Samuel’s Speech at Saul’s Coronation

I Samuel 12:6–25
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Samuel reminds the people of how God, through His chosen leaders, delivered them from Egypt (vv. 6-8).  He did this to encourage them to trust God in their circumstances now. He then recounted their disobedience under the Judges (vv. 9-11). When he talks about them forgetting God, he does not mean that they merely forgot how He had delivered them but that they ceased to worship and serve Him. Next Samuel pointed out that the Ammonite menace had prompted them to request a human king, a request to which the Lord had graciously allowed (vv. 12-15). Samuel is telling it like it is. If the people will serve God, He will bless them. If they do not serve Him, judgment will come.

Finally Samuel appealed to the Lord to send a sign from heaven both to authenticate his own warnings of judgment and to cause the people to respect the God who had called them and who desired to bless and use them (vv. 16-18). The thunder and rain were God’s great seal on Samuel’s career as God’s spokesman. When the people witnessed the display of thunder and rain, a phenomenon unheard of in early summer, the time of wheat harvest (v. 17), they turned to Samuel in earnest penitence and asked the prophet to pray that God might forgive their hastiness in seeking a king (v. 19). Samuel related to the people that God would bless them in spite of their wrong choice if they would only be steadfast in their obedience from this point on. The past could not be undone but their future was untainted and could be devoted to the Lord (vv. 20-22).

The way the Israelites constantly turned from God, we might ask the question, “Why did God make Israel `His people’ (v.22)?” He did not choose them because they deserved it (Deut. 7:7-8) but so they might become His channel of blessing to all people through the Messiah (Gen. 12:1-3). Is failing to pray for others a sin?  Samuel’s words (”...for be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you”) seem to indicate that it is (v. 23). Samuel disagreed with the Israelites’ demand for a king, but he assured them that he would continue to pray for them and teach them.

If the people would respond affirmatively, they could expect God’s continued blessing on their nation. But if they did not, they could expect the judgment of God on them (vv. 24-25). Again Samuel reminds the people to consider what great things God has done for them. It is so easy to be so future orientated that we forget all that God has already done for us.

Application

It would be good for me to sit down and list everything God has done for me and thank Him for it?  It is so easy to have a bigger want list than a praise list.