Verses 13-15
Samuel Then Stresses That YHWH Has Graciously Given Them Their Desire And Calls On Them To Respond In Like Manner (1 Samuel 12:13-15 ).
Samuel now stresses that, in spite of their attitude towards Him, it is still YHWH Who has set over them this king whom they had demanded, and have now chosen. Therefore if both they and their king will continue to hear His voice and obey Him then all will go well with them. But if they refuse to listen to His voice and do not obey Him and His commandments, than they must rather expect that it will go ill with them. Thus although their choosing a king other than YHWH will make if more difficult for them to continue looking to YHWH, how it eventually turns out will depend on them and them alone.
“ Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have asked for, and see, YHWH has set a king over you.”
He presents Saul to them as the one that they have themselves chosen. Notice the emphasis on the fact that it is their choice which has been effective (even though guided by him and approved by lot), which suggests again that Samuel has been keeping himself in the background during the confirmation of kingship. And he stresses they have chosen him as a result of the fact that they had first asked for him. All the responsibility for these actions thus lies on them. And it is because of all this that YHWH had set him as king over them.
(What the people had done should be a reminder to us of how often we manoeuvre God into doing our will, something to which He responds out of His compassion for us, and then we blame Him when things go wrong, whereas if only we had really listened to His voice in the first place, it would never have happened).
“ If you will fear YHWH, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of YHWH, and both you and also the king who reigns over you be followers of YHWH your God, then it will be well with you.”
The new situation need not turn out badly. It is up to them. For the appointment of a king has not altered YHWH’s basic requirements, nor has it let the people off from obedience. It is still required of them that they fear YHWH, and serve Him, and listen to His voice. Both they and the king must be followers of YHWH. And the implication is that if they do this, it will be well with them. (‘Then it will be well with you’ is not expressed in the Hebrew, but is the implication to be read in).
“ But if you will not listen to the voice of YHWH, but rebel against the commandment of YHWH, then will the hand of YHWH be against you, as it was against your fathers.”
On the other hand if having a king results in their not listening to His voice, but in their rebelling against the commandments of YHWH, then the hand of YHWH will be against them, as it was regularly against their fathers when they also neglected God.
We may ask, what difference then would having a king make? And the answer is that it would insulate them from God so that they did not have to deal with God directly. That would be left to the king. And the inevitable result of that would be that the trust of most of them would be in the king and not in God. And when things went wrong it would be the king that they blamed, rather than their own state before God.
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