1 Samuel 12:6 - Meaning and Application

Samuel had now sufficiently protected his own reputation. Instead of rebuking the people for their unkind treatment of him, he turned to teach them and keep them in the path of duty. That way, the change in government would do them less harm.

First, he reminds them of God’s great goodness to them and to their fathers. He gives them a short history of their nation so that, by thinking on all God had done, they might be bound forever to love and serve him. “Come,” he says, “stand still” (1 Samuel 12:7). Stand still in reverence while God speaks to you, stand still to listen carefully and calmly, and let me reason with you. Religion has reason on its side (Isaiah 1:18). The work of ministers is to reason with people, not only to urge and guide them, but also to persuade them and convince their minds, so that their wills and affections may follow.

He reasons with them about the righteous acts of the Lord, meaning both the blessings God had given them in keeping his promises and the punishments he had sent for their sins. His favors are called righteous acts (Judges 5:11), because in them he is faithful to his own honor. Samuel does not only remind them of what God had done in their own day, but also of what he had done long ago, in their fathers’ days, because the present generation had already benefited from those earlier acts of mercy. His speech was likely much longer than the short account we have here.

He reminds them of their rescue from Egypt. Jacob and his family went down into that house of slavery poor and few in number. When they were oppressed, they cried out to God, and he raised up Moses and Aaron, men of humble beginnings, to be their deliverers and the founders of their life as a nation in Canaan (1 Samuel 12:6, 1 Samuel 12:8).

He also reminds them of the misery their fathers brought on themselves by forgetting God and serving other gods (1 Samuel 12:9). They made themselves slaves, for they were sold as criminals and captives into the hands of oppressors. They also brought war and ruin on themselves, because their neighbors came out to fight against them. Then he recalls their fathers’ repentance and sorrow before God for their idols: “We have sinned” (1 Samuel 12:10). Let the children not copy the sins of their fathers, since those fathers often wished undone what they had done wrong. In their time of distress, they sought the Lord and promised to serve him, so their children should learn to count it a good thing, at all times, to serve the God whom they had found good in hard times.

He then points them to the great rescues God had worked for them, the victories he had given them, and the peaceful settlements that followed many seasons of trouble and distress (1 Samuel 12:11). He names Gideon and Jephthah, great conquerors in their day. He also mentions Bedan, a person not named elsewhere in Scripture. He may have been some notable helper whom God used for their rescue, though not recorded in the book of Judges, like Shamgar, of whom it is said that he delivered Israel, though not that he judged them (Judges 3:31). Some think Bedan was the same as Jair, and others think it was Samson, who was from Dan. Samuel includes himself, not to praise himself, but to honor God, who had made him an instrument in defeating the Philistines.

At last, he reminds them of God’s recent kindness to that very generation, in giving them a king when they asked for one to save them from Nahash, king of Ammon (1 Samuel 12:12, 1 Samuel 12:13). It now becomes clear that this was the immediate reason they wanted a king. Nahash threatened them, and they asked Samuel to appoint a commander. He told them that God himself was their commander in all their wars and that they needed no other. What was lacking in them, he said, would be supplied by God’s power: “The Lord is your king.” But they insisted, “No, but a king shall reign over us.” So Samuel says, in effect, “Now you have a king, a king you asked for, and that should shame you. But he is also a king God has given, and that should honor God and show his grace.” God did not cast them off, even when they, in effect, cast him off.

Second, Samuel shows them that they and their king are now under close watch. They must not think they have cut themselves off from dependence on God, or that, now having a king of their own, their future is fully in their own hands. Human success is never finally in man’s power. Judgment still comes from the Lord.

He tells them plainly that obedience to God will certainly bring happiness (1 Samuel 12:14). If they do not turn away from God to idols, and do not rebel by breaking his commandments, but keep faithful to him, fear his wrath, serve his cause, and obey his will, then they and their king will be blessed. The promise is phrased carefully: “Then you shall continue following the Lord your God.” That means, first, they will keep walking in the path of duty, which will be their honor and comfort. God gives sincere believers grace to keep on following him, and following God is itself its own reward.

It also means they will continue under God’s guidance and protection. The Hebrew sense is, “you shall be after the Lord,” that is, he will go before them to lead them and make their path clear. “The Lord is with you while you are with him.” If they stay with God, he will be with them.

But their disobedience would bring the same ruin as before (1 Samuel 12:15). They must not think that having a king will protect them from God’s judgments, or that, because they have now become like the nations in this one thing, they can sin as cheaply as they do. No, the hand of the Lord will be against them, just as it was against their fathers when they offended him in the days of the judges. We are wrong if we think we can escape God’s justice by casting off his rule. If God does not rule us, he will still judge us.