1 Samuel 12:14 Komentář

We left the general assembly of the states together, in the close of the foregoing chapter; in this chapter we have Samuel's speech to them, when he resigned the government into the hands of Saul, in which, I. He clears himself from all suspicion or imputation of mismanagement, while the administration was in his hands (Sa1 12:1-5). II. He reminds them of the great things God had done for them and for their fathers (Sa1 12:6-13). III. He sets before them good and evil, the blessing and the curse (Sa1 12:14, Sa1 12:15). IV. He awakens them to regard what he said to them, by calling to God for thunder (Sa1 12:16-19). V. He encourages them with hopes that all should be well (Sa1 12:20-25). This is his farewell sermon to that august assembly and Saul's coronation sermon.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 12 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, Sa1 12:1, he then reminds them of the great and good things the Lord had done for them in times past, Sa1 12:6 and whereas they had desired a king, and one was given them, it was their interest to fear and serve the Lord; if not, his hand would be against them, Sa1 12:10 he terrifies them by calling for thunder in an unusual time, Sa1 12:16 and then comforts and encourages them, that in doing their duty God would be with them, and not forsake them, otherwise they might expect nothing but ruin and destruction, Sa1 12:20.

If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice,.... 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: and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord; break it, and thereby exasperate him, and provoke him to wrath and bitterness: then shall both ye, and also the king that reigneth over you, continue following the Lord your God; the Targum is,"after the worship of the Lord your God;''which was their duty to do, and is expressed in the preceding clauses; and this therefore is rather a promise of some benefit and privilege to their duty, and to encourage them to it, since it stands opposed to the threatening of punishment in the next verse; and the words in the original are, "then shall ye &c. be after the Lord your God" (l): that is, though they had in effect rejected the Lord from being their King, by asking and having one; yet notwithstanding, if they and their king were obedient to the commands of the Lord, he would not cast them off; but they should follow him as their guide, leader, and director, and he would protect and defend them as a shepherd does his sheep that follow after him; so Jarchi takes it to be a promise of long life and happiness to them and their king,"ye shall be established to length of days, both ye and the king.'' (l) "eritis post Dominum", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Piscator.

Hence, adding further, he says: "Now therefore, your king is here, whom you have chosen and requested. Behold, your God has given you a king. If you will fear God and serve Him and hear His voice and not provoke the mouth of the Lord, then both you and the king who rules over you will continue following the Lord your God. But if you will not hear the voice of the Lord, but provoke His words, the hand of the Lord will be against you and against your fathers." 7. These things are certainly not mystical but historical in every respect. For where both prelates and subjects lead a reprobate life, they equally undergo the punishment of divine vengeance. But because good things are spoken of separately and evil things separately, those things for which the hand of the Lord is foretold as coming upon them must be considered more carefully. What then does it mean when he says: "If you will fear the Lord and serve Him," unless that many dread the judgments of divine severity and yet do not cease to do wicked things? With a trembling heart indeed they think upon future judgments, but conquered by present pleasure, they by no means avoid committing evil. Rightly therefore after the fear of the Lord, service to Him is mentioned: because that fear alone is worthy of approval which, while it shakes the mind, draws it to the pursuit of good works. Likewise, because there are some who through the fear of the Lord reject certain evils and do some good things, and yet neither fully abandon evil nor sufficiently perform good, it is added: "And you will hear His voice." He who hears the voice of the Lord both fully does good and utterly abandons evil. But these same good works must be held in the delight of sweetness, not in the estimation of harshness. For those to whom the things commanded by the Lord always seem hard and harsh gradually fall away and fail. For this reason Truth says through Himself: "For My yoke is sweet and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30). For this reason John says: "His commandments are not heavy" (1 John 5:3). They are indeed not heavy for the elect: because while they seek the glory of eternal life with great desire, they gladly bear the precepts of the Gospel. The mouth of the Lord can also be understood as the preaching of perfect charity. For He wished, as it were, to show the endearments of His mouth when He said: "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). This indeed is the Lord's commandment, this is the yoke of divine sweetness. For what is borne more lightly, or ever more gladly, than love? What heavy thing, moreover, does one who loves not bear lightly? For whatever is loved is carried with great devotion. Therefore, because the bond of perfection is the charity of God and neighbor, rightly in the last place the prophet declares, saying: "If you will not provoke the mouth of the Lord, both you and the king who rules over you will be followers of the Lord your God." As if to say: Then you rightly fulfill the divine will, if you ground both the contempt of wickedness and the pursuit of good works in divine charity. Then you rightly run after the Redeemer toward the highest blessedness of eternal life, if you carry out with joy to the end of life those precepts of charity which are harsh to the carnal.

If you fear the Lord and serve Him, etc. It is understood of all that he noted; because evidently by their merits, as the rule of their first king, so the entire kingdom which they demanded against the will of God, would have worse times in its latter days than in its earlier ones: and meanwhile, as long as they feared God, they would be blessed with good kings; and as often as they neglected Him, they would be punished with evil kings: and finally, when wickedness increased, they would exchange the kingdom itself, along with freedom and homeland, for captivity or death. Likewise, the sign of transgression and the hard-heartedness of the people was no small matter, and the more terrible because it manifested itself in a way unfamiliar to those regions: voices and rain during the wheat harvest, which in the promised land throughout the entire summer only come by great miracles, to thus signify that all who desire to rule themselves against God’s long-recognized will, and to serve their own desires, are acting in an improper order: in a time when after receiving the Word they ought to bear ripe fruits of good works, they demonstrate by their disordered morals that they still need the correction or exhortation of the divine voice to teach them the elements of the beginnings of God’s words. What if someone seeks to explain this reading allegorically? It easily occurs, considering that Samuel, as the king walked before Israel, declared that he was now old, but from his youth he had lived innocently before them with witnesses from the Lord and His Christ. Because now, with the prophetic foretellings reigning in the Church Lord Jesus Christ, the books of the law and the prophets indeed bear witness to Him; and everywhere affirm, that, with the witness of the Father and the Son, and indeed the Holy Spirit, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good. Let no place be given to a Manichaean or his associates, in which they might blame the other writings of Scripture, not even one jot can pass from it, nor the giver of the same: nor does anyone who knows himself to be redeemed by the grace of new light doubt that the figures of the prophets have not aged. What is it then when he says he did not take anyone's ox or donkey? Because evidently the prophetic and legal Scripture did not deprive anyone of the triple duty of rightly dealing with a neighbor, or of the duty of correcting and instructing a neighbor, by suggesting anything evil. For the donkey, which by its innate gentleness is accustomed to carrying necessary loads and even people, signifies the love suitable to brotherly utility. The ox, which not only carries the imposed burdens of flesh but also prepares the fields by plowing furrows for the seeds, signifies those who, indeed, not only bear the weaknesses of their brethren but also by chastising uproot their sluggish hearts and cultivate them to receive the seed of the word. These two types of people, if I am not mistaken, encompass the entire company of workers of the Church. Thus Samuel took neither an ox nor a donkey from anyone; because old holy Scripture deprived neither the learned of the skill of teaching nor the simpler ones of the modesty of living piously with brethren. Furthermore, what it means to say: If you fear the Lord, and you and your king who rules over you follow the Lord: but if not, the hand of the Lord will be against you. And what he concluded with: If you persist in wickedness, both you and your king will perish together. For he who properly keeps the sacraments of faith, will follow the warnings of that God and Lord, of whom the only true king of Israel said: As I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in His love (John XV). But he who hears and does not heed the voice of the Lord, the divine hand remains on him until he repents. But he who persists obstinately till death, such a person, since he belongs to the most evil king Antichrist, will be damned to eternal perdition with him. For not only those who attach themselves to Antichrist in the end times, visibly rising against God, are considered to serve his kingdom: but even today, many who have been initiated into the mysteries of faith, when they immerse themselves in various crimes, are found to be serving his kingdom impiously: and it is said to them from prophetic reading: If you fear the Lord and serve Him, both you and your king who rules over you, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, follow the Lord God, the Father of the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ; but if you persist in wickedness, both you and your king Antichrist (then you will have him as king) will perish together. However, what is mentioned among other things, and you will know and see that you have done a great evil in the eyes of the Lord, asking for a king over you; it does not seem easy to refer this to Christ the king, whom anyone who humbly seeks to reign over himself, does not do any evil, but a great good, so much so that anyone who neglects to do this one thing, cannot do any other good; unless it is said that, with the increasing sin of men, it happened that the Son of God came in human flesh to suffer; who if man had never sinned, would never have fought against the enemy in man: and therefore, after sending angels, patriarchs, and prophets many times to educate the human race, in the fullness of time, since He foresaw that men would sin more grievously, reserved His own coming to reveal, that where sin abounded, grace more abounded: and rightly it is understood, because those who did not want to listen to Moses and the prophets, but compelled the Son of God to come in the flesh by the enormity of their sins, did a great evil. Neither does the parable of the vineyard in the gospel contradict this sense, whose wicked tenants, refusing to give fruits in due season and after wickedly beating, stoning, and mistreating the servants of their Lord, caused Him to send His only Son to them. But what is said about voices and rains from heaven in the time of the wheat harvest can also be interpreted in a good sense; so that we understand the voice of evangelical preaching as spiritually thundered from the heavens, in a time when hearts yielding fruits to the law should be gathered into the granaries of the early Church. And it can be said thus that the apostles themselves were reapers in those who already knew the law and made it, in calling them to the grace of the Gospel: irrigators in those who had not yet known the words of the law, and of whom it is said: Lift up your eyes and see the fields, that they are white already to harvest (John IV). But concerning those, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1 Cor. III): it should be understood more diligently, and drawn to the imitation of virtue, that blessed Samuel, being rejected by the people and expelled from leadership, nonetheless did not cease to bring the word of zealous exhortation and the help of pious intercession. Far be it from me, he said, to sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will teach you the good and right way. O remarkable example of fraternal love, he, innocent of leadership, even a most holy prophet and priest, is expelled, and he considers it a sin against the Lord if he does not strive to elevate those who rejected him to eternal joys, equally by praying and admonishing.

Samuel, grown old, testifies his integrity before the people, which they confirm, Sa1 12:1-5. He reproves them for their ingratitude and disobedience; and gives a summary of the history of their fathers, Sa1 12:6-12. He exhorts them to future obedience, and calls for a sign from heaven to confirm his authority, and to show them their disobedience: God sends an extraordinary thunder and rain, Sa1 12:13-19. He warns them against idolatry, and exhorts to obedience, and promises to intercede for them, Sa1 12:20-23. Sums up their duty, and concludes with a solemn warning, Sa1 12:24, Sa1 12:25.

If ye will fear the Lord, etc. - 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.

SAMUEL TESTIFIES HIS INTEGRITY. (Sa1 12:1-5) Samuel said unto all Israel--This public address was made after the solemn re-instalment of Saul, and before the convention at Gilgal separated. Samuel, having challenged a review of his public life, received a unanimous testimony to the unsullied honor of his personal character, as well as the justice and integrity of his public administration.

Samuel's Address at the Renewal of the Monarchy - 1 Samuel 12 Samuel closed this solemn confirmation of Saul as king with an address to all Israel, in which he handed over the office of judge, which he had hitherto filled, to the king, who had been appointed by God and joyfully recognised by the people. The good, however, which Israel expected from the king depended entirely upon both the people and their king maintaining that proper attitude towards the Lord with which the prosperity of Israel was ever connected. This truth the prophet felt impelled to impress most earnestly upon the hearts of all the people on this occasion. To this end he reminded them, that neither he himself, in the administration of his office, nor the Lord in His guidance of Israel thus far, had given the people any reason for asking a king when the Ammonites invaded the land (Sa1 12:1-12). Nevertheless the Lord had given them a king, and would not withdraw His hand from them, if they would only fear Him and confess their sin (Sa1 12:13-15). This address was then confirmed by the Lord at Samuel's desire, through a miraculous sign (Sa1 12:16-18); whereupon Samuel gave to the people, who were terrified by the miracle and acknowledged their sin, the comforting promise that the Lord would not forsake His people for His great name's sake, and then closed his address with the assurance of his continued intercession, and a renewed appeal to them to serve the Lord with faithfulness (Sa1 12:19-25). With this address Samuel laid down his office as judge, but without therefore ceasing as prophet to represent the people before God, and to maintain the rights of God in relation to the king. In this capacity he continued to support the king with his advice, until he was compelled to announce his rejection on account of his repeated rebellion against the commands of the Lord, and to anoint David as his successor.