1 Samuel 12:1-13:31And 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. 2And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. 3Behold, 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. 4And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand. 5And 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. 6And 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. 7Now 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. 8When 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. 9And 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. 10And 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. 11And 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. 12And 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. 13Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. 14If 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: 15But 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. 16Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. 17Is 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. 18So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. 19And 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. 20And 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; 21And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. 22For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. 23Moreover 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: 24Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. 25But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king. 1Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Beth-el, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. 3And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. (1 Samuel 12:1‑13:3)
Samuel, who was by this time an old man, called the people to witness the fact that he had always sought their good and had not taken anything from them, yet they had rejected him. He shows how God had always been faithful, and in their time of need had never failed to raise up a deliverer when they turned to Him. Even now, though they had sinned in asking a king, yet the Lord would not forsake them. He would bless both them and their king, if they would follow Him. He said that if they would walk in His ways, He would use their king to deliver them, even though they had wilfully chosen him. If not, His hand would be against both them and their king.
In order to show that it was really a sin before the Lord that they had asked for a king, Samuel prayed that the Lord would send thunder and rain upon them. When the Lord sent it the people feared and owned their sin. We believe, however, that their confession was only because of the thunder and rain and not because they felt their sin before the Lord. Sometimes we are stirred up when trouble comes, but soon forget our sins when the trouble has passed.
In spite of all this, it is beautiful to see Samuel’s love for the people of God. We can never serve them according to the heart of God unless we love them with a love that is not altered by their failure. Paul could say that he loved the Corinthians, though the more abundantly he loved them, the less he was loved (2 Cor. 12:1515And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. (2 Corinthians 12:15)). Samuel said it would be a sin against God if he ceased to pray for the people. He said he would also continue to teach them the good and the right way. This is surely a message for every servant of the Lord, and undoubtedly for us as parents too. Let us not weary of praying for our children, even in moments of disappointment when they have failed grievously. Let us never weary of pleading with them, and of teaching them the good and right way. How much we need this in a day when the Church has failed even more sadly than Israel. We need those who will go on faithfully serving and teaching the people of God according to His mind—parents in Christian homes, as well as pastors and teachers in the assembly.
Saul reigned for two years, but in all this time he failed to go out and fight against the Philistines. He had gathered together a great army against the Ammonites, and the Lord had given him a great victory over them; but here we find him with a feeble company of two thousand men at Michmash, and Jonathan his son with a thousand. Saul then sent all the rest of the people home.
It is both interesting and instructive to see that when Saul failed here to act in his place of responsibility because he lacked faith, the Lord used someone else. Jonathan had faith and the courage which faith always gives, because his faith was in God. He had a smaller company of men with him than Saul, but this did not hinder him. He went forward and smote the garrison of the Philistines in the hill. This stirred up the Philistines against Israel, and so Saul blew a trumpet saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.” Now the name of “Hebrews” speaks of what the people were by nature, but God had changed the name of Jacob to “Israel” which means a “Prince.” It speaks of the place of favor which was theirs before God. But Saul was a natural man and he spoke of them only as “Hebrews.”
ML 07/11/1954