1 Samuel 12

Samuel said to all Israel, "Look, I have listened to everything you said to me, and I have made a king to rule over you.

1And 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.

NoteSamuel had been Israel's judge (not a courtroom official but its leader, arbiter and spokesman) for a generation. This speech is his stepping back from that role now that Saul has been made king, and it follows the pattern of a public farewell address.

2Now here is the king, walking in front of you. I am old and gray-haired, and my sons are here among you. I have led you from the time I was young until this day.

2And 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.

NoteThe sons are mentioned pointedly. Samuel had appointed them as judges, and they took bribes and perverted justice; that failure was the reason Israel demanded a king in the first place (chapter 8). "Walked before you" is Hebrew idiom for leading, going ahead of people as a shepherd goes ahead of a flock.

3Here I stand. Speak against me in front of the LORD and in front of the king he has anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I treated harshly? From whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me look the other way? Tell me, and I will pay it back."

3Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.

NoteThis is a formal, legal accounting, of the kind a leader gave on leaving office. Taking an ox or a donkey means seizing a farmer's working animals, the ancient equivalent of confiscating someone's livelihood. "To make me look the other way" is literally "to blind my eyes": a bribe that stops a judge seeing the truth of a case. Samuel invites accusation and offers restitution in advance.

4They said, "You have not cheated us or treated us harshly. You have not taken anything from anyone's hand."

4And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand.

5Samuel said to them, "The LORD is a witness against you, and the king he anointed is a witness today, that you have found nothing wrong in my hands." They answered, "He is a witness."

5And he said unto them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.

Note"The LORD is a witness against you" makes the crowd's own answer legally binding: by clearing him they have testified, and God and the king have heard it. The people's reply, "He is a witness," seals the transaction like a signature.

6Then Samuel said to the people, "It was the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your ancestors up out of the land of Egypt.

6And Samuel said unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

NoteMoses and Aaron were the brothers who led Israel out of slavery in Egypt in the founding story of the nation. Samuel begins the history here because it is the standard summary of what God had done for Israel.

7So now stand still, and let me lay the case before you in the LORD's presence. I will remind you of all the right and faithful things the LORD did for you and for your ancestors.

7Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.

NoteThe language is courtroom language. Samuel is not simply reminiscing; he is bringing a case, with God as judge and the nation as defendant, and the evidence he lays out is God's record of past rescues.

8When Jacob went into Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the LORD. The LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

8When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.

Note"This place" means the land of Canaan, where they are now standing. Jacob going into Egypt refers to the migration of the family of Israel there during a famine, generations before the escape under Moses.

9But they forgot the LORD their God. So he sold them into the power of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the power of the Philistines, and into the power of the king of Moab. All of these fought against them.

9And when they forgat the LORD their God, 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.

Note"Sold them into the power of" is a slave-market image: God hands them over the way an owner sells a slave to another master. Sisera was the commander who oppressed Israel for twenty years and was defeated in the time of Deborah; Hazor was the northern Canaanite city he served. The Philistines were a people settled on the coastal plain to Israel's west, militarily the stronger neighbor; Moab lay east of the Dead Sea. Each stands for a period of foreign domination described in the book of Judges.

10Then they cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned, because we have turned away from the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now rescue us from our enemies, and we will serve you.'

10And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

NoteThe Baals and the Ashtoreths are the local gods and goddesses of Canaan, Baal a storm and fertility god, Ashtoreth a goddess of fertility and war. The plural forms refer to the many local shrines and images of each, so the phrase means roughly "the gods of the country round about".

11So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel. He rescued you from the enemies all around you, and you lived in safety.

11And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe.

NoteJerubbaal is another name for Gideon. Jephthah was the commander who beat back the Ammonites. "Bedan" is a puzzle: no such figure appears elsewhere, and ancient Greek and Syriac copies read "Barak", Deborah's general, which many take to be the original. Some of those same copies also read "Samson" where the Hebrew has "Samuel", which would keep Samuel from listing himself. The Hebrew as it stands has him name himself among the deliverers.

12But when you saw Nahash the king of the Ammonites coming against you, you said to me, 'No. We want a king to rule over us', even though the LORD your God was your king.

12And 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 your God was your king.

NoteNahash, king of the Ammonites (a people east of the Jordan), had besieged the Israelite town of Jabesh-gilead and demanded that its men submit to having their right eyes gouged out. Saul's rescue of the town was what secured him the kingship, in the chapter just before this one.

13So now here is the king you chose, the one you asked for. Look, the LORD has set a king over you.

13Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you.

14If you fear the LORD and serve him and obey what he says, and do not rebel against his command, then both you and the king who rules over you will keep following the LORD your God.

14If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God:

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is genuinely unfinished: it piles up conditions (if you fear him, if you serve him, if you obey, if you do not rebel, if both you and the king follow the LORD) and then never states the consequence. Translators have to supply one. Some, like this rendering, fold the last clause in as the result ("then you will keep following"); others supply words like "then all will be well". The gap is in the original, not the translation.

15But if you will not obey the LORD, and you rebel against his command, then the LORD's hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.

15But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.

16So now stand still and watch this great thing that the LORD is about to do right in front of your eyes.

16Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.

17Is today not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call to the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Then you will understand and see how great your wickedness was in the LORD's sight when you asked for a king."

17Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.

NoteThis is the point of the sign. The wheat harvest falls in late May and June, in the middle of the dry season, when rain in that climate is effectively unheard of; storms come in winter. Rain then would be both an unmistakable act of God and a disaster, beating down and spoiling the cut grain lying in the fields. Samuel is producing a miracle that also costs them something.

18So Samuel called to the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. All the people were filled with fear of the LORD and of Samuel.

18So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

Note"Feared" here means struck with awe and dread, not merely nervous, the response to something recognized as beyond human power.

19All the people said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for us, your servants, so that we will not die. We have added one more evil to all our sins by asking for a king."

19And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.

NoteThey ask Samuel to pray because they assume the storm signals lethal anger and that they need someone to intercede for them. "Your servants" is the deferential way to say "us" when addressing a superior.

20Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid. You have done all this evil. Even so, do not turn away from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.

20And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;

21Do not turn away to chase after worthless things. They cannot help you and they cannot rescue you, because they are empty.

21And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

NoteThe word behind "worthless" and "empty" means formless, hollow, without substance, the same word used for the unformed void at the beginning of Genesis. It is a standard scornful term for idols: things that look like gods but have nothing inside them.

22The LORD will not abandon his people, for the sake of his own great name. It pleased the LORD to make you his people.

22For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.

NoteA name in this culture stands for a person's public reputation. God's acting "for the sake of his own great name" means acting to keep his standing before the watching nations, having publicly committed himself to this people.

23As for me, I would never sin against the LORD by stopping praying for you. I will go on teaching you the good and right way.

23Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:

NoteSamuel is describing prayer for the nation as part of his job, not a favor. The King James "God forbid" translates a strong Hebrew oath of refusal, roughly "far be it from me".

24Only fear the LORD, and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Think about the great things he has done for you.

24Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.

25But if you keep on doing evil, you will be swept away, both you and your king."

25But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

Note"Swept away" translates a verb used of being destroyed or carried off in a disaster. The warning is aimed at king and people together, having a king does not exempt either from the terms.