1 Samuel 12:5

_AND 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._ The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day - that, by their own acknowledgment, he had given them no cause to weary of the divine government by judges, and that, therefore, the blame of desiring a change of government rested with themselves. This was only insinuated, and they did not fully perceive his drift....

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....

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

AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, THE LORD IS WITNESS AGAINST YOU, AND HIS ANOINTED IS WITNESS THIS DAY,.... Should they hereafter reproach and vilify him, and charge him with any acts of corruption, injustice, and violence: THAT YE HAVE NOT FOUND OUGHT IN MY HAND; that they had nothing to accuse him of and charge him with throughout his whole administration, but had asserted his innocence and integrity, had honourably acquitted him, and given him a fair character: and they answered, he is witness; the omniscient God is a witness against us, should we depart from this testimony, and Saul, the Lord's anointed, is a witness that we have fully cleared thee from any imputations of maladministration. The word is singular, he "said" or answered g, that is, Israel said, the whole body of the people, they all replied as one man: the reason why Samuel made such a speech at this time, when he resigned his g...

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

_Samuel Reviews His Career._ 1 Samuel 12:1-5 And 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. 2 And 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. 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. 4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand. 5 And he said unto them, The Lord _is_ witness against you, and his anointed _is_ witness this day,

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....

ISRAEL’S FIRST KING 1 SAMUEL _HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 12 SAMUEL SPEAKS TO ALL THE *ISRAELITES FOR THE LAST TIME V1 Samuel said to all the *Israelites, ‘I have done everything that you wanted me to do. I have given you a king to rule you. V2 Now you have a king to lead you. I am old and my hair is grey. My sons are here with you. I have been your leader from the days when I was young until now. V3 Here I am. I have not done any wrong things. If I have, you must accuse me to the *Lord and his *anointed king. I did not steal anyone’s *ox or *donkey. I did not hurt anyone because I had not been honest. I saw the wrong things that people did. But I never accepted money to pretend that I did not see them. However, if I have done any of these things, I will give you what I have taken’.

THE LORD IS WITNESS. — Then Samuel again, with increased solemnity, called the Eternal in the heavens above and His anointed king then standing by his side to witness what the people had just acknowledged concerning his scrupulously just rule. AND THEY ANSWERED, HE IS WITNESS. — And the assembly of Israel, again with one voice, shouted, Yes, He is witness....