Ca – Samuel’s Farewell First Samuel 12: 1-25

Samuel’s Farewell
First Samuel 12: 1-25

Samuel’s farewell speech DIG: What do verses 1-5 reveal about Samuel’s character and faith? Why does he want the Israelites to agree that he is blameless? What is the purpose of Samuel’s history lesson in verses 6-17? How much faith do you suppose Samuel had in Isra’el’s ability to do what was “good and right (12:23)? How much confidence did Isra’el have? What did Samuel hope to achieve by praying for thunder and rain in the dry season? What, in fact, happened? When is failure to pray, a sin against God? What incentives, positive or negative, does he offer for loyal covenant living?

REFLECT: On the basis of the farewell speeches of the great men of the bible, how do you envision your own farewell speech? Do you think you will be more guilt-free, or guilt-ridden? How can you make sure you are blameless at the end of your life? How do you respond when you really blow it before the Lord? What is the biblical response? What “great things” has God done for you this past year? How have you been faithful since then? In what areas of your life has ADONAI continually proven faithful, yet you remain reluctant to trust him in those very areas? Who can you help this week?

Samuel wouldn’t continue as Isra’el’s judge,
but he would continue as the nation’s priest and prophet.

Whenever a great leader comes to the end of his career, his final words to his followers are usually extremely important. This was especially true for the great leaders of the Bible. In Deuteronomy, Moshe’s final words to Isra’el prior to him climbing up Mount Nebo to look upon the Promised Land and then die. His successor, Joshua, gathered all Isra’el to issue a challenge that still rings in our ears today: Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the false gods of their fathers or ADONAI, the God of Isra’el. But as for me and my house, Joshua concluded, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:15). When Paul passed through Ephesus for what he knew would be the last time, he gathered the elders to meet with him. The apostle reminded them what a true ministry is like . . . I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) . . . and warned them against wolves that would enter the flock and tear apart the sheep (Acts 20:29-30). Most important is the final address of the Lord to His apostles at the last Seder. There, Yeshua drew attention to the work He was about to do in shedding His blood on the cross for our sins (see The Life of Christ, to see link click Kk – The Third Cup of Redemption), and He gave them instructions to guide them after His ascension.

Considering these examples, we can see a general pattern to the farewell addresses of the great men of the Bible. Most of them seek to recap and summarize their ministries, which they also vindicate as faithful to the LORD. Not only themselves, but those who remain to carry on in faithfulness in their own ministry. In response, it is also common for the people to express some sorrow at the loss of their leader, and to express a need for intercession with ADONAI that can ultimately be met only by Yeshua Messiah Himself. This is the very pattern reflected in the final address of the great prophet and judge Samuel, as he prepared to hand over the leadership of Isra’el to the newly confirmed King Sha’ul.

Samuel’s ministry vindicated (12:1-5): Now that all Isra’el had accepted Sha’ul as their king, Samuel had to withdraw as the leader of the nation, though he continued to exercise his prophetic ministry – although restricted, to some extent, in that the king could choose to ignore his advice. But first, he wanted to set the record straight, and point out that under his leadership, Isra’el had had just and effective administration, in keeping with the covenant, without any undue demands made upon their personal liberty.²⁵⁶

Samuel said to all Isra’el, “Here, I have done everything you asked me to do – I have made a king over you. Even though he considered the request for a king to be an insult to himself, and even more importantly an insult to God, and though he warned the people about what a disaster their request would bring (see Br – Samuel’s Warnings), he was willing to do his best to make it work. Not only that, when the LORD commanded Samuel to anoint Sha’ul as king, an action that Samuel probably found distasteful, the great judge and prophet did not hesitate to act in obedience. In fact, Samuel’s role in enthroning King Sha’ul showed just how disinterested he was in personal gain, for Sha’ul was his own replacement!²⁵⁷ Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray-headed and my sons are here with you, both of the reasons the people had asked for a king. I have been your leader from my youth until this day (12:1-2).

Samuel challenged the people, saying: Here I stand. Samuel, like Yeshua, stood before the people and asked: Which of you convicts Me of sin (John 8:46). Now is the time to witness against me before ADONAI and his anointed king. In the Near-East, it is expected that civil officials would use their offices to make money. But Samuel hadn’t done that. He obeyed the Torah and kept his hands clean (Exodus 20:17; Lev 19:13; Deut 16:19).²⁵⁸ Does any of you think I have taken your ox or donkey, cheated or oppressed you, or accepted a bribe to deprive you of justice? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.” The failure of anyone to come forward with a charge against him testified to his extraordinary godliness.²⁵⁹ Samuel was on sure ground. In response to Samuel’s plea, the people had no option but to respond positively. They answered, “You haven’t cheated or oppressed us, and you have accepted nothing from anyone.” They fully affirmed what Samuel had said about his righteousness. Then Samuel pressed his case, calling on both YHVH and the newly appointed king to be a witness to his faithfulness. He declared, “ADONAI and His anointed king are my witness today,” Samuel declared, “that my hands are clean.” And the people replied, “Yes, He is a witness” (12:3-5). If the people ever changed their mind, they would have to deal with YHVH and His appointed king!

Samuel pleads ADONAI’s case (12:6-17): The purpose behind Samuel’s vindication was not so much about his own legacy or reputation. Rather, Samuel set forth his own trustworthiness as a preamble for his main concern: he wanted the people to remember what a great and faithful God they served. This was another purpose in citing YHVH as a witness to his own integrity; having spoken of the LORD as witness, Samuel elaborates on the LORD’s faithfulness to Isra’el.²⁶⁰ Samuel said to the people, “It was ADONAI who appointed Moshe and Aaron and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt. The point was that God was quite capable of delivering the right leaders at the right time to deliver Isra’el. He didn’t need a king then, and He certainly didn’t need a king now!²⁶¹ This was more than a lecture on history; Samuel used the language of a courtroom trial and intended for the people to stand before the bar of God’s justice. Now, stand still; because I am going to confront you with evidence before ADONAI regarding all the righteous acts of ADONAI that He did for you and your ancestors (12:6-7). These verses summarize the history of Isra’el from the time of Moses and the exodus through the period of the judges and their request for a king. Such historical prologues are common features of the suzerain-vassal documents throughout the Near East (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Ah – The Treaty of the Great King).²⁶²

After Jacob had entered Egypt, your ancestors cried to ADONAI; and ADONAI sent Moshe and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and had them live here in this place (12:8). The language of verses 9-11 is heavily dependent on terminology characteristic of the book of Judges. The dreary cycle of rebellion, retribution, repentance, and restoration described throughout that book (see the commentary on Judges At – Twelve Cycles) is repeated here. Rebellion: But they forgot ADONAI their God; retribution: so he handed them over to Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor (Judges 4:2), and to the Philistines (Judges 3:31, 10:7 and 13:1), and to the king of Mo’av (Judges 3:12-14); and they fought against them. Repentance: But they cried out to ADONAI and said: We sinned by abandoning ADONAI and serving the Ba’al’s (the male Canaanite gods) and the Ashtoreths (the female Canaanite gods). But now, if you rescue us from the power of our enemies, we will serve you. And restoration: So ADONAI sent Jerub-Ba’al (another name for Gideon), Barak, Jephthah and, mentioning himself in the third person to retain the courtroom scene, Samuel and rescued you from the hands of our enemies on every side, so that you lived securely (12:9a-11). All this was accomplished without the use of kings.²⁶³

How should Isra’el have responded to this kind of national history? They should have expressed gratitude to the LORD and trusted Him for His continued care. They should have confessed the sin of unbelief and trusted Him alone. But what did they do?²⁶⁴ When you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites was attacking you, you said to me, “No, we want a king to rule over us” – even though ADONAI your God was your King. Now, humanly speaking, here’s the king you have chosen, the one you asked for. But, in God’s permissive will, ADONAI has set a king over you (12:12-13). Serving as the hinge of this chapter, this verse focuses once again on the gracious, permissive will of God who had given His people the king they had asked for. God’s eventual rejection of the very king the people demanded is eerily echoed later in a similar situation in Hosea where God declared: In my anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away (Hosea 13:10-11).²⁶⁵

These verses represent the blessings and curses that were part of the ancient suzerain-vassal covenants. If you will fear ADONAI, serve him, obey what he says and not rebel against His commands – if both you and the king ruling over you remain followers of ADONAI your God – then things will go well for you. Even though it was a sin to ask for a king, the reality was they now had one. But they were still obligated to obey the Torah. If you refused to obey what God says and rebel against His commands, then ADONAI will oppress both you as it was against your fathers (12:14-15).

Now then, stand still; and see the great thing that ADONAI is about to do before your very eyes. This would authenticate all of Samuel’s words. Samuel reminded the people that it was the time of year for the wheat harvest (mid-May to mid-June), which was usually the dry season. Then he promised a miracle that would convince them that they needed to repent. He declared: I am going to call on ADONAI to send thunder and rain, which would be extremely unusual in May and June. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of ADONAI when you asked for a king (12:16-17). This miracle reminds us of the authenticating signs Moshe and Aaron accomplished in Egypt. Samuel was proving to the people that YHVH could do anything for them if they obeyed and trusted in Him, and that a mere king was helpless apart from God. When the Jews begged Samuel for deliverance, they sounded like Pharaoh confessing his sin and begging Moses for relief (Exodus 8:8, 9:27-28, and 10:16-17), and their repentance was probably just as sincere.²⁶⁶

Samuel’s mediation sought (12:18-25): Terrified, the people responded by asking Samuel to mediate, intercede for them. Then Samuel called upon ADONAI, and He sent lightening and rain that very day. Totally a miracle of timing, authenticating the message of Samuel. Then all the people became very much afraid of ADONAI and Samuel. The words of Samuel, reinforced by the storm, brought the people to repentance. All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to ADONAI your God for your servants (practically a quote from the lips of Pharaoh), so that we won’t die; because to all our other sins now we’ve added this evil as well, asking for a king over us.” Samuel reassured the people of God’s chesed (see the commentary on Ruth Af – The Concept of Chesed), and answered the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil in asking for a king, but it would not cause their destruction. Samuel not only acknowledged their sin, but also pointed them to its remedy. Just don’t turn away from following ADONAI; but serve ADONAI with all your heart. Don’t turn to the side and go after useless idols that can neither help nor rescue because they are so useless (12:18-21).

For the sake of his great Name, ADONAI will not abandon His people; because it has pleased ADONAI to make you a people for Himself. As for me, far be it from me to sin against ADONAI by ceasing to pray for you as a priest! Rather, I will continue to teach you as a prophet in the way that is good and right.²⁶⁷ But he would not continue as their judge; that meant that the period of the judges had officially ended, and the period of the monarchy had begun. Samuel felt obliged to remind them, however, that pursuing their inclination for evil would surely result in godly discipline: Only fear ADONAI, and serving Him faithfully with all your heart and thinking about what great things He has done for you! However, if you insist on doing evil, you will be swept away (Hebrew: saphah) – both you and your king (12:22-25)! The verbal root is sph, which appears again in 26:10, where David predicts that Ha’Shem will cause Sha’ul’s demise, that perhaps Sha’ul will go into battle and perish (Hebrew: saphah) . . . and so it happened (see Dj – Sha’ul Takes His Own Life). Thus, the final words of Samuel’s speech, and the final days of Sha’ul’s kingship, passages that frame the description of Sha’ul’s reign (Chapters 13 to 31), are soaked with the stench of death.²⁶⁸

Samuel was the last of the judges, and the first of the prophets; he had both civil and religious functions, but from this time on the kings would function as civil authorities and the priesthood continued to function as the religious authority. Lastly, God’s rule over Isra’el began with Moshe at Mount Sinai with the Mosaic Covenant as their constitution, now Isra’el would enter the monarchy period from the House of David through to Zedekiah, with Sha’ul merely being a transitional king from the human chosen king to the divine chosen king. With the death of Zedekiah, the times of the Gentiles began (see Revelation An – The Times of the Gentiles), and will continue until the Lord Himself will return and set up His Kingdom from Jerusalem and from the throne of David (see Isaiah Db – The Nine Missing Articles in the Messiah’s Coming Temple).²⁶⁹

Our true Mediator: As Richard Phillips relates in his commentary in 1 Samuel, with these words, the narrative of First Samuel changes from its focus on Samuel to a new focus on King Sha’ul. Samuel had been a faithful servant of ADONAI, as the people had affirmed, and a truly great man of God. When the Ammonite horde began pouring into the eastern region of Isra’el, the elders of Isra’el looked on an aged Samuel, and on his unruly sons, and decided they needed to look elsewhere for salvation, demanding the king whom God had now given in Sha’ul. We might honor Samuel’s legacy by recounting all the things that made him great. But a better way to honor him would be to look through him to see the reasons why Yeshua Messiah is an even better Savior, King, and Mediator in whom we may find all that we need for the eternal salvation of our souls.

First, while the people asked Samuel to mediate on their behalf with God, we have the better privilege of approaching God’s throne through the mediation of Yeshua. For all his righteousness, Samuel remained a sinner, even he could not ultimately stand before YHVH on his own merits. In the end, like Isra’el and like us, Samuel would have to take up the words that the evil Pharaoh begged Moshe, “Would you please bless me and intercede for me with God?” Yeshua is no mere holy man; He is the God-man, Immanuel, which means, “God with us,” God the Son who took on flesh to bring His people to YHVH (Isaiah 7:14 and Hebrews 2:14-17). By virtue of who Messiah is and what He has done, Paul states: There is one mediator between God and mankind, the man Messiah Yeshua (First Timothy 2:5). Yeshua is the one completely sinless man, who does not need His own Savior, and who as the Son of God is therefore able to offer His death for the forgiveness of everyone who believes in Him and calls on ADONAI’s Name for salvation.

Second, Yeshua is a better mediator than Samuel because He never grows old or feeble. Under Isra’el’s monarchy, even the best of kings grew old and ultimately died, so that the people had to tremble at what awaited them under a new regime. But the Kingdom of God knows no such anxiety. Yeshua our King, who died for our sins, has risen from the grave to eternal resurrection life. The writer of Hebrews thus praises Yeshua’s eternal priesthood, and the same is true of His office as Prophet and King. Because Yeshua lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf (Hebrews 7:24-25).

Finally, while Samuel displayed a powerful prophetic preaching that stirred the souls of the people, and even backed it up with a striking miracle that awed his hearers (12:16-17a), yet his words lacked the power in themselves to change the heart. How different is our Lord Yeshua Messiah, who speaks and preaches with the power and persuasion of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. Yeshua alone can say: My words . . . are spirit and life (John 6:63). If we will call on His Name – the Name of God’s one-and-only Son and Savior of the world – if we will enter into His Kingdom through faith, and if we will open our hearts to His living and eternal words, Yeshua says that we will have eternal life (see The Life of Christ Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer). Faithful Samuel pointed us to the LORD, saying: Fear ADONAI, and serve Him faithfully with all your heart (12:24). Yeshua, the very Lord to whom Samuel pointed, calls to us, saying: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).²⁷⁰