13 Now therefore behold the king H4428 whom ye have chosen, H977 and whom ye have desired! H7592 and, behold, the LORD H3068 hath set H5414 a king H4428 over you.
And Samuel H8050 said H559 to all the people, H5971 See H7200 ye him whom the LORD H3068 hath chosen, H977 that there is none like him among all the people? H5971 And all the people H5971 shouted, H7321 and said, H559 God save H2421 the king. H4428
And as for thine asses H860 that were lost H6 three H7969 days H3117 ago, H3117 set H7760 not thy mind H3820 on them; for they are found. H4672 And on whom is all the desire H2532 of Israel? H3478 Is it not on thee, and on all thy father's H1 house? H1004
And all the people H5971 went H3212 to Gilgal; H1537 and there they made Saul H7586 king H4427 before H6440 the LORD H3068 in Gilgal; H1537 and there they sacrificed H2076 sacrifices H2077 of peace offerings H8002 before H6440 the LORD; H3068 and there Saul H7586 and all the men H582 of Israel H3478 rejoiced H8055 greatly. H3966
So they did eat, H398 and were well H3966 filled: H7646 for he gave H935 them their own desire; H8378 They were not estranged H2114 from their lust. H8378 But while their meat H400 was yet in their mouths, H6310 The wrath H639 of God H430 came H5927 upon them, and slew H2026 the fattest H4924 of them, and smote down H3766 the chosen H970 men of Israel. H3478
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Samuel 12
Commentary on 1 Samuel 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 12
1Sa 12:1-5. Samuel Testifies his Integrity.
1-4. Samuel said unto all Israel—This public address was made after the solemn re-instalment 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.
5. the Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness—that, by their own acknowledgment, he had given them no cause to weary of the divine government by judges, and that, therefore, the blame of desiring a change of government rested with themselves. This was only insinuated, and they did not fully perceive his drift.
1Sa 12:6-16. He Reproves the People for Ingratitude.
7-16. Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you—The burden of this faithful and uncompromising address was to show them, that though they had obtained the change of government they had so importunely desired, their conduct was highly displeasing to their heavenly King; nevertheless, if they remained faithful to Him and to the principles of the theocracy, they might be delivered from many of the evils to which the new state of things would expose them. And in confirmation of those statements, no less than in evidence of the divine displeasure, a remarkable phenomenon, on the invocation of the prophet, and of which he gave due premonition, took place.
11. Bedan—The Septuagint reads "Barak"; and for "Samuel" some versions read "Samson," which seems more natural than that the prophet should mention himself to the total omission of the greatest of the judges. (Compare Heb 11:32).
1Sa 12:17-25. He Terrifies Them with Thunder in Harvest-time.
17-25. Is it not wheat harvest to-day?—That season in Palestine occurs at the end of June or beginning of July, when it seldom or never rains, and the sky is serene and cloudless. There could not, therefore, have been a stronger or more appropriate proof of a divine mission than the phenomenon of rain and thunder happening, without any prognostics of its approach, upon the prediction of a person professing himself to be a prophet of the Lord, and giving it as an attestation of his words being true. The people regarded it as a miraculous display of divine power, and, panic-struck, implored the prophet to pray for them. Promising to do so, he dispelled their fears. The conduct of Samuel, in this whole affair of the king's appointment, shows him to have been a great and good man who sank all private and personal considerations in disinterested zeal for his country's good and whose last words in public were to warn the people, and their king, of the danger of apostasy and disobedience to God.