1 Samuel Chapter 12

Samuel’s Farewell Speech

And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you. 2 And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.

Famous farewell speeches:

George Washington stressed patriotism and honor.

Douglas MacArthur’s farewell speech to congress “old soldiers never die, they just fade away” and at West point he repeated Duty Country Honor.

Eisenhower: beware the Military industrial complex.

1. Is Samuel retiring?

None other than Moses has ever been judge, priest and prophet over Israel as Samuel is until now. From a baby and throughout his entire life Samuel had been dedicated to God and His people.

He’s retiring as judge, from being the political leader and chief executive of the nation, but not as the chief priest and prophet.

When we choose to go our own way, God will back off and stay in the background, but Yahweh is not far off and never retires.

Here I am; testify against me before the Lordand before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey 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.”4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” 5 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.”

2. Who is on trial here?

Here I am. These familiar words for Samuel throughout his entire life emphasized his availability to God and the people. MSBN

” Testify against me… is a legal term. Samuel is publically presenting himself as the example of what the future leader of God’s people should be like.   So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked of him a king. “I’m here to make it right if I’ve wronged you”. Samuel is delineating the situation. The people have chosen to reject the leadership of Yahweh and his judge Samuel. Samuel holds up his entire life and challenges the nation to find a defect in his performance or that of God. Nobody will ever be able to say that the choice of Saul was because Samuel had “short changed” them in any way.

He warned them previously of what a king would do.

He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” 1 Samuel 8:11-16

How many can say they became great leaders without personally benefiting themselves? How is it that Mr. Smith goes to Washington and retires as a millionaire?

6 And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8  When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lordsent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

3. Why dwell on the past?

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”  George Santayana

God uses the word “remember” over 800 times in the bible.

He “confronts them with evidence”. They have hundreds of years of repeated failure and they still don’t get it. The definition of insanity is “repeating the same thing expecting a different outcome.

9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. 10  And they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’ 11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.

4. Who were Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah?

These were some of the judges before Samuel who God raised up to save Israel after they had turned away from God and were getting their butts kicked.

Gideon’s new name, Jerubbaal, meant “Let Baal contend,” echoing Joash’s mockery of those who trusted in Baal. With this name, Gideon became a living reminder of Baal’s impotence.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. …………….She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun…………….          [12] When Sisera was told that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, [13] Sisera called out all his chariots, 900 chariots of iron, and all the men who were with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the river Kishon. [14] And Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the LORD go out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. [15] And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot. [16] And Barak pursued the chariots and the army to Harosheth-hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left. (Judges 4:12-16 ESV)

[Jephthah Delivers Israel]

            [11:1] Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. (Judges 11:1 ESV)

12And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lordyour God was your king. 13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lordhas set a king over you.

5. Shouldn’t the majority rule when it comes to the direction of the country?

Not necessarily. A lynch mob is majority rule. Public opinion can turn on a dime. That’s why our founders constructed our government the way it is. Check and balances, operates slowly. The founding fathers knew how fickle we are.

At the time of the revolution the tea drinkers would pour their hot tea from the cup into the saucer to cool. George Washington called the House of Representatives “the cup”, much more subject to the heat of public opinion, and the Senate “the saucer”, where proposed legislation went to cool under the slow and thoughtful process of the less volatile Senatorial body.

14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. 15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.

6. Is there any evidence that Israel has ever “served and obeyed the Lord.”?

Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” 14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. 16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17  And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. 19  Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced 1 Kings 17: 13-19

16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lordwill do before your eyes. 17  Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.”

7. Is this more “sour grapes” on Samuel’s part?

 

God authenticates Samuel’s word when he tells them they screwed up by asking for a king. Many times we regret our decisions with respect to electing our leaders.

18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lordand Samuel. 19 And all the people said to Samuel,“Pray for your servants to the Lordyour God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” 20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.

8. What is the message here that Samuel is trying to get the people to understand?

We make wrong decisions, and then we have to pay the price for the wrong decisions, but that doesn’t mean we are lost. God takes us at whatever point we are and uses even our bad decisions for good.

21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22  For the Lordwill not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.

9. Is God having an identity crisis, worrying about “his great name”?

God’s name means something. It represents who He is. His name should be reflected in His people. He has an investment in us. We have an investment in our own children and we would like them to a certain extent reflect some our good characteristics. We don’t forsake our children just because they mess up.

23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24  Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

10. If Samuel is being forced into early retirement why is he still trying to pray for them and teach them? Is he just trying to avoid the proverbial “park bench” or having a problem “letting go”?

His entire life has been dedicated to his people. Just because they have rejected him that doesn’t mean he is going to reject them. They are going to need his help in the future when Saul begins to self destruct.

    ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes                       

·         MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes               

·         NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.                                                                  

·         JVM ….J Vernon McGee,

·         ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary

·         BN …..Barnes Notes

·         WBC……   Wycliffe Bible Commentary

·         CN ……Constables Notes 

·         IC……….Ironside Commentary

·         NET………Net Bible Study Notes.

·         JFB…………..Jamieson  Fausset Brown Commentary

·         VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies

·         CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark

·         BDB…………..Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

·         Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT

·         Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.

·         NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary:  Matthew and Mark.

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