Let Us Review
1 Samuel 12:1-18
1 And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you.
2And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.
3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey 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.”
4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”
5 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.”
6 And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers.
8 When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.
9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them.
10 And they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’
11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.
12 And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king.
13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you.
14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well.
15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.
16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.
17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.”
18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
Should you be blessed to live to a ripe old age, gaining wisdom along the way, what would you say to those you love before leaving this earth to be with God? What is important for you pass along so that the following generations can benefit from your lifetime of living with God? That is where we find Samuel in today’s reading. He is making his farewell comments to the people, hoping to leave with them words that will carry them successfully into the future as God’s people, obedient to Him. So what does he do? He reviews. First, Samuel makes sure that his reputation is still clear. He gives the people opportunity to bring up any debts that he might still owe (of which there are none and he knows it), then he reminds them of their story with God. He helps them remember the past and the way that God has provided for their need for a leader in Moses and then the Judges. He reminds that that their forefathers had a tendency to forget about God and paid the price for that neglect with slavery and suffering. But they were also always sent heroes who would work at the command of God and bring about their restoration and freedom from oppression. Finally, Samuel reminds them that asking for a king was a mistake but that God is still with them and wants them to follow Him. The display at the end of the reading of God’s presence and Samuel’s veracity before the people and the Lord is quite interesting. Samuel says that God will prove that he speaks God’s words by sending thunder and rain, and thunder and rain appear. You’ve got to love that!
Of note in this passage is verse 16. “Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.”
We would do well to meditate on that verse. How often do we stand still and watch God work? Not often enough. Standing still is often deeply troubling for us. Waiting on God appears to us like we are not working to solve our own problems; that just doesn’t feel right to those of us who would be our own saviors. But that is exactly what Samuel advises the people to do. Quit running around exhausting your own resources and let God be God. See what He will do while you stand out of the way and praise Him for His marvelous deeds. This is one of Samuel’s final words of advice to the people – stand still!
Again, what would be your final words to those you love and have served with your life? Would you speak of God and His greatness in your life? Would you direct their thoughts and actions toward the Creator and Savior of us all? And finally, maybe waiting until you are facing death would be unwise. Maybe those words need to be spoken today and every day until God calls you into His presence, for none of us knows when we will be called away from the earth. It’s never too early to share God’s love and plan of salvation with those you love.
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