Verses 16-19
Samuel Then Calls On YHWH To Witness From Heaven The Fact Of Their Sinfulness By Sending Thunder And Rain At The Time Of The Wheat Harvest (1 Samuel 12:16-19 ).
Then, lest the people begin to think that perhaps their action has not been so bad after all, Samuel gives them a sign from God of His displeasure. It was the time of the wheat harvest, the time in Israel when the sky was daily blue and cloudless, and when rain was something far away from their minds because it was not expected for at least a few months, so Samuel calls on YHWH to do the ‘impossible’, to bring thunder and rain at Samuel’s request. And when He does so the people are filled with awe and fear and ask Samuel to pray for them that they might not die, for they recognise now the greatness of their sin and folly in asking for a king.
“ Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which YHWH will do before your eyes.”
Samuel faces the people and tells them to stand where they are, for in that very place they will see the great thing that YHWH will do before their eyes.
“ Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to YHWH, that he may send thunder and rain, and you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of YHWH, in asking for yourselves a king.”
And then he informs them what it will be. At this very time of wheat harvest (May and June) when the weather was always hot and sunny (as it always is in Palestine at this time of year, without a cloud in the sky), he will call on YHWH to send thunder and rain so that they might recognise and see that their wickedness was great in asking for a king for themselves, something which they had done before the very eyes of YHWH.
Control of the weather was always recognised as being in YHWH’s hands, and the sending of rain at the right time was to be seen as one of the evidences of His blessings on His people, whereas a shortage of rain indicated His displeasure. But rain and thunder had regularly been a means by which God had revealed His judgment on His people’s enemies (1 Samuel 7:10; compare Judges 5:20-21). Thus this rain and thunder, coming at this time, could only indicate to the people that God was angry with them. Indeed rain in harvest was seen as something of such rarity that it was as rare as the possibility of a fool receiving honour (Proverbs 26:1).
The parallel in the chiasmus also indicates something further. It suggests that the rain and thunder were symbolic of coming judgments. Because they had chosen their own king rather than being in full submission to YHWH they would experience future judgments. And as we move on into Saul’s reign we discover that that is precisely what did happen. Indeed had God in His mercy not provided a David it would have been very much worse. But He tempered justice with mercy.
‘ So Samuel called to YHWH, and YHWH sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared YHWH and Samuel.’
Samuel then carried out his proposal and called on YHWH, and YHWH sent thunder and rain ‘that very day’, and the result was that the people realised just how much they had angered both God and Samuel, and they were filled with fear before both of them (compare Exodus 14:31 for a similar situation). Samuel was not, of course, simply seeking to terrify them. In his heart he was doing it for their good so that they might learn a lesson for the future. He wanted them to recognise that this manipulation of the weather was something that their new king would not be able to do for them. And he did not want them to forget YHWH.
‘ And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to YHWH your God, that we do not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” ’
The display of divine power made the people realise how foolish they had been, and they begged Samuel, on whom they had always depended in the past, to pray for them to YHWH his God that they might not die in the terrible storm, for they now recognised that they had added to all their previous sins this evil, that they had sought for themselves a king. Most of them would forget it once the storm was over. But for the present it was mightily effective.
Be the first to react on this!
