Bible Commentaries

“And now come hither, and I will reason with you before the Lord withregard to all the righteous acts which He has shown to you and yourfathers.” צדקות, righteous acts, is the expression used todenote the benefits which Jehovah had conferred upon His people, asbeing the results of His covenant fidelity, or as acts which attested therighteousness of the Lord in the fulfilment of the covenant grace which Hehad promised to His people.

1 Samuel 12:8-12

The first proof of this was furnished by the deliverance of thechildren of Israel out of Egypt, and their safe guidance into Canaan (“thisplace” is the land of Canaan). The second was to be found in thedeliverance of the people out of the power of their foes, to whom the Lordhad 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 theyturned to Him with penitence and cried to Him for help. Of the hostileoppressions which overtook the Israelites during this period of the judges,the following are singled out in 1 Samuel 12:9:(1) that by Sisera, the commander-in-chief of Hazor, i.e., that of theCanaanitish king Jabin of Hazor (Judges 4:2.); (2) that of the Philistines,by which we are to understand not so much the hostilities of that nationdescribed in Judges 3:31, as the forty years' oppression mentioned in Judges 10:2 and Judges 13:1; and (3) the Moabitish oppression under Eglon (Judges 3:12.). The first half of Judges 13:10 agrees almost word for word with Judges 10:10, except that, according to Judges 10:6, the Ashtaroth are added to theBaalim (see at 1 Samuel 7:4 and Judges 2:13). Of the judges whom God sent tothe people as deliverers, the following are named, viz., Jerubbaal (see atJudges 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 bookof Judges or anywhere else. The name Bedan only occurs again in 1 Chronicles 7:17, among the descendants of Machir the Manassite: consequently someof the commentators suppose Jair of Gilead to be the judge intended. But such a supposition is perfectly arbitrary, as it is not renderedprobable by any identity in the two names, and Jair is not described ashaving delivered Israel from any hostile oppression. Moreover, it isextremely improbable that Samuel should have mentioned a judge here,who had been passed over in the book of Judges on account of hiscomparative insignificance. There is also just as little ground for renderingBedan as an appellative, e.g., the Danite (ben-Dan), as Kimchi suggests, orcorpulentus as Böttcher maintains, and so connecting the name withSamson. There is no other course left, therefore, than to regard Bedan as anold copyist's error for Barak (Judg 4), as the lxx, Syriac, and Arabic havedone, - a conclusion which is favoured by the circumstance that Barak wasone of the most celebrated of the judges, and is placed by the side ofGideon and Jephthah in Hebrews 11:32. The Syriac, Arabic, and one Greek MS (see Kennicott in the Addenda tohis Dissert. Gener.), have the name of Samson instead of Samuel. But asthe lxx, Chald., and Vulg. all agree with the Hebrew text, there is nocritical ground for rejecting Samuel, the more especially as the objectionraised to it, viz., that Samuel would not have mentioned himself, is far tootrivial to overthrow the reading supported by the most ancient versions;and the assertion made by Thenius, that Samuel does not come down tohis own times until the following verse, is altogether unfounded. Samuelcould very well class himself with the deliverers of Israel, for the simplereason that it was by him that the people were delivered from the fortyyears' tyranny of the Philistines, whilst Samson merely commenced theirdeliverance and did not bring it to completion. Samuel appears to havedeliberately mentioned his own name along with those of the other judgeswho were sent by God, that he might show the people in the most strikingmanner (1 Samuel 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 beyour King by sending judges to deliver you.

After the prophet had thus held up before the people their sinagainst the Lord, he bade them still further consider, that the king wouldonly procure for them the anticipated deliverance if they would fear theLord, and give up their rebellion against God.

1 Samuel 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 fulfilledthe desire of the people. Although the request of the people had been anact of hostility to God, yet Jehovah had fulfilled it. The word בּהרתּם, relating to the choice by lot (1 Samuel 10:17.), is placed beforeשׁאלתּם אשׁר, to show that the demand was the strongestact that the people could perform. They had not only chosen the king withthe consent or by the direction of Samuel; they had even demanded a kingof their own self-will.

1 Samuel 12:14

Still, since the Lord had given them a king, the further welfare of the nationwould depend upon whether they would follow the Lord from that timeforward, or whether they would rebel against Him again. “If ye will onlyfear the Lord, and serve Him, … and ye as well as the king who rules overyou will be after Jehovah your God.” אם, in the sense of modo, ifonly, does not require any apodosis, as it is virtually equivalent to thewish, “O that ye would only!” for which אם with the imperfect iscommonly used (vid., 2 Kings 20:19; Proverbs 24:11, etc.; and Ewald, §329,b.). There is also nothing to be supplied to יהוה אחר … והיתם, since אחר היה, to be afteror 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 tohim (vid., 2 Samuel 2:10; 1 Kings 12:20; 1 Kings 16:21-22). This meaning is also atthe foundation of the present passage, as Jehovah was the God-king ofIsrael.

1 Samuel 12:15

“But if ye do not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, and strive against Hiscommandment, the hand of Jehovah will be heavy upon you, as upon yourfathers.” ו in the sense of as, i.e., used in a comparative sense, is mostfrequently placed before whole sentences (see Ewald, §340, b.); and theuse of it here may be explained, on the ground that בּאבתיכם containsthe force of an entire sentence: “as it was upon your fathers.” The allusionto the fathers is very suitable here, because the people were looking to theking for the removal of all the calamities, which had fallen upon them fromtime immemorial. The paraphrase of this word, which is adopted in theSeptuagint, ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα ὑμῶν , is a veryunhappy conjecture, although Thenius proposes to alter the text to suit it.

1 Samuel 12:16-17

In order to give still greater emphasis to his words, and to secure theirlasting, salutary effect upon the people, Samuel added still further: Evennow 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 thewords גּם־עתּה, “yea, even now.” “Even now come hither, and see thisgreat 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 yourselvesready) is merely inserted between, to fix the attention of the people moreclosely upon the following miracle, as an event of great importance, andone which they ought to lay to heart. “Is it not now wheat harvest? I willcall to Jehovah, that He may give thunder (קלוה, as in Exodus 9:23,etc.) and rain. Then perceive and see, that the evil is great which ye havedone in the eyes of Jehovah, to demand a king.” The wheat harvest occursin Palestine between the middle of May and the middle of June (see byBibl. Arch. i. §118). And during this time it scarcely ever rains. ThusJerome affirms (ad Am. c. 4): “Nunquam in fine mensis Junii aut in Julio in his provinciis maximeque in Judaea pluvias vidimus.” And Robinson alsosays in his Palestine (ii. p. 98): “In ordinary seasons, from the cessation ofthe showers in spring until their commencement in October andNovember, 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 toSamuel's appeal to him, this was a miracle of divine omnipotence, intendedto show to the people that the judgments of God might fall upon thesinners at any time. Thunderings, as “the voice of God” (Exodus 9:28), areharbingers of judgment.

This miracle therefore inspired the people with a salutary terror. “All the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel,” and entreated theprophet, “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.”

Samuel thereupon announced to them first of all, that the Lord would notforsake His people for His great name's sake, if they would only serveHim with uprightness. In order, however, to give no encouragement to anyfalse trust in the covenant faithfulness of the Lord, after the comfortingwords, “Fear not,” he told them again very decidedly that they had donewrong, but that now they were not to turn away from the Lord, but toserve Him with all their heart, and not go after vain idols. To strengthenthis admonition, he repeats the תּסוּרוּ לא in 1 Samuel 12:21, withthe explanation, that in turning from the Lord they would fall away toidols, which could not bring them either help or deliverance. To the כּי after תּסוּרוּ the same verb must be supplied from thecontext: “Do not turn aside (from the Lord), for (ye turn aside) after thatwhich is vain.” התּהוּ, the vain, worthless thing, signifies thefalse gods. This will explain the construction with a plural: “which do notprofit and do not save, because they are emptiness” ((tohu)), i.e., worthlessbeings ((elilim), Leviticus 19:4; cf. Isaiah 44:9 and Jeremiah 16:19).

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

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

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