---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse 1 Samuel 12:1. And Samuel said — It is very likely that it was at this public meeting Samuel delivered the following address; no other time seems to"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/1-samuel/12"
---

Verse [1 Samuel 12:1](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/1). ***And Samuel said*** — It is very likely that it was at this public meeting Samuel delivered the following address; no other time seems to be given for it, and this is the most proper that could be chosen.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:2](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/2). ***My sons*****are*****with you*** — It is generally agreed that these words intimate that Samuel had deprived them of their public employ, and reduced them to a level with the common people.
***Have walked before you from my childhood*** — He had been a long, steady, and immaculate servant of the public.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:3](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/3). ***Witness against me*** — Did ever a minister of state, in any part of the world, resign his office with so much self-consciousness of integrity, backed with the universal approbation of the public? No man was oppressed under his government, no man defrauded! He had accumulated no riches for himself; he had procured none for his friends; nor had one needy dependant been provided for out of the *public purse*. He might have pardoned his own sons, who had acted improperly, before he quitted the government; but though he was the most tender of parents, he would not, but abandoned them to national justice, with only a tacit solicitation of mercy: *Behold, my sons are with you*! They have acted improperly; I deprived them of their authority; they are amenable to *you* for their past conduct; I have walked uprightly and disinterestedly among you; they have not followed my steps: but can you forgive them for their father's sake? As a *minister of justice*, he abandons them to their fate; as a *tender* *father*, he indirectly and modestly pleads for them on the ground of his own services. Had he not acted thus in both these relations, he would have been unworthy of that character which he so deservedly bears.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:4](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/4). ***They said, Thou hast not defrauded*** — Of what minister or governor can any nation under heaven say such things?

Verse [1 Samuel 12:7](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/7). ***Now therefore stand still*** — I have arraigned *myself* before God and you; I now arraign *you* before God.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:8](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/8). ***The Lord sent Moses and Aaron*** — He shows them that through all their history God had ever raised them up deliverers, when their necessities required such interference.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:9](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/9). ***The hand of Sisera*** — See these transactions in the book of Judges, as marked in the margin; and see the notes on those passages. [Judges 4:2](../../../kjv/judges/4/2) ([note](#c7.4.2))

Verse [1 Samuel 12:11](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/11). ***Jerubbaal*** — That is, Gideon. *And Bedan*: instead of *Bedan*, whose name occurs nowhere else as a judge or deliverer of Israel, the *Septuagint* have *Barak*; the same reading is found in the *Syriac* and *Arabic*. The Targum has *Samson*. Many commentators are of this opinion; but *Calmet* thinks that *Jair* is intended, who judged Israel *twenty-two* years, [Judges 10:3](../../../kjv/judges/10/3).
Instead of *Samuel* the *Syriac* and *Arabic* have *Samson*; and it is most natural to suppose that Samuel does not mention *himself* in this place. St. Paul's authority confirms these alterations: *The time would fail me*, says he, *to tell of Gideon*, of *Barak*, of *Samson*, of *Jephthah*, of *David*, &c.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:12](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/12). ***When ye saw that Nahash*** — This was not the first time they had demanded a *king*; see before, [1 Samuel 8:5](../../../kjv/1-samuel/8/5). But at the crisis mentioned here they became more importunate; and it was in consequence of this that the kingdom was a second time confirmed to Saul. Saul was *elected* at *Mizpeh*, he was *confirmed* at *Gilgal*.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:14](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/14). ***If ye will fear the Lord, &c.*** — On condition that ye rebel no more, God will take you and your king under his merciful protection, and he and his kingdom shall be confirmed and *continued*.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:16](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/16). ***This great thing*** — This unusual occurrence.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:17](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/17). ***Is it not wheat harvest to-day?*** — That is, This is the *time of wheat harvest*. According to St. Jerome, who spent several years in the promised land, this harvest commenced about the end of *June* or beginning of *July*, in which he says he never saw rain in Judea: Nunquam enim in fine mensis Junii, sive in mense Julio, in his provinciis, maximeque in Judea, pluvias vidimus. - HIER. in [Amos 4:7](../../../kjv/amos/4/7); where he refers to this very history. What occurred now hardly ever occurs there but in the winter months.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:18](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/18). ***The Lord sent thunder and rain that day*** — This was totally unusual; and, as it came at the *call of Samuel*, was a most evident *miracle*.
***Greatly feared the Lord*** — They dreaded His terrible majesty; and *they feared Samuel*, perceiving that he had so much power with God.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:19](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/19). ***Pray for thy servants - that we die not*** — As they knew they had rebelled against God, they saw that they had every thing to fear from his justice and power.
***We have added unto all our sins*****this*****evil*** — It is no sin to have a king; a good king is one of the greatest blessings of God's providence; but it is a sin to put a *man* in the place of *God*. Is it not strange that they did not now attempt to repair their fault? They might have done it, but they did not; they acknowledged their sin, but did not put it away. This is the general way of mankind. "God help us, we are all sinners!" is the general language of all people: but though to be a *sinner* is to be in the most *solemn* and *awful* circumstances, yet they are contented to bear the character, heedless of the consequences!

Verse [1 Samuel 12:20](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/20). ***Ye have done all this wickedness*** — That is, *although* ye have done all this wickedness: what was past God would pass by, provided they would be obedient in future.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:21](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/21). ***After vain things*** — That is, *idols*; which he calls here התהו *hattohu*, the same expression found [Genesis 1:2](../../../kjv/genesis/1/2). *The earth was* תהו tohu; it was *waste, empty*, and *formless:* so idols; they are *confusion*, and things of *naught*, for *an idol is* *nothing in the world*-it is not the representative of any intelligent being.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:22](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/22). ***The Lord will not forsake his people*** — He will not as yet cast you off, though you have deserved it. His purpose in preserving them in their land and religion was not yet accomplished. It was not however *for their sake* that he would not cast them off, but *for his own great name's sake*. He drew his reasons from himself.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:23](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/23). ***God forbid that I should sin*** — They had earnestly begged him, [1 Samuel 12:19](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/19), to pray to God for them, that they might not die; and he tells them that he should consider himself a sinner, should he cease to be their intercessor.
***But I will teach you the good and the right way*** — I will show you, as long as I am with you, what *true religion* is; it is the *way* to *happiness* and *heaven*. It is *right*-there is no *crookedness* in it; it is *good*- there is no *evil* in it.

Verse [1 Samuel 12:24](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/24). ***Only fear the Lord*** — *Know, respect*, and *reverence* him.
***Serve him*** — Consider him your *Lord* and *Master*; consider yourselves his *servants*.
***In truth*** — Be ever *honest*, ever *sincere; with all your heart*- have every *affection* engaged in the work of obedience; act not merely from a principle of *duty*, but also from a *pious, affectionate* *sense* of obligation. Act towards your God as an affectionate *child* should act towards a tender and loving *parent*.
***Consider how great*** things] Review the history of your *fathers*, review your own life; see what interpositions of power, mercy, goodness, and truth, God has displayed in your behalf! Has he not daily loaded you with his benefits?

Verse [1 Samuel 12:25](../../../kjv/1-samuel/12/25). ***Ye shall be consumed*** — If ye do wickedly *you* shall be destroyed, your *kingdom* destroyed, and your *king* destroyed. Here they had set before them life and good, death and evil. Never was a people more fully warned, and never did a people profit less by the warning; and they continue to this day monuments of God's justice and forbearance. Reader, What art thou? Perhaps a similar monument. Consider therefore what great things God has done for *thee*.

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