CHAPTER XII _Samuel, grown old, testifies his integrity before the people,_ _which they confirm_, 1-5. _He reproves them for their ingratitude and disobedience; and_ _gives a summary of the history of their fathers_, 6-12. _He exhorts them to future obedience, and calls for a sign from_ _heave... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:2. _MY SONS_ ARE _WITH YOU_] It is generally agreed that these words intimate that Samuel had deprived them of their public employ, and reduced them to a level with the common people. _HAVE WALKED BEFORE YOU FROM MY CHILDHOOD_] He had been a long, steady, and immaculate servant of... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:4. _THEY SAID, THOU HAST NOT DEFRAUDED_] Of what minister or governor can any nation under heaven say such things?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:7. _NOW THEREFORE STAND STILL_] I have arraigned _myself_ before God and you; I now arraign _you_ before God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:8. _THE LORD SENT MOSES AND AARON_] He shows them that through all their history God had ever raised them up deliverers, when their necessities required such interference.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:9. _THE HAND OF SISERA_] See these transactions in the book of Judges, as marked in the margin; and see the notes on those passages. Judges 4:2 (note)... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:11. _JERUBBAAL_] That is, Gideon. _And Bedan_: instead of _Bedan_, whose name occurs nowhere else as a judge or deliverer of Israel, the _Septuagint_ have _Barak_; the same reading is found in the _Syriac_ and _Arabic_. The Targum has _Samson_. Many commentators are of this opinion... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:12. _WHEN YE SAW THAT NAHASH_] This was not the first time they had demanded a _king_; see before, 1 Samuel 8:5. But at the crisis mentioned here they became more importunate; and it was in consequence of this that the kingdom was a second time confirmed to Saul. Saul was _elected_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:14. _IF YE WILL FEAR THE LORD, C._] On condition that ye rebel no more, God will take you and your king under his merciful protection, and he and his kingdom shall be confirmed and _continued_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:16. _THIS GREAT THING_] This unusual occurrence.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 en... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:18. _THE LORD SENT THUNDER AND RAIN THAT DAY_] This was totally unusual; and, as it came at the _call of Samuel_, was a most evident _miracle_. _GREATLY FEARED THE LORD_] They dreaded His terrible majesty; and _they feared Samuel_, perceiving that he had so much power with God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:19. _PRAY FOR THY SERVANTS - THAT WE DIE NOT_] As they knew they had rebelled against God, they saw that they had every thing to fear from his justice and power. _WE HAVE ADDED UNTO ALL OUR SINS_ THIS _EVIL_] It is no sin to have a king; a good king is one of the greatest blessing... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:20. _YE HAVE DONE ALL THIS WICKEDNESS_] That is, _although_ ye have done all this wickedness: what was past God would pass by, provided they would be obedient in future.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:21. _AFTER VAIN THINGS_] That is, _idols_; which he calls here התהו _hattohu_, the same expression found Genesis 1:2. _The earth was_ תהו tohu; it was _waste, empty_, and _formless:_ so idols; they are _confusion_, and things of _naught_, for _an idol is_ _nothing in the world_-it... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:22. _THE LORD WILL NOT FORSAKE HIS PEOPLE_] He will not as yet cast you off, though you have deserved it. His purpose in preserving them in their land and religion was not yet accomplished. It was not however _for their sake_ that he would not cast them off, but _for his own great... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:23. _GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD SIN_] They had earnestly begged him, 1 Samuel 12:19, to pray to God for them, that they might not die; and he tells them that he should consider himself a sinner, should he cease to be their intercessor. _BUT I WILL TEACH YOU THE GOOD AND THE RIGHT WA... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:24. _ONLY FEAR THE LORD_] _Know, respect_, and _reverence_ him. _SERVE HIM_] Consider him your _Lord_ and _Master_; consider yourselves his _servants_. _IN TRUTH_] Be ever _honest_, ever _sincere; with all your heart _- have every _affection_ engaged in the work of obedience; act... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Samuel 12:25. _YE SHALL BE CONSUMED_] If ye do wickedly _you_ shall be destroyed, your _kingdom_ destroyed, and your _king_ destroyed. Here they had set before them life and good, death and evil. Never was a people more fully warned, and never did a people profit less by the warning; and the... [ Continue Reading ]