1 Samuel 12:1-2 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. 2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day.
Israel has transitioned from a Theocracy to a Monarchy. Samuel is now sort of stepping down (back) because Israel now has a king. His career as a judge has come to an end. But Samuel is also a Prophet. Samuel will still be dealing with Saul but no longer the public figure in leading Israel. So, this is his farewell speech to the people Israel.
1 Samuel 12:3-5 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.” 4 “You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.” 5 Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is witness,” they said.
In what sense was the LORD witness against them? If Israel were to later accuse Samuel of wrong, or if Israel ever tries to blame Saul’s problems on Samuel, what they said here would be a witness against them.
Samuel was a man of honesty and integrity. He stands before Israel who he served, and no one has a charge against him. That is how we should live our lives.
2 Corinthians 5:10-11a For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others.
(Vindicated) 1 Samuel 12:6-7 Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. 7 Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.
In these next verses Samuel wants Israel to remember God’s work from the time of the Exodus until present day. Samuel is not focused on the history of Israel, but on the history of the righteous acts of the LORD.
1 Samuel 12:8-12 “After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place. ***9 “But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. ***10 They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ ***11 Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety. ***12 “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king.
We should recognize God’s discipline/chastisement as the righteous acts of the LORD. His discipline is just as righteous as His deliverance. (repentance)
Samuel is trying to make it very clear that the Lord has always treated them right. God had never mistreated them or their ancestors. Everything the Lord has done or will do will be fair, just and righteous. We serve a righteous God and everything He does is an act of that righteousness. (God sold them into bondage-Philistines)
1 Samuel 12:13-15 Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! 15 But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.
Samuel presents Israel with an important choice. They were disobedient in wanting a king, yet God gave them one. But, if they would fear the LORD and serve Him, obey Him, God could/would still bless them.
This one bad choice did not put them outside of God’s plan. Israel should have never sought a human king. But now they had one, and Samuel simply called them to serve the LORD where they were right now.
No doubt Israel had made a bad choice, yet God puts them at a fork in the road. On way leads to submission to God and obedience; the other way leads to rebellion and disobedience. If they chose the wrong path, they could trust God’s hand would be against them and they would not be blessed. (hand against)
Samuel reminds Israel they were not any different from their ancestors, and God would not deal with them any differently than He did with them.
1 Samuel 12:16-18 “Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! 17 Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.” 18 Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.
Samuel prayed and God sends a sign to confirm His word. Thunder and rain were unusual during the wheat harvest. This was a remarkable sign from God.
This sign not only displayed God’s power, but also His judgment. Heavy rain during the harvest could destroy all their crops. The sign was a warning.
So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel: God made his point!
1 Samuel 12:19 The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
Finally, Israel sees their sin of wanting a king. But they saw it too late. Now they are stuck with a king, yet God can still work it out for their good if Israel would fear the Lord, serve and obey the LORD.
1 Samuel 12:20-25 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. ***22 For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. 23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. ***24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 25 Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”
Notice Samuel does not minimize Israel’s sin. But he doesn’t want them to dwell on the sins of the past, but to move forward in obedience with the LORD today.
We can’t do anything about yesterday, and in this moment, we can’t serve God tomorrow. Right now, today what we can decide is to: not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. Satan loves it when we live in the guilt and shame of the past, because he knows it robs us of the opportunity to serve God in the present.
Samuel wanted Israel to know that God loves them. Despite the sin of their past, they could move forward with serving the LORD and still see His blessing because God loves them. His love for Isreal was not prompted by good they did, were doing, or promised to do. It was for His great name’s sake because it pleased the LORD to do it. The reasons were in Him, not in Israel.
Samuel wants the people of Israel to know that even as he steps back and allows Saul to emerge as a leader, he will not forsake Israel. He will continue to serve them, but more in a spiritual way through prayer and teaching. 7:15
Vs24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you: All our service, all our obedience, all our love for God should be put in this context. We do it (fear the lord, serve him faithfully with all our heart) because of the great things He has done for us. We don’t serve God to try to persuade Him to do great things for us. He has already done great things for us.
We can only keep the proper perspective in our Christian lives if we stay focused on what great things He has done for us. If we lose that perspective, everything will become distorted.
We have the tendency to magnify our problems and dwell on our past sins, when we do, we will lose sight of what great things He has done for us.
God has chosen you, called you out of the darkness into His beautiful light,
God has saved you, redeemed you by paying for and delivering you from the penalty of your sins.
He has made you a King and Priest, given you a peace that passes all understanding, joy unspeakable and full of glory.
He has given you eternal life and sealed you for the day of redemption.
And all this was made possible by the sacrificial death of God’s one and only Son and your savior Jesus Christ!
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