1 Samuel 12 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Sam 12:1-7

1 Samuel said to all Israel, ‘I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. 2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and grey, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.’

4 ‘You have not cheated or oppressed us,’ they replied. ‘You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.’

5 Samuel said to them, ‘The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.’

‘He is witness,’ they said.

6 Then Samuel said to the people, ‘It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. 7 Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.

A. Find Out:

1. What does Samuel say he has done? v.1
2. Why is he now speaking? v.2
3. About what does he want them to testify? v.3
4. What was the people’s testimony? v.4
5. What does he call the Lord to be? v.5
6. What does he say he will do? v.7 

B. Think:

1. Samuel’s job as judge over Israel had come to an end. Why?
2. In getting the people to admit he has done nothing wrong, what has Samuel done in respect of their asking for a king?
3. What do you think is his point in speaking to them in this way?

C. Comment:

     Samuel feels he is coming to the end of his life. He calls the people to acknowledge that he has appointed a king for them, just as they asked for, and also that he has never wronged them. This they readily agree to, and in doing so they, of course, must acknowledge that they really had no reason to ask for a king.  Yes, Samuel’s sons had not been up to the job, but they could have still gone to Samuel himself while he was still there.

     We must observe this lesson, that we all make excuses and blame others, just as this people had done. Samuel was a good example to this people and his one failing had been his sons, but you cannot make even those close to you be righteous, and so he was blameless.    

Having established this, he then goes on to declare that he will next show them how the Lord was blameless in His actions towards Israel.   Yes, in his closing words to this people he is going to leave them NO room to blame either him or God for what is coming. God has never ever failed them, therefore they have no excuse! 

D. Application?

1. As you consider God’s activity in your life, you can never ever blame Him for any wrong thing!
2. Do we acknowledge our faults, or do we constantly blame others or God?

Passage: 1 Sam 12:8-15

8 ‘After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.

9 ‘But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hands of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. 10 They cried out to the Lord and said, “We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.” 11 Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.

12 ‘But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, “No, we want a king to rule over us”– even though the Lord your God was your king. 13 Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God – good! 15 But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.

A. Find Out:

1. Of what does Samuel first remind them? v.8
2. What had the Lord done again and again? v.11
3. Why had they wanted a king? v.12
4. So what had God done? v.13
5. What were they and their king to do? v.14
6. What would happen if they didn’t? v.15

B. Think:

1. What point had Samuel first been making in verses 8 to 11?
2. What warning should have come in that reminder?
3. How did he make that warning explicit?

C. Comment:

     Samuel has said he is going to present them with evidence of God’s righteous acts towards them. He starts by reminding them that they were in the land of Canaan because it had been God who had delivered them out of Egypt into Canaan. He then reminded them of what had happened ever since they had been in the land. Again and again they had turned away from the Lord and so the Lord had left them to their own devices, and so again and again they had fallen prey to their enemies. When they had, again and again, called on the Lord, the Lord had every time responded and sent them a deliverer.

     Even when they had asked for a king, the Lord had met their cry and had provided Saul for them. But, says Samuel, remember nothing has changed!  If you turn away from the Lord then His hand of blessing will be withdrawn from you, and you will find that with His protection withdrawn, you will find His hand of judgement against you. We need to realise that all the earth deserves His judgement, and it is only His mercy through Jesus that saves us. We either receive His mercy or His judgement, and that is determined by our responses to Jesus. If we refuse His Lordship, we refuse His salvation.

D. Application?

1. God is faithful and always comes with salvation when His people genuinely cry out to Him.
2. Mercy or judgement, the choice is ours.

Passage: 1 Sam 12:16-25

16 ‘Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! 17 Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realise what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.’

18 Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.

19 The people all said to Samuel, ‘Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.’

20 ‘Do not be afraid,’ Samuel replied. ‘You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22 For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. 23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. 24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 25 Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.’

A. Find Out:

1. What did Samuel do? v.16-18a
2. What was the response of the people? v.18b,19
3. What did Samuel warn them against? 20,21
4. What did he say God wouldn’t do? v.22
5. What 2 things did he say he would do? v.23
6. What final warning did he give? v.24,25

B. Think:

1. What appears to have been the purpose of the storm?
2. What was reassuring about Samuel’s words?
3. What was challenging about them?

C. Comment:

     Coming to the end of his last speech to the people, Samuel warns and then prays for heavy rain, in the middle of their harvest time. The significant thing is that the Lord heard and answered, and the Lord doesn’t bring judgement where it is not due!

     Samuel’s prayer was obviously inspired. The response of the people is good in that they quickly acknowledge that this must be from the Lord and that they have sinned. Samuel says, yes, they have sinned but that doesn’t mean they have to completely turn away from the Lord, so he both reassures and warns them. There IS hope after sin, by God’s grace.

     First he REASSURES them that the Lord has not left them. Again and again we seem to need that reassurance for we know that we deserve to be left by God, but the amazing thing is that He says I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

    Then he WARNS them. They cannot just presume on the grace of the Lord, they must also follow the Lord. He will help them by a) PRAYING for them and b) by TEACHING them. The Lord wants them to be wholehearted in their following Him, and it will help them if they remember just what the Lord has done for them.

D. Application?

1. The Lord IS with us as Christians (Matthew 28:20)
2. We have a responsibility to follow whole heartedly after the Lord.