A verse by verse commentary on 1 Samuel 11 dealing with Saul rescuing the city of Jabesh from Nahash the Ammonite, and Saul is confirmed as king.

1. 1 SAMUEL 12 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Samuel’s Farewell Speech
1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to
everything you said to me and have set a king over
you.
CLARKE, "And Samuel said - It is very likely that it was at this public meeting
Samuel delivered the following address; no other time seems to be given for it, and this
is the most proper that could be chosen.
GILL, "And Samuel said unto all Israel,.... When assembled at Gilgal, after they
had recognized Saul as their king, and he was established in the kingdom, and while in
the midst of their mirth and joy:
behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye have said unto me;
respecting the affair of a king, to which it must be limited, as appears by what follows;
otherwise it is possible, in some things they might apply to him about, he did not think
fit to hearken to them, and grant their request, or speak for them:
and have made a king over you; that is, had by the direction and appointment of
God chosen one by lot, anointed and declared him king; for it was the Lord alone, that,
properly speaking, made him a king.
HENRY 1-2, "Here, I. Samuel gives them a short account of the late revolution, and
of the present posture of their government, by way of preface to what he had further to
say to them, 1Sa_12:1, 1Sa_12:2. 1. For his own part, he had spent his days in their
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2. service; he began betimes to be useful among them, and had continued long so: “I have
walked before you, as a guide to direct you, as a shepherd that leads his flock (Psa_
80:1), from my childhood unto this day.” As soon as he was illuminated with the light of
prophecy, in his early days, he began to be a burning and shining light to Israel; “and
now my best days are done: I am old and gray-headed;” therefore they were the more
unkind to cast him off, yet therefore he was the more willing to resign, finding the weight
of government heavy upon his stooping shoulders. He was old, and therefore the more
able to advise them, and the more observant they should have been of what he said, for
days shall speak and the multitude of years shall teach wisdom; and there is a
particular reverence due to the aged, especially aged magistrates and aged ministers. “I
am old, and therefore not likely to live long, perhaps may never have an opportunity of
speaking to you again, and therefore take notice of what I say.” 2. As for his sons,
“Behold” (says he), “they are with you, you may, if you please, call them to an account
for any thing they have done amiss. They are present with you, and have not, upon this
revolution, fled from their country. They are upon the level with you, subjects to the new
king as well as you; if you can prove them guilty of any wrong, you may prosecute them
now by a due course of law, punish them, and oblige them to make restitution.” 3. As for
their new king, Samuel had gratified them in setting him over them (1Sa_12:1): “I have
hearkened to your voice in all that you said to me, being desirous to please you, if
possible, and make you easy, though to the discarding of myself and family; and now will
you hearken to me, and take my advice?” The change was now perfected: “Behold, the
king walketh before you” (1Sa_12:2); he appears in public, ready to serve you in public
business. Now that you have made yourselves like the nations in your civil government,
and have cast off the divine administration in that, take heed lest you make yourselves
like the nations in religion and cast off the worship of God.
JAMISON, "1Sa_12:1-5. Samuel testifies his integrity.
Samuel said unto all Israel — This public address was made after the solemn re-
installment of Saul, and before the convention at Gilgal separated. Samuel, having
challenged a review of his public life, received a unanimous testimony to the unsullied
honor of his personal character, as well as the justice and integrity of his public
administration.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 12:1. Samuel said unto all Israel — While they were
assembled together in Gilgal. And this is another instance of Samuel’s great wisdom
and integrity. He would not reprove the people for their sin, in desiring a king, while
Saul was unsettled in his kingdom; lest, through their accustomed levity, they
should as hastily cast off their king, as they had passionately desired him; and
therefore he chooseth this season for it, because Saul’s kingdom was now confirmed
by an eminent victory, and because the people rejoiced greatly, applauded
themselves for their desires of a king, and interpreted the success which God had
given them as a divine approbation of those desires. Samuel, therefore, thinks fit to
temper their joys, and to excite them to that repentance which he saw wanting in
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3. them, and which he knew to be necessary to prevent the curse of God upon their
new king and the whole kingdom.
COFFMAN, "SAMUEL ADDRESSES THE NATION OF ISRAEL
Some have called this, `Samuel's Farewell Address,'[1] but that is an error. Samuel
by no means retired from his ministry of guiding Israel into the new system of
government, as subsequent chapters of First Samuel abundantly prove. "This
speech has a defense of Samuel's administrative leadership, which he is now
relinquishing to Saul; but he is not laying down his priestly functions nor his office
as the first of the great prophets of God after Moses."[2]
The placement of this chapter is exactly correct, the events reported happening very
probably, as admitted by many scholars, upon the occasion at Gilgal when Saul was
finally actually acclaimed King of Israel. The fact of this address by Samuel coming
just here strongly indicates, as we pointed out earlier, that there were three definite
phases in the process of making Saul king, culminating in his popular acceptance at
Gilgal.
"There are several particulars in this chapter which assume a knowledge of what
was presented in previous chapters or point forward to events in subsequent
chapters, indicating that 1 Samuel 12 cannot be isolated from surrounding
material."[3]
In our study of this chapter we shall follow the paragraphing suggested by Willis.
SAMUEL'S DECLARATION OF HIS FAITHFULNESS
And Samuel said to all Israel, "Behold, I have hearkened to your voice in all that
you have said to me, and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king
walks before you; and I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you; and I
have walked before you from my youth until this day. Here I am; testify 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 from whose
hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me, and I will
restore it to you." They said, "You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken
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4. anything from any man's hand." And he said to them, "The Lord is witness against
you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my
hand." And they said, "He is witness."
The purpose of Samuel's plea here is that of emphasizing that it was not his abuse of
the powers entrusted in him that, in any sense, justified the people's rejection of
Samuel's judgeship and their demand for a king.
"I ... have made a king over you" (1 Samuel 12:1). Samuel is not here claiming any
glory for this. He later stated in 1 Samuel 12:13 that it was God who had
accomplished this.
"Samuel here laid down his office as judge, but without therefore ceasing as prophet
to represent the people before God, and to retain the rights of God in relation to the
king."[4]
"A bribe" (1 Samuel 12:3). The word from which this is translated in the Hebrew is
actually ransom "The fine paid by a criminal in lieu of bonds or death."[5]
Specifically, "Here it means a bribe offered to a judge to persuade him to acquit a
murderer"[6]
The great significance of this paragraph, as pointed out by Keil, lay in the fact that
by their witness of the honesty and integrity of Samuel's judgeship, "They thereby
acknowledge on oath that there was no ground for their dissatisfaction with Samuel
and their demand for a king."[7]
COKE, ". And Samuel said unto all Israel— Saul being now publicly recognised for
the king of Israel, Samuel takes the occasion of this solemn meeting to appeal to the
people in the presence of their king, in justification of himself and his conduct since
he had been judge over them: his office ceasing of course, now that God had given
them a king.
CONSTABLE, "Samuel's self-vindication 12:1-5
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5. Why did Samuel feel the need to justify his behavior publicly? Perhaps he knew that
because the people had rebelled against God by demanding a king, they would
experience discipline from the Lord. When it came, he did not want anyone to think
he was responsible for it. Also, it is likely that Samuel took the people's request for a
king as a personal rejection of himself. [Note: Wood, Israel's United . . ., p. 70.] He
probably wanted to show the people that they had no reason to reject him because
of his behavior. Samuel's words may seem to expose personal pride. I think more
probably they express his concern that no one should conclude that living a life of
commitment to God, as he had lived, would bring God's discipline. The discipline to
come would be a result of the sin of the people, not Samuel's. Furthermore, by his
life and ministry among them, Samuel had given the people no reason for
demanding a king. He was also seeking to vindicate the type of rule he represented
that was God's will for Israel then.
"Here, as in 1 Samuel 8:11-18, a keyword is the verb take: if kingship was to be
characterized by the tendency to take rather than to give, it was otherwise with the
prophet. As he stepped down from high office, Samuel's hands were empty (1
Samuel 12:5)." [Note: David Payne, pp. 57-58.]
The writer wrote chapters 12-15 very skillfully to parallel chapters 8-11. Each
section begins with Samuel warning the people about the dangers of their requesting
a king (chs. 8 and 12). Each one also follows with a description of Saul's exploits
(chs. 9-10 and 13-14) and ends with Saul leading Israel in battle (chs. 11 and 15).
This parallel structure vividly sets off the contrast between Saul's early success as
Israel's king and his subsequent failure. The reason he failed is the primary
theological lesson of these chapters, and it advances the fertility motif.
Chapter 12 is another most important theological passage in Samuel along with 1
Samuel 7 and 2 Samuel 7. Here Samuel explained Israel's future relationship with
Yahweh and the Mosaic Law, since the people insisted on having a king and had
rejected Yahweh and Samuel.
"With this address Samuel laid down his office as judge, but without therefore
ceasing as prophet to represent the people before God, and to maintain the rights of
God in relation to the king." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, p. 115.]
"This chapter . . . formally marks the end of the period of the judges ..." [Note:
Gordon, p. 125.]
ELLICOTT, " (1) And Samuel said unto all Israel.—We believe we possess in this
section of our history, in the report the compiler of these memoirs has given us of
the dialogue between the judge Samuel and the elders of Israel at the solemn
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6. assembly of Gilgal, many of the very words spoken on this momentous occasion by
the old man. It is doubtless a true and detailed account of all that took place on that
day—the real inauguration of the earthly monarchy; that great change in the life of
Israel which became of vast importance in the succeeding generations. In such a
recital the words used by that grand old man, who belonged both to the old order of
things and to the new, who was the link between the judges and the kings—the link
which joined men like Eleazar, the grandson of Aaron, Gideon, and Jephthah,
heroes half-veiled in the mists which so quickly gather round an unlettered past,
with men like David and Solomon, round whose lives no mist will ever gather—the
words used by that old man, who, according to the cherished tradition in Israel, was
the accredited minister of the invisible King when the Eternal made over the
sovereignty to Saul, would surely be treasured up with a jealous care. This gives an
especial and peculiar interest to the present chapter, which contains the summary of
the proceedings of the Gilgal assembly. The old judge Samuel, with the hero-king
Saul standing by his side, presents the king to the people of the Lord under the title
of the “Anointed of the Eternal,” and then in a few pathetic words speaks first of his
own pure and upright past. The elders reply to his moving words. Then he rehearses
the glorious acts of the Eternal King, and repeats how He, over and over again,
delivered the people from the miseries into which their own sins had plunged them;
and yet, in full memory of all this, says the indignant old man, “in the place of this
invisible Ruler, so full of mercy and pity, you asked for an earthly king. The Lord
has granted your petition now. Behold your king !” pointing to Saul at his side.—
The old man continues: “Even after your ingratitude to the true King, still He will
be with you and the man He has chosen for you, if only you and he are obedient to
the old well-known Divine commandments.” At this juncture Samuel strengthens
his argument by invoking a sign from heaven. Awe-struck and appalled, the
assembled elders, confessing their sin, ask for Samuel’s prayers. The old prophet
closes the solemn scene with a promise that his intercession for king and people shall
never cease.
Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made
a king over you.—This should be compared with 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 8:19-20; 1
Samuel 8:22, where the proceedings of the deputation of the people to Samuel at
Ramah are related at length. Their wishes expressed on that public occasion had
been scrupulously carried out by him. He would now say a few words respecting the
past, as regards his (Samuel’s) administration, would ask the assembled elders of
the nation a few grave questions, and then would leave them with their king. The
account, as we possess it, of these proceedings at Gilgal on the occasion of the
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7. national reception of Saul as king, is in the form of a dialogue between the prophet
Samuel and the elders of the people.
HAWKER, "This Chapter contains the address to Samuel, on the resignation of his
government, now Saul is king. He appeals to him concerning , his own integrity, in
the administration of justice; brings the people to the acknowledgment of it: points
out, yet once again, their sin and folly in the insisting upon a king: at the call of
Samuel the Lord answers, in confirmation of what he had said of their sin and his
rectitude, in sending thunder; and the chapter concludes with Samuel's assurances,
that if the people obeyed the Lord, both they and their king should be preserved.
Verse 1-2
(1) ¶ 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.
There is somewhat wonderfully affecting in the last address of departing persons,
even in the commonest circumstances of life. But eminently more so in faithful
ministers. Farewell discourses are generally very striking. Samuel had been called of
God, from a very child, to minister unto the Lord's people; and now he was grown
old among them. It is as if he had said, by this preface, I pray to be heard, before
that I take my leave of you forever.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 12:1 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.
Ver. 1. And Samuel said unto all Israel] In this most excellent chapter the people
giveth testimony to Samuel’s innocency, heareth his wisdom, seeth his patience,
admireth his power with God.
Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice.] Which was so violent and impetuous.
Now you must hearken to my voice, and be told that after your peace offerings God
hath still a quarrel with you, and you must be yet further humbled, or else your sin
will find you out, your iniquity will be your ruin. Great sins must be greatly
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8. repented of: otherwise men shall find that God may be angry enough with them,
though they outwardly prosper.
LANGE, " II. Samuel’s solemn concluding Transaction with the Assembly of the
People at Gilgal
1 Samuel 12:1-25
1And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold I have hearkened unto your voice in 2 all
that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king
walketh before you, and I am old and gray-headed,[FN1] and behold, my sons [my
sons, behold, they] are with you, and I have walked before you from my 3 childhood
unto this day. Behold, here I am. Witness against me before the Lord [Jehovah] 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
[a] bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?[FN2] and I will 4 restore it you. And they
said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither 5 hast thou taken aught
of any man’s hand. And he said unto them, The Lord is [Jehovah be] witness
against you, and his Anointed is [be] witness this day, that ye have not found aught
in my hand. And they[FN3] answered [said], He is witness6[Witness be they]. And
Samuel said unto the people, It is [om. it is] the Lord [Jehovah][FN4] that [who]
advanced [appointed] Moses and Aaron, and that [who] brought your fathers up
out of the land of Egypt!
7Now, therefore, [And now] stand still [stand forth] that I may [and I will] reason
with you before the Lord [Jehovah][FN5] of all the righteous acts of the
Lord8[Jehovah] which he did to you and to your fathers. When Jacob was come
[came] into Egypt, and[FN6] your fathers cried unto the Lord [Jehovah], then the
Lord [Jehovah] sent Moses and Aaron, which [and they] brought forth [om. forth]
9your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. And when [om. when]
they forgat the Lord [Jehovah] their God, [ins. and] he sold them into the hand of
Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor,[FN7] and into the hand of the Philistines,10and
into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. And they cried
unto the Lord [Jehovah] and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the
Lord [Jehovah], and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth; but [and] now 11 deliver
us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee. And the Lord [Jehovah]
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9. sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan,[FN8] and Jephthah, and Samuel,8 and delivered 12 you
out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe. And when ye saw
that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me,
Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord [Jehovah] your God was your
king.
13Now, therefore, [And now] behold the king whom ye have chosen, and [om. and]
whom ye have desired [demanded];[FN9] and behold, the Lord [Jehovah] hath set a
14 king over you. If ye will fear the Lord [Jehovah], and serve him, and obey his
voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord [Jehovah], then shall
[om. then shall, ins. and] both ye and also [om. also] the king that reigneth over you
[ins. will] continue following [follow] the Lord [Jehovah] your God, well.[FN10]
15But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord [Jehovah], but rebel against the
commandment of the Lord [Jehovah], then shall the hand of the Lord [Jehovah]
16be against you, as it was against your fathers.[FN11] Now, therefore, [And now]
stand 17 and see this great thing, which the Lord [Jehovah] will do before your eyes.
Is it not wheat harvest to-day? I will call unto the Lord [Jehovah], and he shall [will]
send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive [know] and see that your wickedness is
great which ye have done in the sight [eyes] of the Lord [Jehovah] 18in asking you a
king. So [And] Samuel called unto the Lord [Jehovah], and the Lord [Jehovah] sent
thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord [Jehovah] and
Samuel.
19And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord
[Jehovah] thy God that we die not; for we have added unto all our sins this evil, 20to
ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not. Ye have done all this
wickedness; yet turn not aside from following the Lord [Jehovah], but serve 21 the
Lord [Jehovah] with all your heart; And turn ye not aside, for[FN12] then should ye
go [om. for then should ye go] after vain things, which cannot [do not] profit nor 22
deliver, for they are vain. For the Lord [Jehovah] will not forsake his people for his
great name’s sake; because it hath pleased the Lord [Jehovah] to make 23 you his
people. Moreover [om. moreover] as for me [ins. also], God forbid that I should [om.
God forbid that I should, ins. far be it from me to] sin against the Lord [Jehovah] in
ceasing to pray for you,[FN13] but I will teach you the good and 24 the [om. the]
right way.[FN14] Only fear the Lord [Jehovah] and serve him in truth with all your
heart; for consider [see] how great things [how greatly] he hath 25 done [wrought]
for you [towards you]. But if ye shall still [om. still] do wickedly, ye shall be
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10. consumed [destroyed] both ye and your king.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1 Samuel 12:1. And Samuel said to all Israel. That the following words were really
spoken by Samuel is put beyond doubt by the direct impression of historical truth
which this narrative in chap 12 makes, and by the homogeneity of the individual
historical features of this picture with the historical picture given us in all that
precedes. Ewald (Gesch. [History of Israel] I, 229, Rem2) calls this a narrative
“which in its present form is inserted only for the sake of the exhortations to be put
into Samuel’s mouth, and the occasional historical statements of which sound very
discrepant,” against which we remark: 1) that the historical statements in this piece,
as the exposition will show, do not at all contradict the foregoing historical account,
and2) that if a mere insertion had been intended here, in order to put exhortations
into Samuel’s mouth, it would have been simpler to give it in the form of a
monologue; that Isaiah, a continuous address of Samuel to the people.—We have
here, namely, not one continuous address of Samuel, as this section is usually called,
but a dialogue, a conversation or transaction with the people in the grandest style.
Samuel speaks to all Israel, and they speak to him by the mouth of their elders (cf. 1
Samuel 12:3-6; 1 Samuel 12:19-20), and the longer connected declarations of the
prophet ( 1 Samuel 12:7-17; 1 Samuel 12:20-25) are embraced by these colloquies
and attached to them.—Incorrect also is the usual designation of this section as a
parting-address, whereby its significance in relation to the preceding account of
Saul’s public solemn presentation to the whole people as king of Israel is obscured
or concealed. Samuel does not take leave of the people in order to withdraw from
the scene of public life and action into the retirement of private life; he rather
promises the continuance not only of his intercession for them, but also of his
prophetic labors in respect to the whole people; he points expressly to the elevated
position which he will assume, as “teacher of the good and right way,” hereafter, as
now, towards king and people.—Further, when the whole procedure, as is common,
is regarded as a solemn resignation of office by Samuel, we must call attention to the
fact mentioned in 1 Samuel 7:15, that he “judged Israel all the days of his life,” and
to the vigorous interference which he repeatedly found necessary during Saul’s
government. Certainly with the incoming of the kingdom, which the people desired
instead of the existing judgeship ( 1 Samuel 8:5; 1 Samuel 8:20) in order that the
king might judge the people and lead them in war, the official position which
Samuel had hitherto occupied as judge in Israel, must have had an end; and this end
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11. of his proper judicial office, sole and highest Governor of Israel as he had hitherto
been, is the starting-point for what he has now still to say to the people. He remains
in fact what he was, the highest judge of Israel according to the will of God, under
whose oversight and guidance the kingdom also stands; officially the leadership for
external and internal political affairs, for which the kingdom was established, is no
longer in his hands. Of a resignation of office nothing is said, but (proceeding only
from the fact that the government is now given into the hands of the king, and his
official government as judge has now consequently come to an end) he passes in
review his previous official life as judge of the people, in order, over against the
fulfilment of their desire for a king, which was a factual rejection of his official
judgeship externally occasioned by the evil conduct of his sons ( 1 Samuel 8:1-7),
solemnly to testify and cause them to testify that he had filled his office blamelessly
and righteously. On this follows ( 1 Samuel 12:7-12) the rebuking reference to the
great deeds of the Lord, wherein in the history of His guidance of the people He had
magnified Himself in them, and to the guilty relation of ingratitude and
unfaithfulness in which they had placed themselves to this their God and king by the
longing after an earthly king, which was a rejection of His authority over them. In 1
Samuel 12:13-18, after a solemn confirmation of the fact, that God the Lord in
accordance with that desire had given them a king, in powerful words, which are
accompanied and strengthened by an astounding miracle, he exhorts king and
people together to the right relation, in which in faithful obedience they are to put
themselves, to the will and word of the Lord. King and people are to be obedient
subjects of the invisible king. Finally follows ( 1 Samuel 12:19-25) a word of
consolation from Samuel to the people now, in consequence of this warning and
hortatory address, repentantly confessing their sin in their demand for a king, in
which he gently and in friendly fashion exhorts them to obedience and faithfulness
towards the Lord ( 1 Samuel 12:20-21), promises them the Lord’s grace and
faithfulness ( 1 Samuel 12:22), and assures them of his continuing active fellowship
with them in intercession and in instruction in the way of truth ( 1 Samuel 12:23),
and finally with repeated exhortation and warning sets before them the blessing and
good pleasure of the Lord along with a threatening reference to the punishment to
be expected in case of disobedience ( 1 Samuel 12:24-25).—With this fourfold
division this whole dialoguic transaction of Samuel with the people connects itself
immediately with what precedes, as the conclusion of the assembly of the people in
Gilgal. On this connection see Thenius’ remarks. Berlenberger Bible: “Thus with
this ends in solemn wise the general assembly of the people.” [Philippson (in Israel.
Bib.): “This chapter is one of the finest in the book, and is a model of old-Hebrew
eloquence. Words and tone speak for the high antiquity of this piece.”—Tr.]
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12. The words: See, I have hearkened to your voice in all that ye said to me correspond
exactly to the words in 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 8:21. Samuel at the same time
testifies indirectly to the fact that he had therein obeyed the command of God:
“Hearken to the voice of the people” ( 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 8:9; 1 Samuel 8:22).
His listening to the voice of the people was based on the repeated divine command,
and was an act of self-denying obedience to the will of the Lord.—“And I have made
a king” points to 1 Samuel 12:15 a of the preceding chapter.
PETT, "Samuel Withdraws From His Position Of Authority (1 Samuel 12:1-25).
Now that Samuel could see that Saul’s position was secure he wanted to make clear
that as far as he was concerned it was the end of his own rulership over Israel. He
indicated that he would continue to be YHWH’s prophet on their behalf, but that
they must recognise once and for all that the civil authority now lay in the hands of
Saul. This clear break was very wise, for it was important to avoid possible future
divisions in the kingdom. No nation could have two masters.
This desire to make a clean break explains why he so openly gave account of his
stewardship. It was in order to make abundantly clear to the people that, this
account having been made, he bore no further responsibility. He stressed that as a
prophet he would certainly continue to pray for them, and that he would instruct
them and the king in the right way. But from now on he would not interfere in the
rulership.
This was an important moment in Israel’s history. It was the end of the period of
judgeship during which leaders were appointed by YHWH, and the beginning of a
full scale kingship which was intended to lead to a dynasty. Gideon had been a petty
king, but that had only been over a small part of Israel, and any dynastic ambitions
collapsed. But now Saul had been appointed over all Israel as king, and it will be
noted that from now on Israel’s fortunes will be closely tied in with their king’s
fortunes. When the king does what is right in YHWH’s eyes things will go well.
When the king does not do right in YHWH’s eyes things will go badly. This will be
evidenced in the life of David, and it was the price of having a king.
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13. However, before handing over Samuel will seek to bring home to them the sinfulness
and folly of what they had done. He describes how right from the time when Jacob
had taken Israel into Egypt God had been their king, raising up deliverers and war
leaders whenever His people sought His face. But now they had rejected God’s
direct rule. From now on they would have a king, with all the consequences that
would result from it. And he wants them to know that while God had graciously
acceded to their request, He was not pleased about it. For He recognised it for what
it was. Rejection of His hand being directly over them.
Samuel Now Explains How They Have Offended YHWH And Calls On YHWH For
A Sign Which Will Demonstrate To Them What They Have Done, After Which He
Promises That As Their Prophet He Will Continue To Pray For Them (1 Samuel
12:6-25).
His oration can be divided into two halves, the first dealing with how they have
offended YHWH, as the people did of old. And the second part looking at what is
required for the future, accompanied by a portentous sign of YHWH’s displeasure,
and his assurance that he will pray for them. For he wants them to appreciate that
they are still accountable to YHWH.
Analysis.
a And Samuel said to the people, “It is YHWH who appointed Moses and Aaron,
and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Samuel 12:6).
b “Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you before YHWH concerning
all the righteous acts of YHWH, which he did to you and to your fathers” (1 Samuel
12:7).
c “When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried to YHWH, then
13

14. YHWH sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and
made them to dwell in this place” (1 Samuel 12:8).
d But they forgot YHWH their God; and 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” (1 Samuel 12:9).
e “And they cried to YHWH, and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken
YHWH, and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, but now deliver us out of the
hand of our enemies, and we will serve you’. And YHWH sent Jerubbaal, and
Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your
enemies on every side, and you dwelt in safety” (1 Samuel 12:10-11).
f “And when you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against
you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when YHWH your God was
your king” (1 Samuel 12:12).
g “Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have asked
for, and see, YHWH has set a king over you” (1 Samuel 12:13).
h “If you will fear YHWH, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel
against the commandment of YHWH, and both you and also the king who reigns
over you be followers of YHWH your God, then it will be well with you. But if you
will not listen to the voice of YHWH, but rebel against the commandment of
YHWH, then will the hand of YHWH be against you, as it was against your fathers”
(1 Samuel 12:14-15).
g “Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which YHWH will do before
your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to YHWH, that he may send
thunder and rain” (1 Samuel 12:17 a).
14

15. f “And you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in
the sight of YHWH, in asking for yourselves a king.” So Samuel called to YHWH,
and YHWH sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared
YHWH and Samuel (1 Samuel 12:17-18).
e And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to YHWH your God,
that we do not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a
king” (1 Samuel 12:19).
d And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid. You have indeed done all this
evil. Yet do not turn aside from following YHWH, but serve YHWH with all your
heart, and do not turn aside, for then would you go after vain things which cannot
profit nor deliver, for they are vain (1 Samuel 12:20-21).
c For YHWH will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has
pleased YHWH to make you a people for himself” (1 Samuel 12:22).
b “Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against YHWH in ceasing
to pray for you, but I will instruct you in the good and the right way” (1 Samuel
12:23).
a “Only fear YHWH, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how
great the things that he has done for you. But if you shall still do wickedly, you will
be consumed, both you and your king” (1 Samuel 12:24-25).
Note that in ‘a’ they are reminded that it was YHWH Who appointed both Aaron
and Moses, and delivered their fathers, and in the parallel they are warned that if
they do not obey YHWH they will not be delivered, but both they and their king will
be consumed, (as in fact Moses and Aaron were for disobedience). In ‘b’ he pleads
with the people before YHWH concerning His righteous acts towards His people,
and in the parallel he assures them that he will not sin against YHWH by ceasing to
pray for them. In ‘c’ he declares how previously YHWH had delivered His people
15

16. through Aaron and Moses in response to His people’s prayers (making them a
people for himself), and in the parallel he confirms that YHWH will not forsake
them, because He has made them a people for Himself. In ‘d’ their ancestors had
forgotten YHWH and been sold into the hands of their enemies, and in the parallel
they are not to turn aside and go after unprofitable vain things. In ‘e’ their ancestors
had cried to YHWH because they had sinned, and they sought deliverance, and in
the parallel the people ask Samuel to pray for them that they dies not, admitting
their sins. In ‘f’ when they saw Nahash coming against them they demanded a king,
and in the parallel because they had demanded a king they would experience
thunder and rain. In ‘g’ they are ‘now’ (‘atah) to see and behold the king that they
have chosen and asked for, and in the parallel they are ‘now’ (gam ‘atah) to stand
still and see the great thing which YHWH will do before their eyes. In ‘h’ and
centrally they are to fear YHWH and serve Him, both they and their king, and are
warned what will happen if they do not listen to Him.
Verses 1-5
Samuel Makes A Clean Break From His Civic Responsibilities (1 Samuel 12:1-5).
In his farewell speech Samuel begins by making clear that he is now free from all
civil responsibility for Israel. He wants them to know without any shadow of doubt
that from now on he will act only as YHWH’s prophet. The deliberate detail in
which he does this emphasises the cleanness of the break. As far as he is concerned
once the people have given him clearance he ceases his duties. From now on they
must look to the king whom they have chosen to watch over their interests in all civil
matters. He will no longer be their ‘Judge’.
Analysis.
a And Samuel said to all Israel, “Look, I have listened to your voice in all that you
said to me, and have made a king over you. And now, see, the king walks before you,
and I am old and grey-headed, and look, my sons are with you, and I have walked
before you from my youth to this day” (1 Samuel 12:1-2).
16

17. b “Here I am. Witness against me before YHWH, 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 taken a ransom with which to blind
mine eyes? And I will restore it you.” (1 Samuel 12:3).
b And they said, You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, nor have you taken
anything of any man’s hand” (1 Samuel 12:4).
a And he said to them, “YHWH is witness against you, and his anointed is witness
this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is
witness” (1 Samuel 12:5).
Note that in ‘a’ he points out that he has made a king over them and has walked
before them openly since his youth, and in the parallel he charges them in the sight
of YHWH and the king to bear witness that he has not failed them in any way. In ‘b’
he sets out the charges that might possibly have been laid against him, and in the
parallel the people refute them.
1 Samuel 12:1-2
‘And Samuel said to all Israel, “Look, I have listened to your voice in all that you
said to me, and have made a king over you. And now, see, the king walks before you,
and I am old and grey-headed, and look, my sons are with you, and I have walked
before you from my youth to this day.”
He begins by pointing out that he has listened to their voice and made a king over
them. He wants them to be absolutely clear that it was their choice and not his. Let
them recognise that he had not wanted them to have a king over them. He had
wanted YHWH to be their King. But they have gone their own way and chosen a
king.
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18. How much we all like a king (whether it be a pastor, or a youth leader, or some
other person in authority). It is so much easier to have someone who will tell us
exactly what to do so that no blame might be laid at our door. And we then hope
that he will not make too many demands on us. But what we really do not want to
have to do is look to God directly for guidance, and to commit our way totally to
Him. For we know that, in His case, any demands that He makes on us will be
absolute, and that such a walk requires faith and obedience. It is a call to full
surrender.
Then Samuel stresses that their king walks before them (and he could have added
‘in the prime of life’) for he contrasts the king with himself, old in years and grey-
headed, with grown up sons who live among them. And he stresses that from his
youth he has walked openly before them and served them. But that is now over.
Now they must look for their young king to serve them.
K&D, "The time and place of the following address are not given. But it is
evident from the connection with the preceding chapter implied in the expression
‫ר‬ ֶ‫ֹאמ‬‫ַיּ‬‫ו‬, and still more from the introduction (1Sa_12:1, 1Sa_12:2) and the entire
contents of the address, that it was delivered on the renewal of the monarchy at
Gilgal.
1Sa_12:1-2
Samuel starts with the fact, that he had given the people a king in accordance
with their own desire, who would now walk before them. ‫ֵה‬‫נּ‬ ִ‫ה‬ with the participle
expresses what is happening, and will happen still. ‫ֵי‬‫נ‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֵ‫לּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ה‬ must not be
restricted to going at the head in war, but signifies the general direction and
government of the nation, which had been in the hands of Samuel as judge before the
election of Saul as king. “And I have grown old and grey (‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ַ‫שׂ‬ from ‫יב‬ ִ‫;)שׂ‬ and my
sons, behold, they are with you.” With this allusion to his sons, Samuel simply intended
to confirm what he had said about his own age. By the further remark, “and I have
walked before you from my childhood unto this day,” he prepares the way for the
following appeal to the people to bear witness concerning his conduct in office.
PULPIY, "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 (1Sa_7:15), and on extraordinary occasions came forward
with decisive authority (1Sa_15:33). But as Saul gathered men of war round him (1Sa_
14:52), the moral power possessed by Samuel would be overshadowed by the physical
18

19. force which was at Saul’s command. But no formal change was made. It had been the
weakness of the office of the judges that their power was irregular, and exercised fitfully
on special occasions. Such a power must fall into abeyance in the presence of the regular
authority of a king surrounded by armed men. Without any direct deposition, therefore,
or even still retaining the form of his office, Samuel would henceforward chiefly act as
the prophet, and Saul as Jehovah’s king.
The address divides itself into three parts:—
1. The testimony to Samuel’s integrity as judge (1Sa_12:1-5).
2. The reproof of the people for their disobedience and ingratitude (1Sa_12:6-17).
3. The Divine testimony to Samuel’s uprightness and teaching (1Sa_12:18-25).
SAMUEL’S INTEGRITY (1Sa_12:1-5).
1Sa_12:1
I have hearkened unto your voice. See 1Sa_8:7, 1Sa_8:9, 1Sa_8:22.
1Sa_12:2
The king walketh before you. I.e. you have now one to protect and lead the nation,
whereas my business was to raise its religious and moral life. The metaphor is taken
from the position of the shepherd in the East, where he goes before his flock to guide
and guard them. On this account the word shepherd or pastor is used in the Bible of the
temporal ruler (Jer_2:8; Jer_23:4, etc.), and not, as with us, of the spiritual guide. My
sons are with you. This is no mere confirmation of the fact just stated that he was old,
but a direct challenge of their dissatisfaction with his sons’ conduct, as far at least as
concerns any connivance on his part, or support of them in their covetousness. Samuel
says, You know all about my sons; I do not profess to be ignorant that charges have been
brought against them. Give full weight to them, and to everything said against them and
me, and then give judgment.
1Sa_12:3, 1Sa_12:4, 1Sa_12:5
Witness against me. Literally, "answer," as in a court of justice to the formal question
of the judge. His anointed. I.e. the king (see on 1Sa_2:10, 1Sa_2:35; 1Sa_2:1). Whose
ox,... whose ass? See on 1Sa_8:16. Of whose hand have I received any bribe to
blind mine eyes therewith? Bribe should be rendered ransom. Literally it signifies a
covering, and was used of money given by a guilty person to induce the judge to close or
"blind his eyes," and not see his sin. It does not mean, therefore, any bribe, but only that
given to buy off a guilty person. Such persons are generally powerful men who have
oppressed and wronged others; and the knowledge that they can cover their offence by
sharing their gains with the judge is to this day in the East the most fruitful source of
bad government. The people all bear witness to Samuel’s uprightness, nor is there any
contradiction between this and their desire to have a king. His internal administration
was just and righteous, but they were oppressed by the nations round them, and needed
a leader in war. And in Samuel’s sons they had men, not vicious or licentious, but too
fond of money, and so neither fit to be their generals in war nor their judges in peace.
We gather from 1Sa_22:2 that though Saul proved a competent leader in war, he was not
19

20. successful in the government of the country in peace.
BI 1-5, "And Samuel said unto all Israel.
A statesman’s retrospect
The closing years in the life of Samuel, the last and greatest of the judges, witnessed a
transition in the method of governing the nation of Israel from the theocracy to the
monarchy. By the wise, unselfish action of Samuel, this transition, which might have
involved grave national controversy and bloodshed, was peaceably made. Samuel’s work
was, therefore, as a ruler, transferred to Saul; and though he continued for some years to
exercise the functions of prophet, administrative duties passed into other hands. This
address is a fine example of ancient Hebrew eloquence, and it manifestly appealed to the
conscience and heart of the audience addressed. It touched upon three important points.
I. Vindication of personal character and administration. In his splendid review what
facts emerged that should commend the retiring leader to the gratitude and appreciation
of the nation he had sought to serve?
1. His loyalty to the national request for a king. We know how acutely he had felt his
supersession of himself, and how he had directed his prayer to God in respect of it;
but he had waived his own strong objection, and had dutifully assisted in the
appointment of the divinely selected monarch.
2. His long and blameless life. High position magnifies every human quality,
heightens every excellency, and blackens every blot of human character. But
Samuel’s long career furnished no fault on which the most acute enquiry could
fasten, no deviation from the right path that the sternest rectitude could condemn.
What a magnificent challenge.
3. His upright administration. Samuel challenged the people on the question of his
“official life,” as well as on his personal character. His public duties had been as free
from exaction and oppression as his private life from moral taint. Nothing is more
common, it is said, in Eastern lands, even down to this day, than oppression and
exaction on the part of rulers and public men having charge of the government and
taxation of the people.
II. Defence of God’s previous government of Israel. Note:—
1. The principle of this government. The theocracy, under which Israel had so long
lived and prospered, meant the supreme and recognised sovereignty of God. By the
test of experience, the test of practical results on the national life, the theocracy had
its amplest vindication. Under it the nation had enjoyed signal prosperity.
2. The agency by which administered. This unique method of national government
was carried on by specially selected rulers, appointed as the exigencies of the times
demanded. God raised up men—great men—to meet emergencies of national life as
they arose.
3. The law by which controlled. This law was the nation’s loyalty to God. When the
nation was true to its best traditions, true to the faith and worship of the living God,
true to the sublime morality of the Ten Commandments, God’s benediction rested
upon them, and national prosperity followed. In this memorable address Samuel
20

21. referred also to:—
III. The conditions of continued national prosperity.
1. Changed political conditions do not change moral or religious obligations. King or
no king, God’s claim on the worship and service of Israel could not be abrogated or
diminished. Amid all the changes of their national life, that was the one thing that
was changeless. A new king on the throne, or a new form of government of the realm,
did not and could not alter that. What is morally wrong cannot be politically right.
What is wrong in England is wrong in India. If it is wrong to break the Sabbath at
home, it is wrong to break it abroad. Christianity knows no geographical limits in the
scope of its message, or the authority of its claims. Public opinion may change and
vary, but it ought not, and must not, override the higher and more authoritative law
of God.
2. Righteousness exalteth a nation. John Ruskin, in the opening paragraph of his
“Stones of Venice,” tells us that “Since the first dominion of men was asserted over
the ocean, three thrones, of mark beyond all others, have been set upon its sands: the
thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. Of the first of these great powers only the
memory remains; of the second, the ruin; the third, which inherits their greatness, if
it forget their example, may be led through prouder eminence to less pitied
destruction.” No lesson is more urgently needed in our time than this. Vice means
weakness and decay; virtue, devotion, humanity—these mean strength and
permanence. The conditions of national prosperity, then, are clear and uniform.
They are reverence for sacred things, obedience to the law of God in personal, social,
and national affairs alike, consideration for others, and unselfish service to promote
their interests and welfare. (Thomas Mitchell.)
Saul’s confirmation in the kingship
After the great victory over the Ammonites at Jabesh-Gilead, Samuel said to the people,
“Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.” The people were in a
mood to listen to the advice. They were full of enthusiasm for Saul, and of gratitude to
God on account of their splendid success. And Samuel wisely took advantage of the
occasion to confirm the loyalty, not only of the people to the king, but also of the king
and people to God.
1. After the feast, perhaps in the course of the afternoon, Samuel solemnly addressed
the vast assembly. His aim, in the first part of his speech, was to show that they had
nothing to justify their demand for a king in the character of his administration.
2. Samuel’s aim in the second part of his speech was to show that they had nothing
to justify their demand for a king in the character of the Divine administration.
3. But, after convicting them of slighting God in asking for an earthly sovereign,
Samuel now speaks to them about their present duty. (T. Kirk.)
Samuel’s vindication of himself
No doubt Samuel felt that, after the victory at Jabesh-Gilead, he had the people in a
much more impressible condition than they had been in before; and while their minds
21

22. were thus so open to impression, it was his duty to urge on them to the very uttermost
the truths that bore on their most vital well-being. The reasons why Samuel makes such
explicit reference to his past life and such a strong appeal to the people as to its
blameless character is that he may establish a powerful claim for the favourable
consideration of the advice which he is about to give them. If you have reason to suspect
an adviser of a selfish purpose let him argue as he pleases, you do not allow yourselves to
be moved by anything he may say. But if you have good cause to know that he is a
disinterested man you feel that what such a man urges comes home to you with
extraordinary weight.
1. The first consideration he urged was that he had listened to their voice in making
them a king. He had not obstructed nor baulked them in their strong feeling, though
he might reasonably enough have done so.
2. In the next place Samuel adverts to his age. What Samuel delicately points to here
is the uniformity of his life. He had not begun on one line, then changed to another.
Such steadiness and uniformity throughout a long life genders a wonderful weight of
character. Happy the Church, happy the country, that abounds in such worthies!—
men, as Thomas Carlyle said of his peasant Christian father, of whom one should be
prouder in one’s pedigree than of dukes or kings, for what is the glory of mere rank
or accidental station compared to the glory of Godlike qualities, and of a character
which reflects the image of God Himself?
3. The third point to which Samuel adverts is his freedom from all acts of unjust
exaction or oppression, and from all those corrupt practices in the administration of
justice which were so common in Eastern countries. Is there nothing here for us to
ponder in these days of intense competition in business and questionable methods of
securing gain? Surely the rule of unbending integrity, absolute honesty, and
unswerving truth is as binding on the Christian merchant as it was on the Hebrew
judge. No doubt Samuel was a poor man, though he might have been rich had he
followed the example of heathen rulers. But who does not honour him in his poverty,
with his incorruptible integrity and most scrupulous, truthfulness, as no man would
or could have honoured him had he accumulated the wealth of a Cardinal Wolsey
and lived in splendour rivalling royalty itself? It is right that we should very specially
take note of the root of this remarkable integrity and truthfulness of his toward men.
For we live in times when it is often alleged that religion and morality have no vital
connection with each other, and that there may be found an “independent morality”
altogether separate from religious profession. Let it be granted that this divorce from
morality may be true of religions of an external character, where Divine service is
supposed to consist of ritual observances and bodily attitudes and attendances,
performed in strict accordance with a very rigid rule. Wherever such performances
are looked on as the end of religion they may be utterly dissociated from morality,
and one may be, at one and the same time, strictly religious and glaringly immoral.
But wherever religion is spiritual and penetrating, wherever sin is seen in its true
character, wherever men feel the curse and pollution of sin in their hearts and lives,
another spirit rules. The will of God is a terrible rule of life to the natural man—a rule
against which he rebels as unreasonable, impracticable, terrible. How then are men
brought to pay supreme and constant regard to that will? How was Samuel brought
to do this, and how are men led to do it now? In both cases, it is through the
influence of gracious, Divine love. Samuel was a member of a nation that God had
chosen as His own, that God had redeemed from bondage, that God dwelt among,
22

23. protected, restored, guided, and blessed beyond all example. The heart of Samuel
was moved by God’s goodness to the nation. More than that, Samuel personally had
been the object of God’s redeeming love; and though the hundred-and-third Psalm
was not yet written, he could doubtless say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is
within me, bless His holy name. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities,” etc. It is the same
gracious, Divine action, the same experience of redeeming grace and mercy, that
under the Christian dispensation draws men’s hearts to the will of God; only a new
light has been thrown on these Divine qualities by the Cross of Christ. (W. G. Blaikie,
D. D.)
Samuel on his defence
The scene explains itself. In olden times, meetings of this kind were held in the open air.
In earlier French history, the warriors used to meet in the month of May, and the king
was carried round on a shield, to receive their homage. When our king Alfred divided the
country into “hundreds,” he directed the heads of families to meet together at fixed
seasons, the muster place being sometimes round a well-known tree, and there is in
existence to this day such a tree, which gave its name to the hundred or wapen-take. And
in the Isle of Man the farmers of the island meet once a year in the open air to transact
business, to this very day. Israel in this chapter is met together in the same way. They are
under a bright eastern sky, the young king stands before them—a fine figure to behold;
perhaps the handsomest man of his time—and by his side stands an old man, hoary, and
grey-headed. We must now leave all the rest, and think only of this grey-headed old man.
I. The public man’s influence and temptations. Samuel spent about fifty years in a public
life like this. Consider the influence he would necessarily acquire. If he has become
known for being a sound thinker, competent to advise and willing to do so, men never
mention his name without respect. They will go and ask him for opinions on matters that
it seems almost impertinent to trouble him with. He seems only to live to assist others.
Every house is open to him, and he carries many matters of importance without
opposition. With such influence, consider what will be his temptations! If he has given a
decision favourable to a man and that man, out of gratitude, sends him a handsome
present, how tempting it will be to receive it. In going the round of his sessions he would
probably receive hospitality from some of the richer men about; it would be his due.
Now, suppose one of these richer men who had entertained him handsomely came into
court, how tempting it would be to listen to him a little more favourably! What
opportunities, too, he has to benefit his family. A man in such a position has sometimes
disagreeable things to do. If he decides one way, he may make a powerful man his
enemy. That enemy may annoy him much, may libel his character and torment him
terribly. The temptation will then be to get rid of such a tormentor, by oppressing him
and putting him down.
II. Fidelity to trust. We are all in some places of trust. No man lives for himself alone. It
is a very great mistake for any man to suppose that he has no influence. Who is more
respected by any right-minded man than an honourable servant of standing character? I
don’t know anyone more entitled to sympathy and kindness than those who have grown
hoary and grey in service. Well, then, you that are men and women in the prime of life,
whatever be your occupation, put this model before you, this speech of Samuel’s.
III. The joy of a pure conscience. Children and young people, in this life of Samuel there
23

24. is nothing that you cannot do in your way. Say to yourselves every day as you begin, “I
am determined, God being my helper, to be so faithful in all that I do, that no man shall
charge me with wronging him.” You will fail sometimes, and be grieved at your failure.
Yet be not discouraged, but persevere, and you may, if spared to be old and grey-headed,
totter down the aisle of your church, or the streets of your village or town, with the
consciousness of clean hands. There is no joy unmixed in this world. In his old age
Samuel could have applied to himself the words of our great dramatist:—Tho’ I look old,
I’m lusty; For never in my youth did I woo the means of debility. Therefore mine age is
as a lusty winter—Frosty, yet kindly. Let me be your servant. I’ll do the service of a
younger man. But no! the appeal had not its right effect. His countrymen were not
grateful to him, as they ought to have been; they wanted this young king—something
new—and the old man in his old age was to be forgotten. We must be prepared to be
misunderstood—to find even a friend, who ought to know better, grow cool. But, firm in
our upright course, we must fall back on the approbation of a pure conscience. A man
need not skulk and hang his head if his conscience tells him that he has nothing to be
ashamed of; rather will it whisper to him peace amidst the gloom that might dishearten
him. (H. Hiley, D. D.)
Appointment of the first king in Israel
Israel was in the position of a boat which has been borne downs a swift stream into the
very suction of the rapids. The best would be that she should be put back; but if it be too
late for this, then the best is that there should be in her a strong arm and a steady eye to
keep her head straight. And thus it was with Israel. She plunged down the fail madly,
rashly, wickedly; but under Samuel’s control, steadily. This part of the chapter we
arrange in two branches:—
I. Samuel’s conduct after the mortification of his own rejection. The people having
accepted Saul as their king, had been dismissed, and Samuel was left alone, but his
feelings were very different from those which he had in that other moment of solitude,
when he had dismissed the delegates of the people. That struggle was past. He was now
calm. The first moment was a terrible one. It was one of those periods in human life
when the whole meaning of life is perplexed, its aims and hopes frustrated; when a man
is down upon his face and gust after gust sweeps desolately over his spirit. Samuel was
there to feel all the ideas that naturally suggest themselves in such hours—the instability
of human affection—the nothingness of the highest earthly aims. But by degrees, two
thoughts calmed him. The first was the feeling of identification with God’s cause. “They
have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me.” The other element of consolation was
the Divine sympathy. If they had been rebellious to their ruler, they had also been
disloyal to Jehovah. Atheism and revolution here, as elsewhere, went hand-in-hand. We
do not know how this sentence was impressed by the Infinite Mind on Samuel’s mind;
all we know is, he had a conviction that God was a fellow sufferer. The many-coloured
phases of human feeling all find themselves reflected in the lights and shadows of ever-
varying sensitiveness which the different sentences of His conversation exhibit. Be your
tone of feeling what it may, whether you are poor or rich, gay or sad—in society or
alone—adored, loved, betrayed, misunderstood, despised—weigh well His words first, by
thinking what they mean, and you will become aware that one heart in space throbs in
conscious harmony with yours. In its degree, that was Samuel’s support. Next, Samuel’s
cheerful way of submitting to his fate is to be observed. Another prophet, when his
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25. prediction was nullified, built himself a booth and sat beneath it, fretting in sullen pride,
to see the end of Nineveh. Samuel might have done this; he might have withdrawn
himself in offended dignity from public life, watched the impotent attempts of the people
to guide themselves, and seen dynasty after dynasty fall with secret pleasure. Very
different is his conduct. He addresses himself like a man to the exigencies of the
moment. Now remark in all this, the healthy, vigorous tone of Samuel’s religion. This
man, the greatest and wisest then alive, thought this the great thing to live for—to
establish a kingdom of God on earth—to transform his own country into a kingdom of
God. It is worthwhile to see how he set about it. From first to last it was in a practical,
real way—by activity in every department of life. Now he is deposed: but he has duties
still. He has a king to look for, public festivals to superintend, a public feast to preside
over; and later on we shall find him becoming the teacher of a school. All this was a
religion for life. His spirituality was no fanciful, shadowy thing; the kingdom of God to
him was to be in this world, and we know no surer sign of enfeebled religion than the
disposition to separate religion from life and life duties. Listen: What is secularity or
worldliness? Meddling with worldly things? or meddling with a worldly spirit? We brand
political existence and thought with the name “worldly”—we stigmatise first one
department of life and then another as secular; and so religion becomes a pale, unreal
thing, which must end, if we are only true to our principles, in the cloister. Religion
becomes feeble, and the world, deserted and proscribed, becomes infidel.
II. Samuel’s treatment of his successor, after his own rejection, is remarkable. It was
characterised by two things—courtesy and generosity. When he saw the man who was to
be his successor, he invited him to the entertainment. This is politeness; what we allude
to is a very different thing, however, from that mere system of etiquette and
conventionalisms in which small minds find their very being, to observe which
accurately is life, and to transgress which is sin. Courtesy is not confined to the high
bred; often theirs is but the artistic imitation of courtesy. The peasant who rises to put
before you his only chair, while he sits upon the oaken chest, is a polite man. Motive
determines everything. Something still more beautiful marks Samuel’s generosity. The
man who stood before him was a Successful rival. One who had been his inferior now
was to supersede him. And Samuel lends him a helping hand—gracefully assists him to
rise above him, entertains him, recommends him to the people. It is very touching.
Samuel and the people did the game thing—they made Saul king. But the people did it by
drawing down Samuel nearer to themselves. Samuel did it by elevating Saul above
himself. One was the spirit of revolution, the other was the spirit of the Gospel. In our
own day it specially behoves us to try the spirits, whether they be of God. The reality and
the counterfeit, as in this case, are singularly like each other. Three spirits make their
voices heard, in a cry for Freedom, for Brotherhood, for human Equality. And we must
not forget, these names are hallowed by the very Gospel itself. Unless we realise them we
have no Gospel kingdom. Distinguish, however, well the reality from the baser alloy. The
spirit, which longs for freedom puts forth a righteous claim; for it is written, “If the Son
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Brotherhood—the Gospel promises
brotherhood also—“One is your master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” Equality—
Yes. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond, nor free.” This is the grand Federation, Brotherhood, Emancipation of
the human raze. Now the world’s spirit aims at bringing all this about by drawing others
down to the level on which each one stands. The Christian spirit secures equality by
raising up. The man that is less wise, less good than I—I am to raise up to my level in
these things. Yes, and in social position too, if he be fit for it. I am to be glad to see him
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26. rise above me, as generously as Samuel saw Saul. And if we could but all work in this
generous rivalry, our rent and bleeding country, sick at heart, gangrened with an
exclusiveness, which narrows our sympathies and corrupts our hearts, might be all that
the most patriotic love would have her. Once more there is suggested to us the thought
that Samuel was now growing old. They might forget Samuel—they might crowd round
his successor—but Samuel’s work could not be forgotten; years after he was quiet and
silent, under ground, his courts in Bethel and Mizpeh would form the precedents and the
germs of the national jurisprudence. A very pregnant lesson. Life passes, work is
permanent. It is all going—fleeting and withering. Youth goes. Mind decays. That which
is done remains. Deeds never die. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Samuel, seer and statesman
The character of Samuel itself is one which surely sets before us a type of that class of
character which we can see in all departments of public life. Will you allow me to ask you
to notice not merely the greatness of Samuel, but those causes which seem to have
contributed to the formation of that character which lay at the back of his greatness?
First, I may remind you how great Samuel was in the history of Israel. He has been
called the second Moses, and not without reason.
I. The greatness of Samuel is seen in the three-fold aspect of his life. He was great as a
judge in an era of considerable political confusion; he was great in that he founded, or
was considered to have founded, what was called the school of prophets; and he was
great also in that, in an era of transition, he acted as a consummate statesman. We have
only to recall the significance of those three statements to see how widespread and
enduring was that quality of Samuel’s greatness. As a judge in an era of confusion he
showed exactly those qualities which were so much needed. And you mark that he had
seen some of the symptoms of moral deterioration in his early days. He had seen the
loose habits which had crept in in all quarters, he had seen the immoral sons of Eli, and
how far the immorality had crept into the people when in the very precincts of the sacred
place there was such immorality! But that was not all. Where there is a moral
deterioration there is always a deterioration of the religious conception. And that is what
Samuel had perceived, and therefore he realised that alike in religious thought and in
social manners there needed a great reformation. Now there are a great many ways in
which you bring about reformation. You may do it by legislation, you may do it by
sending broadcast through the world the pressure and persuasion of men. Samuel chose
the latter. He knew the only valuable reformation was a reformation which would strike
the heart of the people. Watch him now as the statesman. There comes a change; there is
inevitably a change in all human life. The development of national life, like the
development of individual life, must go on. And this development must mean the
passing away of things which are very dear. He showed us the example which will always
be the example of wise men in eras of change. When you see a movement has become
movement of the people’s thought do not be so unwise as to endeavour to withstand it,
unless it be a question of right and wrong, but be wise and direct what you cannot
oppose. That is the attitude of Samuel. If you watch him you see him, a man possessed of
singular gifts, of great vigour in action, practical, with great insight into the causes which
underlie national greatness, and at the same time with that marvellous flexibility that
even in his old age he was ready to adjust himself to the new conditions of the life in
which he found himself.
26

27. II. Samuel’s training for service. If we take him as marked by these features of greatness,
we ask, what was the source, what were the forces which came to the formation of a
character so strong, so youthfully great. There are two things, surely, which make up the
complete man in his later days. One is, of course, the surroundings of his early life, and
the other is the character which was originally his. The dramatic interest of life surely
lies in this, that you have the raw material of life exposed to certain influences in the
home, in the early training of the school, and in the environment of the dawn of life.
Watch the environing circumstances in the case of Samuel. No person who understands
the influence of home life will, I think, be tempted to undervalue it. Do you not pity
Samuel in the second stage of his life? The child who is suddenly withdrawn at a tender
age from home and is planted down amidst surroundings which, I think, one may
venture without disparagement to call unsympathetic. He could not find sympathy in the
wild men who were leading the loose lives of Hophni and Phinehas, and Eli must have
been but a grave companion for the young child, but as you watch him he somehow or
other identifies himself with the quiet gravity of the old man. Watch him a step further.
There comes a moment in which the third influence is seen. The first is home, the second
is the general companionship, and the third is the silent influence of the unseen world
come into his life. There comes a moment when he is aware that life does not consist
merely in those factors of home life which he has known, nor in these various powers of
official and national life of which he has had some youthful experience, but behind all
activities of the human life there is the great presiding power of the unseen; and in the
silent watches of the night there is disclosed to him a consciousness of the great power,
the great formative spirit, the great influence of the Divine which is always at work in the
hearts and lives of men. And now watch the character which is exposed to these
influences. Is there any character in the Bible of which you may say, “The quiet piety of
his life was like a growing thing?” There were no startling changes. There was the one
solid change from the home into the sanctuary, but for the rest his days were bound each
to each by natural piety. Quietly he ripened under the solemn and sweet influences of the
sanctuary.
III. The ripened character. And now watch him in his later life, and see the other
characteristics. One would have imagined that this child who ripened under these
circumstances would have been a person deficient in practical activity, deficient in those
stronger and manlier virtues which we think can only be gained in the rude struggle of
the more active life. But the man who has been brought up in this fashion had the
qualities within him of that dogged determination and that entire devotion to duty which
never stumbled at any duty, however arduous, and never shudders or shrinks from any
danger; and, therefore, when he takes the reins of power what promptitude and what
decision there is in all that he does! This is the man who, in the climax of his life, can
show the one great solid quality which was, after all, the true characteristic of his life—
the most complete and absolute disinterestedness. What are the conditions which we
desire to see established in national life? If Samuel is to be an expression, or a type, or a
teaching to us, then surely we want men who are absolutely free from self-interest. The
danger of nations lies in self-interest. May I venture to say it without being
misinterpreted?—this danger of self-interest in national affairs becomes much more
dangerous as the complexity of life grows, and therefore the opportunities of
manipulating affairs for personal interest begin to multiply upon us. What is the secret
of having a disinterested mind? Jesus Christ was the supreme teacher, remember, and
remember those words which He said, which we ought to write forever in our hearts—I
would emblazon them upon the walls of our Law Courts and our political assembly
27

28. rooms—“If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Is there any
inspiration of single-mindedness, is there any way that we can get the power to rid
ourselves of self-interest? The voice of God heard always, the voice of God in the still
hours of the night. That which makes the difference between man and man lies in this:
his relationship to God. And it was because Samuel had found God in his life so early
that God was in his life all through, and wherever he stood it was God that he saw. How
much may we not be warped by personal interests, by the desire of some gain, by the
opportunities which so often in the hurly-burly of affairs come in temptations before us!
What need there is that we in such hours should be, as Samuel would have the people,
purged from our own offences, all our gods of covetousness and idolatry put far away,
and standing once more as a people hearing the voice of God. (W. Boyd Carpenter, D.
D.)
1 Samuel 12:2
I am now old and grey-headed.
A good old age
A good old age has been cynically defined as “an age at which a man is good for nothing;”
but it is our own fault if we are good for nothing in old age. The old can help the rising
generation by sympathy and advice, and do much to prevent them from rising in the
wrong direction. (Quiver.)
Age in the service of God
The late Mr. George Muller, of Bristol, sent this testimony as a message to Christian
Endeavourers: “The joy of serving God increases with the multiplying years. I have never
had more delight in the work of the Master than now, at the end of more than threescore
years and ten. The richest blessings will be discovered in the path of service.”
Beautiful old age
How beautiful it is to see a man, below whose feet time is crumbling away, holding
firmly by the Lord whom he has loved and served all his days, and finding that the pillar
of cloud, which guided him while he lived, begins to glow in its heart of fire as the
shadows fall, and is a pillar of light to guide him when he comes to die. (A. Maclaren, D.
D.)
A peaceful retrospect
The only life that bears being looked back upon is a life of Christian devotion and effort.
It shows fairer when seen in the strange cross lights that come when we stand on the
boundary of two worlds—with “the white radiance of eternity” beginning to master the
vulgar oil lamps of earth—than when seen by these alone. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
28

29. 2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I
am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I
have been your leader from my youth until this
day.
BARNES, "My sons are with you - Possibly, however, a tinge of mortified feeling
at the rejection of himself and his family, mixed with a desire to recommend his sons to
the favor and goodwill of the nation, is at the bottom of this mention of them.
CLARKE, "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 the public.
GILL, "1 Samuel 12:2
And now, behold, the king walketh before you,.... He invested with his office, and
in the exercise of it, and goes in and out as the captain, commander, and leader of the
people; it is expressive of his being in the full possession of regal power and authority,
and therefore Samuel might speak the more freely, as he could not be thought to have
any hope and expectation of being reinstated in his government, or to have parted with it
with any regret; and he wisely took this opportunity of reproving the people for their sin
of desiring a king, when Saul was settled and established in his kingdom, and when they
were in the midst of all their mirth and jollity, who might, from the success that had
attended this first adventure of their king, conclude that they had done a right and good
thing in requesting to have one:
and I am old, and grey headed; and so unfit for government, and very willing to be
eased of the burden of it: he must surely be more than fifty two years of age, as the Jews
29

30. generally say he was, since it is not usual at such an age to be grey headed; see Gill on
1Sa_8:1; however, on this account he merited reverence and respect, and demanded
attention:
and, behold, my sons are with you; as private persons in the condition of subjects,
making no pretension to government; and if they had committed anything criminal, they
were open to the law, and might be charged, and tried, and treated according to their
deserts; and there they were, and might be asked what questions they thought proper
with respect to what they knew of his conduct; and to be hostages or bail for him, if they
could prove anything against him; or to be taken to make satisfaction for any injuries
committed by him:
and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day; his manner of
and conversation from his infancy to this time was well known to them, and he had
spent all his days in the service of God, and for the good of Israel.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 12:2. The king walketh before you — Ruleth over you. To him
I have fully resigned my power, and own myself one of his subjects. I am old — And
therefore unable to bear the burden of government. My sons are with you — Or,
among you, in the same state, private persons, as you are; if they have injured any
of you, the law is now open against them; any of you may accuse them, your king
can punish them, I do not intercede for them. Walked before you — That is, been
your guide and governor; partly, as a prophet; and partly, as a judge.
COKE, "1 Samuel 12:2. Behold, the king walketh before you— When Samuel says,
and my sons are with you, he seems to mean that the sons of whom they complained
are now in their hands, deprived of their public station, reduced to the rank of
subjects to the king, like the rest of the people, and punishable before his tribunal,
according to their deserts. See Wall's note on the place. This fine apology which
Samuel makes for himself puts one in mind of St. Paul's upon the like occasion. See
Acts 20:33.
ELLICOTT, " (2) And now, behold, the king walketh before you.—No doubt, here
pointing to Saul by his side. The term “walketh before you implied generally that
the kingly office included the guiding and governing the people, as well as the
especial duty of leading them in war; from henceforth they must accept his
authority on all occasions, not merely in great emergencies. Both king and people
must understand that the days when Saul could quietly betake himself to his old
pursuits on the farm of the Ephraim hills were now past for ever. He must lead, and
they must follow. The metaphor is taken from the usual place of a shepherd in the
East, where he goes before his flock. Compare the words of our Lord, who uses the
same image of a shepherd walking before his sheep (John 10:27): “My sheep hear
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31. my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
And I am old and grayheaded.—Here the prophet, with some pathos, refers to the
elders’ own words at Ramah (chap ). Yes, said the seer, I am old—grown grey in
your service; listen to me while I ask you what manner of service that has been. Can
any one find in it a flaw? has it not been pure and disinterested throughout?
My sons are with you.—Yes, old indeed, for my offspring are numbered now among
the grown men of the people. Possibly, however, a tinge of mortified feeling at the
rejection of himself and his family, mixed with a desire to recommend his sons to the
favour and goodwill of the nation, is at the bottom of this mention of them.—
Speaker’s Commentary. It is evident that these sons, whose conduct as Samuel’s
deputies had excited the severest criticism on the part of the elders (1 Samuel 8:5),
had been reduced—with the full consent, of course, of their father, who up to this
period exercised evidently supreme power in all the coasts of Israel—to the
condition of mere private citizens.
From my childhood unto this day.—Samuel’s life had in truth been constantly
before the public observation from very early days; well known to all were the
details of his career—his early consecration under peculiar and exceptional
circumstances to the sanctuary service, the fact of the “word of the Lord” coming
directly to him when still a boy, his recognition by the people directly afterwards as
a prophet, then his restless, unwearied work during the dark days which followed
the fall of Shiloh. It was indeed a public life. He would have Israel, now they had
virtually rejected his rule, think over that long busy life of his for a moment, and
then pronounce a judgment on it.
TRAPP, "1 Samuel 12:2 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.
Ver. 2. And now, behold, the king walketh before you.] Graditur ante vos: gressu,
sc., grallatorio, with a pace and state befitting a king: with care and charge also, to
be unto you a shepherd and a shield. See Numbers 27:17. For which purpose,
Samuel, as he here resigneth his power to him, so he propoundeth himself for a
31

32. pattern to him in the ensuing apology.
And I am old and gray headed.] About sixty, as it is conceived, and much decayed in
nature by his incessant pains in his office: Cura facit canos. What marvel that he
who was so old-a-young-man should not be a young-old man? (a) Some Rabbis
think that Samuel was but fifty and two when he died, but then he must have been
gray headed at thirty-four, which is not likely, since he lived eighteen years after
Saul was king, as Josephus holdeth. (b)
And, behold, my sons are with you.] Conditione privata, as private persons, so that
you may question them, and deal by them as they deserve.
And I have walked before you.] In all integrity and good conscience, not only
"harmless and blameless, as the son of God, without rebuke," [Philippians 2:15] but
useful and serviceable in my place and station; trading all my talents for the
common good of you all. Samuelis sane nomen (ut de Socrate, Plinius) {c} non
hominis, sed integritatis et sapientiae nomen.
LANGE, "1 Samuel 12:2. Walketh is to be understood not merely of leading in war,
but in general of the official guidance and government of the people. The “and I”
introduces the contrast between the Hitherto and the Now. I am grown old and
gray-headed points to the words of the elders, 1 Samuel 8:5. As the people by the
mouth of their elders there take occasion from his age to ask a king for themselves,
so Samuel here refers back to it, in order not only to point out that this their
demand was fulfilled, since he in fact by reason of his age could no longer hold in his
hands the internal and external control of the people, but at the same time, in view
of the termination of his office and the beginning of the royal rule, to give account of
the righteous character of his long career. The reference to his sons as occupying
official positions is not to be regarded (Thenius, Keil, et al.) as a confirmation of his
age, but looking to 1 Samuel 8:1 (where it is expressly said that Samuel on account
of his age had made his sons judges over Israel, that Isaiah, his assistants in the
judicial office) rather as a confirmation of the declaration that this change in the
government must needs have taken place by reason of his age, which had already
necessitated the substitution of his sons. [It is clearly wrong to suggest (Bib. Com. in
loco) that “a tinge of mortified feeling at the rejection of himself and his family,
mixed with a desire to recommend his sons to the favor and good-will of the nation,
32

33. is at the bottom of this mention of them.” There is no trace here of mortification or
favor-seeking. Samuel stands throughout above the people, and promises his
continued friendship and watch-care, while he cordially accepts the change of the
government.—Tr.]. What Samuel here affirms of his official career stands in direct
contrast with what is said in 1 Samuel 8:3 of the blameworthy official conduct of
these sons, since it is inconceivable that he did not know, and now have in mind the
covetousness and perversion of judgment and the resulting discontent of the people,
which was a cofactor in their desire for a royal government. The mode as well as the
fact and content of the following self-justification naturally suggest the statement in
1 Samuel 8:3, and lead to the conclusion that this was the occasion of this (otherwise
surprising) justification of his official career, on which in the eyes of the people a
shadow had fallen in consequence of the opposite conduct of his sons. In order that,
at this important turning-point of his life and of his people’s history, there may be
perfect clearness and truth in respect to his judicial career and his unselfish official
bearing towards the people, and that the lightest shadow of mistrust and
misunderstanding may be dispelled, he in the first place refers to his official life
which lay clear and open before the eyes of the people from his youth unto this
moment when he had become old and gray; for the words “I have walked before
you,” like the preceding “walketh,” indicate his public official intercourse and walk.
3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence
of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I
taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I
cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose
hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my
eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will
make it right.”
BARNES, "His anointed - i. e., king Saul. The title Messiah, Χριστὸς Christos,
33

34. unctus, or anointed, had been given to the High Priests (Lev_4:3 : compare also 1Sa_
2:10, 1Sa_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
Exo_21:30, applied to the bribe paid to an unjust judge to induce him to acquit the
guilty. (Compare Amo_5:12.)
To blind ... - See the margin. The phrase is used of one who averts his eyes, as
refusing assistance, or as showing contempt, or, as here, as winking at what is wrong.
CLARKE, "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 followed my steps: but can you forgive them for their father’s
sake? As a minister of justice, he abandons them to their fate; as a tender father, he
indirectly and modestly pleads for them on the ground of his own services. Had he not
acted thus in both these relations, he would have been unworthy of that character which
he so deservedly bears.
GILL, "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 so used wrongfully;
34

35. to whose person have I been injurious any more than to their property? Some derive the
word from a root which signifies favour and goodwill, and interpret it as some of the
Rabbins do, of his not taking money of persons with their goodwill; or rather, that he
had done nothing as a judge for favour and affection, but had acted the upright part,
without regard to rich or poor, friends or foes:
or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? his
meaning is, that he had never taken a gift or present from any person to favour his cause,
that was to be brought before him, and give it for him right or wrong; to connive at any
injury he had done, or to turn away his eyes from seeing where the justice of the cause
lay; or that he had not received money to spare the life of a criminal that deserved to die;
for the word used for a bribe signifies a ransom price, see Deu_16:19.
and I will restore it to you; the ox or ass, money or goods, gifts and presents, or
bribes taken, or make compensation for any injury done to the persons or estates of
men. Some render it, "I will answer you" (f), or give in an answer to any such charges
when exhibited.
HENRY, "II. He solemnly appeals to them concerning his own integrity in the
administration of the government (1Sa_12:3): Witness against me, whose ox have I
taken? Observe,
1. His design in this appeal. By this he intended, (1.) To convince them of the injury
they had done him in setting him aside, when they had nothing amiss to charge him with
(his government had no fault but that it was too cheap, too easy, too gentle), and also of
the injury they had done themselves in turning off one that did not so much as take an ox
or an ass from them, to put themselves under the power of one that would take from
them their fields and vineyards, nay, and their very sons and daughters (1Sa_8:11), so
unlike would the manner of the king be from Samuel's manner. (2.) To preserve his own
reputation. Those that heard of Samuel's being rejected as he was would be ready to
suspect that certainly he had done some evil thing, or he would never have been so ill
treated; so that it was necessary for him to make this challenge, that it might appear
upon record that it was not for any iniquity in his hands that he was laid aside, but to
gratify the humour of a giddy people, who owned they could not have a better man to
rule them, only they desired a bigger man. There is a just debt which every man owes to
his own good name, especially men in public stations, which is to guard it against unjust
aspersions and suspicions, that we may finish our course with honour as well as joy. (3.)
As he designed hereby to leave a good name behind him, so he designed to leave his
successor a good example before him; let him write after his copy, and he will write fair.
(4.) He designed, in the close of his discourse, to reprove the people, and therefore he
begins with a vindication of himself; for he that will, with confidence, tell another of his
sin, must see to it that he himself be clear.
2. In the appeal itself observe,
(1.) What it is that Samuel here acquits himself from. [1.] He had never, under any
pretence whatsoever, taken that which was not his own, ox or ass, had never distrained
their cattle for tribute, fines, or forfeitures, nor used their service without paying for it.
[2.] He had never defrauded those with whom he dealt, nor oppressed those that were
under his power. [3.] He had never taken bribes to pervert justice, nor was ever biassed
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36. by favour for affection to give judgment in a cause against his conscience.
BENSON, "1 Samuel 12:3. Behold, here I am — I here present myself before the
Lord, and before your king, ready to give an account of all my administrations. And
this protestation Samuel makes of his integrity, not out of ostentation, but for his
own just vindication, that the people might not hereafter, for the defence of their
own irregularities, reproach his government; and that, being publicly acquitted
from all faults in his government, he might more freely reprove the sins of the
people, and particularly that sin of theirs in desiring a king, when they had so little
reason for it.
ELLICOTT, " (3) Behold, here I am: witness against me before the Lord, and
before his anointed.—I speak in a solemn presence, “before the Eternal,” went on
the old man, looking up heavenward, “and before His anointed,” pointing with a
reverent gesture to the kingly form by his side. “His Anointed”—this is the earliest
instance of a king bearing this title of honour. The high priest, whose blessed office
brought him in such close contact with the invisible and eternal King, is in the early
Hebrew story styled now and again by this honoured name. But henceforth it seems
to be limited to the man invested with the kingly dignity. The infinite charm which
the name “Anointed of the Eternal” carried with it for centuries is, no doubt, due to
the fact that one greater than any of the sons of men would, in the far future,
assume the same sacred designation—“His Anointed,” or “His Christ.” (The words
are synonymous, both being translations of the Hebrew word Messiah.)
Nor has this peculiar reverence for the “Lord’s Anointed “been limited to His own
people. Since the seer in the early morning on the hill-side, looking on “Ramah of
the Watchers,” poured out the holy oil on the young Saul’s head, and then before all
Israel gathered at Gilgal styled the new king by the title of the “Anointed of the
Eternal,” wherever the one true God has been worshipped, an infinite charm has
gone with the name, a strange and peculiar reverence has surrounded every one
who could fairly claim to bear it, and for many a century, among all peoples, an
awful curse has at once attached itself to any one who would dare lift his hand
against the “Lord’s Anointed.”
Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken?—The ox and the ass are taken
as representative possessions in this primitive age, in a country where agriculture
formed the principal source of the national resources. Before the wars and
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37. conquests of David and Solomon, there was comparatively little of the precious
metals among the Hebrew people, who seem to have traded in those early days but
rarely with foreign nations; horses were, too, unknown among them. The law of
Exodus 20:17 especially makes mention of the ox and the ass as things the Israelite
was forbidden to covet. On these words of Samuel the Babylonian Talmud has an
important note, which well illustrates the doctrine of the “Holy Spirit” as taught in
Israel before the Christian era.
“Rabbi Elazer said, on three occasions did the Holy Spirit manifest Himself in a
peculiar manner—in the judicial tribunal instituted by Shem, in that of Samuel the
Ramathite, and in that of Solomon. In that of Shem, Judah declared, “She is
righteous,” &c. How could he know it? Might not another man have come to her as
well as he did? But an echo of a voice was heard exclaiming: Of me (the word ‫ממגי‬ is
separated from the preceding word, and taken as a distinct utterance of the Holy
Spirit); these things were overruled by me. Samuel said (1 Samuel 5-12:3 ), “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? . . . And he said unto them, The Lord is
witness against you, &c . . . And he said, He is witness” ( ‫.)ו׳אמך‬ It ought to read,
“And they said.” But it was the Holy Spirit that gave that answer. So with Solomon
the words “She is the mother thereof (1 Kings 3:27) were spoken by the Holy
Spirit.”—Treatise Maccoth, fol. 23, Colossians 2.
Whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed?—Alluding, of course, to his
conduct during his long continuance in office as supreme judge in Israel. The
“bribe”—literally, ransom—alludes to that practice unhappily so common in the
East of giving the judge a gift (usually of money) to buy his favour, and thus a
criminal who had means was too often able to escape punishment.
The sons of Samuel, we know from 1 Samuel 8:3, “took bribes, and perverted
judgment.” This accusation, we know, had been preferred by the very elders of the
nation before whom the seer was then speaking. The old judge must have been very
confident of his own spotless integrity to venture upon such a solemn challenge. The
elders had shown themselves by their bold accusation of the seer’s sons no
respecters of persons, and from the tone of Samuel’s address, must have felt his
words were but the prelude of some scathing reproaches they would have to listen
to, and yet they were constrained with one voice to bear their witness to the perfect
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