In this chapter Samuel, resigning the government to Saul, asserts the integrity with which he had performed his office, and calls upon the people of Israel to attest it, who did, 1 Sam. 12:1–5, he then reminds them of the great and good things the Lord had done for them in times past, 1 Sam.

And Samuel said unto all Israel When assembled at Gilgal, after they had recognized Saul as their king, and he was established in the kingdom, and while in the midst of their mirth and joy: behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye have said unto me; respecting the affair of a king,…

And now, behold, the king walketh before you He invested with his office, and in the exercise of it, and goes in and out as the captain, commander, and leader of the people; it is expressive of his being in the full possession of regal power and authority, and therefore Samuel might speak the more…

Behold, here I am No longer the supreme governor, but a subject, and accountable for any misdemeanour charged upon me, and to which I am ready to give answer, being now at your bar to be tried and judged before you: witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed; signifying, that if…

And they said One in the name of the rest, or they all cried out as one man: thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us; had done them no wrong, neither privately nor publicly, by fraud or by force: neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand; as a gift, present, or bribe, to fit your his…

And he said unto them, the Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day Should they hereafter reproach and vilify him, and charge him with any acts of corruption, injustice, and violence: that ye have not found ought in my hand; that they had nothing to accuse him of and charge…

And Samuel said unto the people Having cleared and established his own character, he proceeds to lay before the people some of the great things God had done for them formerly, and quite down to the present time, the more to aggravate their ingratitude in rejecting God as their King: it is the Lord…

Now therefore stand still Keep your place, and do not as yet break up the assembly, but wait a little longer patiently, and with reverence and attention hearken to what I have further to say: that I may reason with you before the Lord; as in his presence; and which he observes to command the…

When Jacob was come into Egypt With his family to see his son Joseph, and dwelt there; or rather the posterity of Jacob are meant, who settled in Egypt, and continued there many years, and at length were oppressed by the Egyptians, and brought into hard bondage: and your fathers cried unto the…

And when they forgat the Lord their God The worship of the Lord their God, as the Targum; that is, they fell into idolatry, which is a plain instance and proof of forgetfulness of God; for such that neglect his worship, and serve idols, may be truly said to forget him: he sold them into the hand of…

And they cried unto the Lord When in the hands of their enemies, and in bondage to them, and cruelly oppressed by them: and said, we have sinned; the word for “said” is in the Cetib, or written text, singular, and in the Keri, or marginal reading, plural; and may signify, that everyone of them had…

And the Lord sent Jerubbaal Or Gideon, as the Targum, for Jerubbaal was the name given to Gideon, when he first became a judge, and Bedan; if this was one of the judges, he must have two names, or is one that is not mentioned in the book of Judges; the Targum interprets it of Samson; so Jerom…

And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you Or “but yet” [[9]]; however, notwithstanding though the Lord had been so kind and gracious to them, as to raise up judges one after another to deliver them, when they cried unto him, yet when they perceived that Nahash…

Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired For though God chose their king for them, it was at their request; they chose to have a king, and desired one, and they approved of and consented to, and confirmed the choice he had made, and so it was in effect their own:…

If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, &c.] All worship and service of God, and obedience to his word and ordinances, should spring from fear and reverence of him; and therefore the whole of worship, both external and internal, is sometimes expressed by the fear of the Lord:…

But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord They and their king, by sinning, disregarding his precepts, both affirmative and negative: then shall the hand of the Lord be against you; by sending some judgments upon them, as famine, sword, or…

Now therefore stand Which does not so much respect the position of their bodies as the fixed attention of their minds: and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes; meaning the storm of thunder and rain which presently followed; which coming at a time when such things were not…

Is it not wheat harvest today? &c.] Of the time of wheat harvest, (See Gill on 1 Sam. 6:13). Rain usually fell in Judea only twice a year, called the former and the latter rain; and from the seventeenth of Nisan or March, to the sixteenth of Marchesvan or October, it was not usual for rain to fall,…

So Samuel called unto the Lord Not in an authoritative way, or by way of command, but by prayer; so the Targum renders the clause in the preceding verse, “I will pray before the Lord:” and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; immediately, though there was no appearance of it; it was harvest…

And all the people said unto Samuel, During the tempest, and in the midst of it; it was the general cry of the people, they were unanimous in it: pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not; though they had rejected him as their judge and supreme governor in desiring a king, now…

And Samuel said unto the people, fear not Being destroyed by the tempest: ye have done all this wickedness; in asking a king; that is, though they were guilty of so heinous a sin, yet there were grace and mercy with God, and they should not despair of it, so be it that they did not depart from him,…

And turn ye not aside From his worship: for then; if they turned aside from that: should ye go after vain things; idols, which are vanity, and less than vanity: which cannot profit nor deliver; neither bestow good things on their votaries, nor deliver them from evils, or from the hands of their…

For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake. ] For the sake of himself, his honour and glory; should he forsake his people, and suffer them to come to ruin, his name would be blasphemed among the Heathens; he would be charged either with want of power to help them, or with…

Moreover, as for me As he had given them reason to believe that God would forgive their sin, by which they had offended him, rejecting him as their King, so he likewise forgave their offence against him in rejecting him as their governor under him, and so neither need fear the Lord nor him with a…

Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart Fear him not with a servile fear, which is before dehorted from, but with a filial fear, a reverential affection for God; and includes the whole of religious worship, internal and external; explained further by serving him according to…

But if ye shall still do wickedly Continue to rebel against God, revolt from him, and depart from his worship, and despise his prophets, and serve idols: ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king; their king would be so far from protecting, that he should perish with them, be killed by the sword,…