1 Samuel 12:7-11

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 12:6-15

The immutable condition of well being. The facts are— 1 . Samuel, having shown his right to be heard, calls on the people to hearken to his argument. 2 . He refers to historic instances to show that trouble always came with unfaithfulness to God, and prosperity with a return to fidelity. 3 . He reminds them that their desire for a king implied distrust of God. 4 . Recognising the new order of things, he insists that the adversity or prosperity of the nation rested where it... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 12:7-8

Stand still. Literally, station yourselves, take your places, stand forth (see 1 Samuel 10:23 ). That I may reason with you. Literally, "that I may deal as judge," i.e. that with all the authority of my office I may declare that Jehovah has acted justly by you, and that you have dealt unjustly with him. Righteous acts. The margin, benefits, is wrong. Samuel vindicates God's dealings with them against the charge of his having failed to protect them implied in their demand for a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 12:9

When they forgat Jehovah their God. The theocracy, as we have seen ( 1 Samuel 10:18 ), was a moral government, under which idolatry and the immorality attendant upon it, as being rebellion, were punished by Jehovah's withdrawing his protection, and the consequent subjection of the nation to foreign rule. It was the repeated sin, therefore, of the people which made Israel's history so checquered. Sisera ( 4:2 ), the Philistines ( 3:31 ), and Eaton, king of Moab. ( 3:12 ), are... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 12:10

We have served [the] Baalim and [the] Ashtaroth . I.e. the numerous Baals and Astartes, which were worshipped under various titles by the heathen. For though representing the same power, each people had their own epithets for their own particular personification of the god (see on 1 Samuel 7:4 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 12:11

Bedan . Numerous ingenious explanations of this name have been given, but the only probable account is that Bedan is a misreading for Barak. The two names are very similar in the Hebrew, and the two most ancient versions, the Septuagint and the Syriac, actually have Barak. And Samuel. This is even more puzzling than Bedan. We cannot suppose that Samuel, who hitherto had confined himself to the old deliverances, would thus suddenly introduce his own name. In mentioning only them he had... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 12:9

According to the present arrangement of the Book of Judges, and the common chronology, the oppression of Sisera must have occurred about 200 years after the entrance into Canaan. But Samuel here places it as the first great servitude, before that under Eglon king of Moab, or that from which Shamgar delivered them. And this is in accordance with the internal evidence of the Book of Judges itself. It is also the order of Judges 10:11, except that there the Ammonites Judges 3:13 are placed before... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 12:11

Bedan - No such name occurs among the Judges who delivered Israel. Some versions and commentators read “Barak,” the form of the letters of both words being in Hebrew somewhat similar.And Samuel - There is nothing improper or out of place in Samuel mentioning his own judgeship. It had supplied a remarkable instance of God’s deliverance 1 Samuel 7:12-15; and, as it was the last as well as one of the very greatest deliverances, it was natural he should do so. The passage in Hebrews 11:32 is quite... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Samuel 12:7

1 Samuel 12:7. Now, therefore, stand still Having obtained an honourable testimony from them as to his own conduct, he would not dismiss them till he had represented to them the great benefits which they had received from God, and their ingratitude to him. Of all the righteous acts of the Lord Hebrews the righteousnesses; that is, mercies or benefits, the chief subject of the following discourse; some of their calamities being but briefly named, and that for the illustration of God’s... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Samuel 12:8

1 Samuel 12:8. Made them dwell in this place In this land: in which Moses and Aaron are said to settle them; because they brought them into, and seated them in part of it, that without Jordan; because they were, under God, the principal authors of their entering into the land of Canaan; inasmuch as they brought them out of Egypt, conducted them through the wilderness, and there, by their prayers to God, and counsels to them, preserved them from ruin, and gave command from God for the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Samuel 12:9

1 Samuel 12:9. They forgat the Lord That is, they revolted from him, and carried themselves as if they had wholly forgotten his innumerable favours. This he says to answer an objection, that the reason why they desired a king was, because in the time of the judges they were at great uncertainties, and often exercised with sharp afflictions: to which he answereth by concession that they were so; but adds, that they themselves were the cause of it, by their forgetting God: so that it was not... read more

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