1 Samuel 12:13

_NOW THEREFORE BEHOLD THE KING WHOM YE HAVE CHOSEN, AND WHOM YE HAVE DESIRED! AND, BEHOLD, THE LORD HATH SET A KING OVER YOU._ Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen ... the Lord hath set a king over you. In concluding his address to the assembled heads of the nation, he presents to them Saul, whom in Yahweh's name he had previously anointed to be king; but while stating that they had obtained the object of their ardent desire, he reminded them that 'the Lord had set a king over them' - i:e., that he was, in the theocratic government of the Hebrews, the representative and vicegerent of Yahweh....

6-15 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....

EXPOSITION SAMUEL'S EXHORTATION TO THE PEOPLE AT GILGAL. This speech of Samuel is not to be regarded as a farewell address made upon his resignation of his office; for though a new power had been introduced, and Samuel's sons excluded from the succession, yet it was only gradually that a change was made in his own position. He was still judge (1 Samuel 7:15), and on extraordinary occasions came forward with decisive authority (1 Samuel 15:33). But as Saul gathered men of war round him (1 Samuel 14:52), the moral power possessed by Samuel would be overshadowed by the physical force whi

NOW THEREFORE BEHOLD THE KING WHOM YE HAVE CHOSEN, AND WHOM YE HAVE DESIRED,.... For though God chose their king for them, it was at their request; they chose to have a king, and desired one, and they approved of and consented to, and confirmed the choice he had made, and so it was in effect their own: AND, BEHOLD, THE LORD HATH SET A KING OVER YOU; he gratified them in their desires; though he did not suffer them to make themselves a king, he suffered them to have one, and he gave them one; this power he reserved to himself of setting up and pulling down kings at his pleasure....

5. SAMUEL'S WITNESS AND WARNING CHAPTER 12 _ 1. His witness to his own integrity (1 Samuel 12:1)_ 2. His warning (1 Samuel 12:6) 3. Heaven's answer (1 Samuel 12:16) 4. His words of comfort (1 Samuel 12:20) What a scene! The man of God, the man of prayer, now advanced in years, stands before them. “I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.” Here was not a Nazarite who had failed like Samson, but one who had lived out his Nazariteship in the fullest sense of the word. What unselfish service he had rendered and how he loved his own people! In all this he is a type o

1 SAMUEL 12. SAMUEL'S FAREWELL. From the Deuteronomic document, where it separated the two clauses of 1 Samuel 10:25, which see. 1 SAMUEL 12:1_ A_ (to witness). In response to a solemn adjuration from Samuel, the people agree that his administration has been pure. 1 SAMUEL 12:3. TO BLIND MINE EYES THEREWITH: LXX even a pair of shoes? Answer against me, and I will, etc. (_mg.)._ 1 SAMUEL 12:6_ A_ - 1 SAMUEL 12:11. Samuel briefly reviews the history of Israel, showing the gracious dealings of

AND. Some codices, with three early printed editions. Syriac, and Vulgate, read "for"....

_whom ye have desired_ ASKED, as in 1 Samuel 12:17_; 1 Samuel 12:19_. The word however is omitted by the Sept., and may possibly be an addition to the original text....

_Israel's History Reviewed._ 1 Samuel 12:6-15 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 As

SAMUEL RESIGNS HIS JUDGESHIP This chapter is a continuation of 1 Samuel 10:17, and the scene of the events recorded is the great national assembly at Mizpeh. Notice, however, the reference to Nahash (1 Samuel 11) in 1 Samuel 10:12....