:13). Of the judges whom God sent to the people as deliverers, the following are named, viz., Jerubbaal (see at Jdg 6:32), i.e., Gideon (Judg 6), and Bedan, and Jephthah (see Judg 11), and Samuel. There is no judge named Bedan mentioned either in the book of Judges or anywhere else. The name Bedan only occurs again in 1Ch 7:17, among the descendants of Machir the Manassite: consequently some of the commentators suppose Jair of Gilead to be the judge intended. But such a supposition is perfectly arbitrary, as it is not rendered probable by any identity in the two names, and Jair is not described as having delivered Israel from any hostile oppression. Moreover, it is extremely improbable that Samuel should have mentioned a judge here, who had been passed over in the book of Judges on account of his comparative insignificance. There is also just as little ground for rendering Bedan as an appellative, e.g., the Danite (ben-Dan), as Kimchi suggests, or corpulentus as Böttcher maintains, and so connecting the name with Samson. There is no other course left, therefore, than to regard Bedan as an old copyist’s error for Barak (Judg 4), as the lxx, Syriac, and Arabic have done, - a conclusion which is favoured by the circumstance that Barak was one of the most celebrated of the judges, and is placed by the side of Gideon and Jephthah in Heb 11:32. The Syriac, Arabic, and one Greek MS (see Kennicott in the Addenda to his Dissert. Gener.), have the name of Samson instead of Samuel. But as the lxx, Chald., and Vulg. all agree with the Hebrew text, there is no critical ground for rejecting Samuel, the more especially as the objection raised to it, viz., that Samuel would not have mentioned himself, is far too trivial to overthrow the reading supported by the most ancient versions; and the assertion made by Thenius, that Samuel does not come down to his own times until the following verse, is altogether unfounded. Samuel could very well class himself with the deliverers of Israel, for the simple reason that it was by him that the people were delivered from the forty years’ tyranny of the Philistines, whilst Samson merely commenced their deliverance and did not bring it to completion. Samuel appears to have deliberately mentioned his own name along with those of the other judges who were sent by God, that he might show the people in the most striking manner (1Sa 12:12) that they had no reason whatever for saying to him, “Nay, but a king shall reign over us,” as soon as the Ammonites invaded Gilead. “As Jehovah your God is your king,” i.e., has ever proved himself to be your King by sending judges to deliver 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 12:13

“But now behold the king whom ye have chosen, whom ye have asked for! behold, Jehovah hath set a king over you.” By the second והנּה, the thought is brought out still more strongly, that Jehovah had fulfilled the desire of the people. Although the request of the people had been an act of hostility to God, yet Jehovah had fulfilled it. The word בּהרתּם, relating to the choice by lot (1Sa 10:17.), is placed before שׁאלתּם אשׁר, to show that the demand was the strongest act that the people could perform. They had not only chosen the king with the consent or by the direction of Samuel; they had even demanded a king of their own self-will.

1Sa 12:14

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. “If ye will only fear the Lord, and serve Him, ... and ye as well as the king who rules over you will be after Jehovah your God.” אם, in the sense of modo, if only, does not require any apodosis, as it is virtually equivalent to the wish, “O that ye would only!” for which אם with the imperfect is commonly used (vid., 2Ki 20:19; Pro 24:11, etc.; and Ewald, §329, b.). There is also nothing to be supplied to יהוה אחר ... והיתם, since אחר היה, to be after or behind a person, is good Hebrew, and is frequently met with, particularly in the sense of attaching one’s self to the king, or holding to him (vid., 2Sa 2:10; 1Ki 12:20; 1Ki 16:21-22). This meaning is also at the foundation of the present passage, as Jehovah was the God-king of Israel.

1Sa 12:15

“But if ye do not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, and strive against His commandment, the hand of Jehovah will be heavy upon you, as upon your fathers.” ו in the sense of as, i.e., used in a comparative sense, is most frequently placed before whole sentences (see Ewald, §340, b.); and the use of it here may be explained, on the ground that בּאבתיכם contains the force of an entire sentence: “as it was upon your fathers.” 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 paraphrase of this word, which is adopted in the Septuagint, ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα ὑμῶν, is a very unhappy conjecture, although Thenius proposes to alter the text to suit it.

1Sa 12:16-17

In order to give still greater emphasis to his words, and to secure their lasting, salutary effect upon the people, Samuel added still further: Even now ye may see that ye have acted very wickedly in the sight of Jehovah, in demanding a king. This chain of thought is very clearly indicated by the words גּם־עתּה, “yea, even now.” “Even now come hither, and see this great thing which Jehovah does before your eyes.” The words גּם־עתּה, which are placed first, belong, so far as the sense is concerned, to את־הד ראוּ; and התיצּבוּ (“place yourselves,” i.e., make yourselves ready) is merely inserted between, to fix the attention of the people more closely upon the following miracle, as an event of great importance, and one which they ought to lay to heart. “Is it not now wheat harvest? I will call to Jehovah, that He may give thunder (קלוה, as in Exo 9:23, etc.) and rain. Then perceive and see, that the evil is great which ye have done in the eyes of Jehovah, to demand a king.” The wheat harvest occurs in Palestine between the middle of May and the middle of June (see by Bibl. Arch. i. §118). And during this time it scarcely ever rains. Thus Jerome affirms (ad Am. c. 4): “Nunquam in fine mensis Junii aut in Julio in his provinciis maximeque in Judaea pluvias vidimus.” And Robinson also says in his Palestine (ii. p. 98): “In ordinary seasons, from the cessation of the showers in spring until their commencement in October and November, rain never falls, and the sky is usually serene” (see my Arch. i. §10). So that when God sent thunder and rain on that day in answer to Samuel’s appeal to him, this was a miracle of divine omnipotence, intended to show to the people that the judgments of God might fall upon the sinners at any time. Thunderings, as “the voice of God” (Exo 9:28), are harbingers of judgment.

1Sa 12:18-19

This miracle therefore inspired the people with a salutary terror. “All the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel,” and entreated the prophet, “Pray for thy servants to the Lord thy God, that we die not, because we have added to all our sins the evil thing, to ask us a king.”

1Sa 12:20-21

Samuel thereupon announced to them first of all, that the Lord would not forsake His people for His great name’s sake, if they would only serve Him with uprightness. In order, however, to give no encouragement to any false trust in the covenant faithfulness of the Lord, after the comforting words, “Fear not,” he told them again very decidedly that they had done wrong, but that now they were not to turn away from the Lord, but to serve Him with all their heart, and not go after vain idols. To strengthen this admonition, he repeats the תּסוּרוּ לא in 1Sa 12:21, with the explanation, that in turning from the Lord they would fall away to idols, which could not bring them either help or deliverance. To the כּי after תּסוּרוּ the same verb must be supplied from the context: “Do not turn aside (from the Lord), for (ye turn aside) after that which is vain.” התּהוּ, the vain, worthless thing, signifies the false gods. This will explain the construction with a plural: “which do not profit and do not save, because they are emptiness” (tohu), i.e., worthless beings (elilim, Lev 19:4; cf. Isa 44:9 and Jer 16:19).

1Sa 12:22

“For (כּי gives the reason for the main thought of the previous verse, 'Fear not, but serve the Lord,' etc.) the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake; for it hath pleased the Lord (for הואיל, see at Deu 1:5) to make you His people.” The emphasis lies upon His. This the Israelites could only be, when they proved themselves to be the people of God, by serving Jehovah with all their heart. “For His great name’s sake,” i.e., for the great name which He had acquired in the sight of all the nations, by the marvellous guidance of Israel thus far, to preserve it against misapprehension and blasphemy (see at Jos 7:9).

1Sa 12:23

Samuel then promised the people his constant intercession: “Far be it from me to sin against the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you, and to instruct you in the good and right way,” i.e., to work as prophet for your good. “In this he sets a glorious example to all rulers, showing them that they should not be led astray by the ingratitude of their subordinates or subjects, and give up on that account all interest in their welfare, but should rather persevere all the more in their anxiety for them” (Berleb. Bible).

1Sa 12:24-25

Lastly, he repeats once more his admonition, that they would continue stedfast in the fear of God, threatening at the same time the destruction of both king and people if they should do wrong (on 1Sa 12:24, see 1Sa 7:3 and Jos 24:14, where the form יראוּ is also found). “For see what great things He has done for you” (shown to you), not by causing it to thunder and rain at Samuel’s prayer, but by giving them a king. עם הגדּיל, as in Gen 19:19.

Samuel's Discourse to Israel. (b. c. 1069.)

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. 2 And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and gray-headed; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. 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. 4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand. 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.

Here, I. Samuel gives them a short account of the late revolution, and of the present posture of their government, by way of preface to what he had further to say to them, v. 1, 2. 1. For his own part, he had spent his days in their service; he began betimes to be useful among them, and had continued long so: "I have walked before you, as a guide to direct you, as a shepherd that leads his flock (Ps. lxxx. 1), from my childhood unto this day." As soon as he was illuminated with the light of prophecy, in his early days, he began to be a burning and shining light to Israel; "and now my best days are done: I am old and gray-headed;" therefore they were the more unkind to cast him off, yet therefore he was the more willing to resign, finding the weight of government heavy upon his stooping shoulders. He was old, and therefore the more able to advise them, and the more observant they should have been of what he said, for days shall speak and the multitude of years shall teach wisdom; and there is a particular reverence due to the aged, especially aged magistrates and aged ministers. "I am old, and therefore not likely to live long, perhaps may never have an opportunity of speaking to you again, and therefore take notice of what I say." 2. As for his sons, "Behold" (says he), "they are with you, you may, if you please, call them to an account for any thing they have done amiss. They are present with you, and have not, upon this revolution, fled from their country. They are upon the level with you, subjects to the new king as well as you; if you can prove them guilty of any wrong, you may prosecute them now by a due course of law, punish them, and oblige them to make restitution." 3. As for their new king, Samuel had gratified them in setting him over them (v. 1): "I have hearkened to your voice in all that you said to me, being desirous to please you, if possible, and make you easy, though to the discarding of myself and family; and now will you hearken to me, and take my advice?" The change was now perfected: "Behold, the king walketh before you" (v. 2); he appears in public, ready to serve you in public business. Now that you have made yourselves like the nations in your civil government, and have cast off the divine administration in that, take heed lest you make yourselves like the nations in religion and cast off the worship of God.

II. He solemnly appeals to them concerning his own integrity in the administration of the government (v. 3): Witness against me, whose ox have I taken? Observe,

1. His design in this appeal. By this he intended, (1.) To convince them of the injury they had done him in setting him aside, when they had nothing amiss to charge him with (his government had no fault but that it was too cheap, too easy, too gentle), and also of the injury they had done themselves in turning off one that did not so much as take an ox or an ass from them, to put themselves under the power of one that would take from them their fields and vineyards, nay, and their very sons and daughters (ch. viii. 11), so unlike would the manner of the king be from Samuel's manner. (2.) To preserve his own reputation. Those that heard of Samuel's being rejected as he was would be ready to suspect that certainly he had done some evil thing, or he would never have been so ill treated; so that it was necessary for him to make this challenge, that it might appear upon record that it was not for any iniquity in his hands that he was laid aside, but to gratify the humour of a giddy people, who owned they could not have a better man to rule them, only they desired a bigger man. There is a just debt which every man owes to his own good name, especially men in public stations, which is to guard it against unjust aspersions and suspicions, that we may finish our course with honour as well as joy. (3.) As he designed hereby to leave a good name behind him, so he designed to leave his successor a good example before him; let him write after his copy, and he will write fair. (4.) He designed, in the close of his discourse, to reprove the people, and therefore he begins with a vindication of himself; for he that will, with confidence, tell another of his sin, must see to it that he himself be clear.

2. In the appeal itself observe,

(1.) What it is that Samuel here acquits himself from. [1.] He had never, under any pretence whatsoever, taken that which was not his own, ox or ass, had never distrained their cattle for tribute, fines, or forfeitures, nor used their service without paying for it. [2.] He had never defrauded those with whom he dealt, nor oppressed those that were under his power. [3.] He had never taken bribes to pervert justice, nor was ever biassed by favour for affection to give judgment in a cause against his conscience.

(2.) How he calls upon those that had slighted him to bear witness concerning his conduct: "Here I am; witness against me. If you have any thing to lay to my charge, do it before the Lord and the king, the proper judges." He puts honour upon Saul, by owning himself accountable to him if guilty of any wrong.

III. Upon this appeal he is honourably acquitted. He did not expect that they would do him honour at parting, though he well deserved it, and therefore mentioned not any of the good services he had done them, for which they ought to have applauded him, and returned him the thanks of the house; all he desired was that they should do him justice, and that they did (v. 4) readily owning, 1. That he had not made his government oppressive to them, nor used his power to their wrong. 2. That he had not made it expensive to them: Neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand for the support of thy dignity. Like Nehemiah, he did not require the bread of the governor (Neh. v. 18), had not only been righteous, but generous, had coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel, Acts xx. 33.

IV. This honourable testimony borne to Samuel's integrity is left upon record to his honour (v. 5): "The Lord is witness, who searcheth the heart, and his anointed is witness, who trieth overt acts;" and the people agree to it: "He is witness." Note, The testimony of our neighbours, and especially the testimony of our own consciences for us, that we have in our places lived honestly, will be our comfort under the slights and contempts that are put upon us. Demetrius is a happy man, that has a good report of all men and of the truth itself, 3 John 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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: 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.

Samuel, having sufficiently secured his own reputation, instead of upbraiding the people upon it with their unkindness to him, sets himself to instruct them, and keep them in the way of their duty, and then the change of the government would be the less damage to them.

I. He reminds them of the great goodness of God to them and to their fathers, gives them an abstract of the history of their nation, that, by the consideration of the great things God had done for them, they might be for ever engaged to love him and serve him. "Come," says he (v. 7), "stand still, stand in token of reverence when God is speaking to you, stand still in token of attention and composedness of mind, and give me leave to reason with you." Religion has reason on its side, Isa. i. 18. The work of ministers is to reason with people, not only to exhort and direct, but to persuade, to convince men's judgments, and so to gain their wills and affections. Let reason rule men, and they will be good. He reasons of the righteous acts of the Lord, that is, "both the benefits he hath bestowed upon you, in performance of his promises, and the punishments he has inflicted on you for your sins." His favours are called his righteous acts (Judg. v. 11), because in them he is just to his own honour. He not only puts them in mind of what God had done for them in their days, but of what he had done of old, in the days of their fathers, because the present age had the benefit of God's former favours. We may suppose that his discourse was much larger than as here related. 1. He reminds them of their deliverance out of Egypt. Into that house of bondage Jacob and his family came down poor and little; when they were oppressed they cried unto God, who advanced Moses and Aaron, from mean beginnings, to be their deliverers, and the founders of their state and settlement in Canaan, v. 6, 8. 2. He reminds them of the miseries and calamities which their fathers brought themselves into by forgetting God and serving other gods, v. 9. They enslaved themselves, for they were sold as criminals and captives into the hand of oppressors. They exposed themselves to the desolation of war, and their neighbours fought against them. 3. He reminds them of their fathers' repentance and humiliation before God for their idolatries: They said, We have sinned, v. 10. Let not them imitate the sins of their fathers, for what they had done amiss they had many a time wished undone again. In the day of their distress they had sought unto God, and had promised to serve him; let their children then reckon that good at all times which they found good in bad times. 4. He reminds them of the glorious deliverances God had wrought for them, the victories he had blessed them with, and their happy settlements, many a time, after days of trouble and distress, v. 11. He specifies some of their judges, Gideon and Jephthah, great conquerors in their time; among the rest he mentions Bedan, whom we read not of any where else: he might be some eminent person, that was instrumental of salvation to them, though not recorded in the book of Judges, such a one as Shamgar, of whom it is said that he delivered Israel, but not that he judged them, Judg. iii. 31. Perhaps this Bedan guarded and delivered them on one side, at the same time when some other of the judges appeared and acted for them on another side. Some think it was the same with Jair (so the learned Mr. Poole), others the same with Samson, who was Ben Dan, a son of Dan, of that tribe, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him Be-Dan, in Dan, in the camp of Dan. Samuel mentions himself, not to his own praise, but to the honour of God, who had made him an instrument of subduing the Philistines. 5. At last he puts them in mind of God's late favour to the present generation, in gratifying them with a king, when they would prescribe to God by such a one to save them out of the hand of Nahash king of Ammon, v. 12, 13. Now it appears that this was the immediate occasion of their desiring a king: Nahash threatened them; they desired Samuel to nominate a general; he told them that God was commander-in-chief in all their wars and they needed no other, that what was wanting in them should be made up by his power: The Lord is your king. But they insisted on it, Nay, but a king shall reign over us. "And now," said he, "you have a king, a king of your own asking—let that be spoken to your shame; but a king of God's making—let that be spoken to his honour and the glory of his grace." God did not cast them off, even when they in effect cast him off.

II. He shows them that they are now upon their good behaviour, they and their king. Let them not think that they had now cut themselves off from all dependence upon God, and that now, having a king of their own, the making of their own fortunes (as men foolishly call it) was in their own hands; no, still their judgment must proceed from the Lord. He tells them plainly,

1. That their obedience to God would certainly be their happiness, v. 14. If they would not revolt from God to idols, nor rebel against him by breaking his commandments, but would persevere in their allegiance to him, would fear his wrath, serve his interests, and obey his will, then they and their king should certainly be happy; but observe how the promise is expressed: Then you shall continue following the Lord your God; that is, (1.) "You shall continue in the way of your duty to God, which will be your honour and comfort." Note, To those that are sincere in their religion God will give grace to persevere in it: those that follow God faithfully will be divinely strengthened to continue following him. And observe, Following God is a work that is its own wages. It is the matter of a promise as well as of a precept. (2.) "You shall continue under the divine guidance and protection:" You shall be after the Lord, so it is in the original, that is, "he will go before you to lead and prosper you, and make your way plain. The Lord is with you while you are with him."

2. That their disobedience would as certainly be their ruin (v. 15): "If you rebel, think not that your having a king will secure you against God's judgments, and that having in this instance made yourselves like the nations you may sin at as cheap a rate as they can. No, the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers when they offended him, in the days of the judges." We mistake if we think that we can evade God's justice by shaking off his dominion. If God shall not rule us, yet he will judge us.

Samuel Calls for Thunder; Samuel Encourages and Comforts Israel. (b. c. 1069.)

16 Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. 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. 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. 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. 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; 21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. 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. 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: 24 Only fear the Lord , and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. 25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

Two things Samuel here aims at:—

I. To convince the people of their sin in desiring a king. They were now rejoicing before God in and with their king (ch. xi. 15), and offering to God the sacrifices of praise, which they hoped God would accept; and this perhaps made them think that there was no harm in their asking a king, but really they had done well in it. Therefore Samuel here charges it upon them as their sin, as wickedness, great wickedness in the sight of the Lord. Note, Though we meet with prosperity and success in a way of sin, yet we must not therefore think the more favourably of it. They have a king, and if they conduct themselves well their king may be a very great blessing to them, and yet Samuel will have them perceive and see that their wickedness was great in asking a king. We must never think well of that which God in his law frowns upon, though in his providence he may seem to smile upon it. Observe,

1. The expressions of God's displeasure against them for asking a king. At Samuel's word, God sent prodigious thunder and rain upon them, at a season of the year when, in that country, the like was never seen or known before, v. 16-18. Thunder and rain have natural causes and sometimes terrible effects. But Samuel made it to appear that this was designed by the almighty power of God on purpose to convince them that they had done very wickedly in asking a king; not only by its coming in an unusual time, in wheat-harvest, and this on a fair clear day, when there appeared not to the eye any signs of a storm, but by his giving notice of it before. Had there happened to be thunder and rain at the time when he was speaking to them, he might have improved it for their awakening and conviction, as we may in a like case; but, to make it no less than a miracle, before it came, (1.) He spoke to them of it (v. 16, 17): Stand and see this great thing. He had before told them to stand and hear (v. 7); but, because he did not see that his reasoning with them affected them (so stupid were they and unthinking), now he bids them stand and see. If what he said in a still small voice did not reach their hearts, nor his doctrine which dropped as the dew, they shall hear God speaking to them in dreadful claps of thunder and the great rain of his strength. He appealed to this as a sign: "I will call upon the Lord, and he will send thunder, will send it just now, to confirm the word of his servant, and to make you see that I spoke truly when I told you that God was angry with you for asking a king." And the event proved him a true prophet; the sign and wonder came to pass. (2.) He spoke to God for it. Samuel called unto the Lord, and, in answer to his prayer, even while he was yet speaking, the Lord sent thunder and rain. By this Samuel made it to appear, not only what a powerful influence God has upon this earth, that he could, of a sudden, when natural causes did not work towards it, produce this dreadful rain and thunder, and bring them out of his treasures (Ps. cxxxv. 7), but also what a powerful interest he had in heaven, that God would thus hearken to the voice of a man (Josh. x. 14) and answer him in the secret place of thunder, Ps. lxxxi. 7. Samuel, that son of prayer, was still famous for success in prayer. Now by this extraordinary thunder and rain sent on this occasion, [1.] God testified his displeasure against them in the same way in which he had formerly testified it, and at the prayer of Samuel too, against the Philistines. The Lord discomfited them with a great thunder, ch. vii. 10. Now that Israel rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit, he turned to be their enemy, and fought against them with the same weapons which, not long before, had been employed against their adversaries, Isa. lxiii. 10. [2.] He showed them 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 or from the power of prayer. Could their king thunder with a voice like God? Job xl. 9. Could their prince command such forces as the prophet could by his prayers? [3.] He intimated to them that how serene and prosperous soever their condition seemed to be now that they had a king, like the weather in wheat-harvest, yet, if God pleased, he could soon change the face of their heavens, and persecute them with his tempest, as the Psalmist speaks.

2. The impressions which this made upon the people. It startled them very much, as well it might. (1.) They greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. Though when they had a king they were ready to think they must fear him only, God made them know that he is greatly to be feared and his prophets for his sake. Now they were rejoicing in their king, God taught them to rejoice with trembling. (2.) They owned their sin and folly in desiring a king: We have added to all our sins this evil, v. 19. Some people will not be brought to a sight of their sins by any gentler methods than storms and thunders. Samuel did not extort this confession from them till the matter was settled and the king confirmed, lest it should look as if he designed by it rather to establish himself in the government than to bring them to repentance. Now that they were flattering themselves in their own eyes, their iniquity was found to be hateful, Ps. xxxvi. 2. (3.) They earnestly begged Samuel's prayers (v. 19): Pray for thy servants, that we die not. They were apprehensive of their danger from the wrath of God, and could not expect that he should hear their prayers for themselves, and therefore they entreat Samuel to pray for them. Now they see their need of him whom awhile ago they slighted. Thus many that will not have Christ to reign over them would yet be glad to have him intercede for them, to turn away the wrath of God. And the time may come when those that have despised and ridiculed praying people will value their prayers, and desire a share in them. "Pray" (say they) "to the Lord thy God; we know not how to call him ours, but, if thou hast any interest in him, improve it for us."

II. He aims to confirm the people in their religion, and engage them for ever to cleave unto the Lord. The design of his discourse is much the same with Joshua's, ch. xxiii. and xxiv.

1. He would not that the terrors of the Lord should frighten them from him, for they were intended to frighten them to him (v. 20): "Fear not; though you have done all this wickedness, and though God is angry with you for it, yet do not therefore abandon his service, nor turn from following him." Fear not, that is, "despair not, fear not with amazement, the weather will clear up after the storm. Fear not; for, though God will frown upon his people, yet he will not forsake them (v. 22) for his great name's sake; do not you forsake him then." Every transgression in the covenant, though it displease the Lord, yet does not throw us out of covenant, and therefore God's just rebukes must not drive us from our hope in his mercy. The fixedness of God's choice is owing to the freeness of it; we may therefore hope he will not forsake his people, because it has pleased him to make them his people. Had he chosen them for their good merits, we might fear he would cast them off for their bad merits; but, choosing them for his name's sake, for his name's sake he will not leave them.

2. He cautions them against idolatry: "Turn not aside from God and the worship of him" (v. 20, and again v. 21); "for if you turn aside from God, whatever you turn aside to, you will find it is a vain thing, that can never answer your expectations, but will certainly deceive you if you trust to it; it is a broken reed, a broken cistern." Idols could not profit those that sought to them in their wants, nor deliver those that sought to them in their straits, for they were vain, and not what they pretended to be. An idol is nothing in the world, 1 Cor. viii. 4.

3. He comforts them with an assurance that he would continue his care and concern for them, v. 23. They desired him to pray for them, v. 19. He might have said, "Go to Saul, the king that you have put in my room," and get him to pray for you; but so far is he from upbraiding them with their disrespect to him that he promised them much more than they asked. (1.) They asked it of him as a favour; he promised it as a duty, and startles at the thought of neglecting it. Pray for you! says he, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in not doing it. Note, It is a sin against God not to pray for the Israel of God, especially for those of them that are under our charge: and good men are afraid of the guilt of omissions. (2.) They asked him to pray for them at this time, and upon this occasion, but he promised to continue his prayers for them and to cease as long as he lived. Our rule is to pray without ceasing; we sin if we restrain prayer in general, and in particular if we cease praying for the church. (3.) They asked him only to pray for them, but he promised to do more for them, not only to pray for them, but to teach them; though they were not willing to be under his government as a judge, he would not therefore deny them his instructions as a prophet. And they might be sure he would teach them no other than the good and the right way: and the right way is certainly the good way: the way of duty is the way of pleasure and profit.

4. He concludes with an earnest exhortation to practical religion and serious godliness, v. 24, 25. The great duty here pressed upon us is to fear the Lord. He had said (v. 20), "Fear not with a slavish fear," but here, "Fear the Lord, with a filial fear." As the fruit and evidence of this, serve him in the duties of religious worship and of a godly conversation, in truth and sincerity, and not in show and profession only, with your heart, and with all your heart, not dissembling, not dividing. And two things he urges by way of motive:—(1.) That they were bound in gratitude to serve God, considering what great things he had done for them, to engage them for ever to his service. (2.) That they were bound in interest to serve him, considering what great things he would do against them if they should still do wickedly: "You shall be destroyed by the judgments of God, both you and your king whom you are so proud of and expect so much from, and who will be a blessing to you if you keep in with God." Thus, as a faithful watchman, he gave them warning, and so delivered his own soul.