1 SAMUEL 12
Read 1 Samuel 12:1-25
In my Bible this section is headed, ‘Samuel’s Farewell Speech’, although he isn’t going anywhere for a while and still has some work to do for the Lord. But it is a speech that sums up where the people of Israel are; a sort of state of the nation speech. He is still bitter that the people have rejected God as their leader (and to a certain extent himself) and asked for a king so that they might be like the other nations.
Firstly, (verses 2-5), Samuel sets out to vindicate his own leadership. Yes, maybe he is getting on in years and his sons are not suitable to succeed him, but has he ever let Israel down as their leader? In all his years of leading the nation has he ever taken anyone else’s possessions, has he ever cheated anyone, taken a bribe or anything else that could be seen as wrongdoing? No! He has been a good and faithful leader.
But not only has Samuel been a good and faithful leader, so has God, and Samuel goes over some of the occasions in Israel’s history where God has been true to his people and brought them deliverance. But that wasn’t good enough – they had to have a king (Samuel would not let this go – in his mind asking for a king was a display of unfaithfulness on the part of the people). And in verses 13-15 he makes the point that even though there is a king, it is the Lord who is very much in charge. And to prove the point he prayed for the Lord to send thunder and rain, and the Lord did so (vv16-19).
So the Lord is still in charge, but now they had a king, what is to be done? Had they painted themselves into a corner in asking for a king? The Lord’s response (via Samuel) to them was, ‘Do not be afraid’. There was now an issue of guilt among the people. They had demanded a king against Samuel’s advice, and now they realised that was a sinful thing to do, that they had rejected God. And they now feared that God would kill them for their unfaithfulness (v19). But Samuel allayed their fears. He told them that they had done wrong, but that they should turn to the Lord. The Lord is faithful and true even though the Israelites had not trusted him and had been unfaithful. The Israelites at least had the grace to recognise that they were sinners – that asking for a king was a sin (v19), but that they had also committed other sins, and there is a sense of regret and repentance among the Israelites in vv19 and 20.
It is wonderful to have such a gracious and forgiving God. We are all sinners. Paul makes that clear, ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) but we are not destined for eternal separation from God as we deserve. As Samuel said, ‘The Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own’ (v23). If we know and trust the Lord we have no reason to be afraid and we can look forward to an eternal future with him.