1 Samuel 12:17

_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._ Is it not wheat harvest today? That season in Palestine occurs at the beginning of May, 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 the of 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 by this unmistakeable token of the divine displeasure at the criminal motives which had prompted their desire for...

16-25 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 interce...

Verse 1 Samuel 12:17. _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 Amos 4:7; where he refers to this very history. What occurred now hardly ever occurs there but in the winter months....

WHEAT HARVEST - Between May 15 and June 15. Jerome’s testimony (that of an eye-witness) “I have never seen rain in the end of June, or in July, in Judaea” is borne out by modern travelers....

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

IS IT NOT WHEAT HARVEST TODAY?.... Of the time of wheat harvest, 1 Samuel 6:13. Rain usually fell in Judea only twice a year, called the former and the latter rain; and from the seventeenth of Nisan or March, to the sixteenth of Marchesvan or October, it was not usual for rain to fall, and so not in harvest, at that time especially, see Proverbs 26:1. R. Joseph Kimchi says, in the land of Israel rain never fell all the days of harvest; and this is confirmed by Jerom, who lived long in those parts; who says o, at the end of the month of June, and in the month of July, we never saw rain in those provinces, especially in Judea. And Samuel not only by putting this question would have them observe that it was the time of wheat harvest in general, but on that day in particular the men, were at work in the fields

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

SEND. It had to be sent, for rain in harvest was most exceptional; and would be regarded as sent in judgment. Compare Proverbs 26:1. WICKEDNESS. Hebrew. _raa '._ App-44....

_he shall send thunder and rain_ "In ordinary seasons from the cessation of the showers in spring [about the end of April] until their commencement in October or November, rain never falls, and the sky is usually serene." Robinson, _Bibl. Res_. I. 430. Wheat harvest was in May and June. See note on 1 Samuel 6:13. "Rain in harvest" served as a figure for what was unseemly and anomalous (Proverbs 26:1)....