1 Samuel 12:3

_BEHOLD, 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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-5 Samuel not only cleared his own character, but set an example before Saul, while he showed the people their ingratitude to God and to himself. There is a just debt which all men to their own good name, especially men in public stations, which is, to guard it against unjust blame and suspicions, that they may finish their course with honour, as well as with joy. And that we have in our places lived honestly, will be our comfort, under any slights and contempt that may be put upon us....

Verse 1 Samuel 12:3. _WITNESS AGAINST ME_] Did ever a minister of state, in any part of the world, resign his office with so much self-consciousness of integrity, backed with the universal approbation of the public? No man was oppressed under his government, no man defrauded! He had accumulated no riches for himself; he had procured none for his friends; nor had one needy dependant been provided for out of the _public purse_. He might have pardoned his own sons, who had acted improperly, before he quitted the government; but though he was the most tender of parents, he would not, but abandoned them to national justice, with only a tacit solicitation of mercy: _Behold, my sons are with you_! They have acted improperly; I deprived them of their authority; they are amenable to _you_ for their past conduct; I have walked uprightly and disinterestedly among you; they have not...

HIS ANOINTED - i. e., king Saul. The title Messiah, Χριστὸς _Christos_, unctus, or anointed, had been given to the High Priests (Leviticus 4:3 : compare also 1 Samuel 2:10, 1 Samuel 2:35); but this is the earliest instance of an actual king of Israel bearing the title of God’s Christ, and thus typifying the true Messiah or Christ of God. ANY BRIBE - literally, a “ransom,” the fine paid by a criminal in lieu of bonds or death Exodus 21:30, applied to the bribe paid to an unjust judge to induce him to acquit t

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

BEHOLD, HERE I AM,.... No longer the supreme governor, but a subject, and accountable for any misdemeanour charged upon me, and to which I am ready to give answer, being now at your bar to be tried and judged before you: WITNESS AGAINST ME BEFORE THE LORD, AND BEFORE HIS ANOINTED; signifying, that if they had anything to lay to his charge, that they would produce it, and give proof and evidence of it in the presence of God, in whose name they met, and of Saul, anointed king, and supreme judge and ruler of the nation: WHOSE OX HAVE I TAKEN? by force to employ in his own service in ploughing his ground, or treading out his corn: OR WHOSE ASS HAVE I TAKEN? to ride about on in his circuit, or to carry any burden for him: OR WHOM HAVE I DEFRAUDED? of their money or goods, by any artifice circumventing and cheating them: WHOM HAVE I OPPRESSED? struck, beaten, broken, or caused to be

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

THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. WHOM. Some codices, with three early printed editions, read "or whom", thus preserving the Figure of speech _Paradiastole_ (App-6) throughout verses: 1 Samuel 12:12; 1 Samuel 12:3 and 1 Samuel 12:4....

_Behold, here I am_ Samuel puts himself on his trial. The people are to be the accusers: Jehovah, and His representative Saul are the judges. _before his anointed_ The title "the anointed of Jehovah" (see 1 Samuel 10:1, note) is here for the first time actually applied to the King, though it had been employed before in prophecy (ch. 1 Samuel 2:10; 1 Samuel 2:35). Its use certainly gains point if we may follow the Sept. in 1 Samuel 11:15 (see note), and suppose that the ceremony of anointing had just been performed in the presence of all the people. _whose ox … whose ass_ The most valuable property of a pastoral and