1 Samuel 12:1

SAMUEL ADDRESSES THE NATION OF ISRAEL

Some have called this, `Samuel's Farewell Address,'[1] but that is an error. Samuel by no means retired from his ministry of guiding Israel into the new system of government, as subsequent chapters of First Samuel abundantly prove. "This speech has a defense of Samuel's administrative leadership, which he is now relinquishing to Saul; but he is not laying down his priestly functions nor his office as the first of the great prophets of God after Moses."[2]

The placement of this chapter is exactly correct, the events reported happening very probably, as admitted by many scholars, upon the occasion at Gilgal when Saul was finally actually acclaimed King of Israel. The fact of this address by Samuel coming just here strongly indicates, as we pointed out earlier, that there were three definite phases in the process of making Saul king, culminating in his popular acceptance at Gilgal.

"There are several particulars in this chapter which assume a knowledge of what was presented in previous chapters or point forward to events in subsequent chapters, indicating that 1 Samuel 12 cannot be isolated from surrounding material."[3]

In our study of this chapter we shall follow the paragraphing suggested by Willis.

SAMUEL'S DECLARATION OF HIS FAITHFULNESS

And Samuel said to all Israel, "Behold, I have hearkened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walks before you; and I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you; and I have walked before you from my youth until this day. Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me, and I will restore it to you." They said, "You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand." And he said to them, "The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand." And they said, "He is witness."

The purpose of Samuel's plea here is that of emphasizing that it was not his abuse of the powers entrusted in him that, in any sense, justified the people's rejection of Samuel's judgeship and their demand for a king.

"I ... have made a king over you" (1 Samuel 12:1). Samuel is not here claiming any glory for this. He later stated in 1 Samuel 12:13 that it was God who had accomplished this.

"Samuel here laid down his office as judge, but without therefore ceasing as prophet to represent the people before God, and to retain the rights of God in relation to the king."[4]

"A bribe" (1 Samuel 12:3). The word from which this is translated in the Hebrew is actually ransom "The fine paid by a criminal in lieu of bonds or death."[5] Specifically, "Here it means a bribe offered to a judge to persuade him to acquit a murderer"[6]

The great significance of this paragraph, as pointed out by Keil, lay in the fact that by their witness of the honesty and integrity of Samuel's judgeship, "They thereby acknowledge on oath that there was no ground for their dissatisfaction with Samuel and their demand for a king."[7]