24 Only fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you.
He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.
And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are `in' their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.
`This is' the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole `duty' of man.
And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such a remnant, shall we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?
Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes, That I be not put to shame.
The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; `But' the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Samuel 12
Commentary on 1 Samuel 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
We left the general assembly of the states together, in the close of the foregoing chapter; in this chapter we have Samuel's speech to them, when he resigned the government into the hands of Saul, in which,
1Sa 12:1-5
Here,
1Sa 12:6-15
Samuel, having sufficiently secured his own reputation, instead of upbraiding the people upon it with their unkindness to him, sets himself to instruct them, and keep them in the way of their duty, and then the change of the government would be the less damage to them.
1Sa 12:16-25
Two things Samuel here aims at:-