And now behold, the king whom ye have chosen, whom ye have asked for! and behold, Jehovah has set a king over you.
Samuel's farewell speech reaches its turning point here. He points to Saul in front of the whole nation and describes him two ways at once: the king the people picked, and the king the LORD set over them. Both are true, and holding them together is the key to the chapter.
Samuel names the trigger for the demand. A foreign army had moved against them, and instead of turning to God they asked for a ruler they could look at.
Now we are told for the first time the underlying reason for their wanting a king like the nations. Yes, the Ammonites had a king, and the people, in their unbelief, seeing the Ammonite king surround Jabesh-gilead, want a king too — one they could see, and who would lead their army. God was their king, true, but He was out of sight, and He made their conduct the condition of His delivering them. This was not at all to their liking. They wanted a protector their eyes could see; they had no faith, so they could only look at "the things that are seen."
Another writer puts the same failure more bluntly: demanding a king was, in effect, telling God He could no longer be trusted.
When they feared an attack by Nahash the Ammonite, instead of realising that only their own sin left them open to attack, and instead of turning to their faithful Creator in confession and faith, they demanded a king! This was virtually telling God that He was no longer to be trusted as their king!
The verse calls Saul the king the people chose and asked for. Older translations read "whom you have desired," and that word shows what kind of king they got.
But such was Israel now, knowing only their own will in this matter of the king. And this at once prepares us for the kind of person we are to find in their coming king. For the wilful people must have a wilful king. Of no one else could it be said that all the desire of Israel was on him. No one else could have been the king of this people.
The verse says both things at once. So which was it — their choice, or His?
It was Israel's rebellious will to have, as they said, "our" king, instead of waiting for the LORD's purposed King, whom He will in His time yet set on His holy hill of Zion. They refused both protest and warning. So God gave them their king in His anger — yet one "on whom was all the desire of Israel," the people's choice indeed, not the one after God's own heart. "It is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual."
God had a further reason for letting them have their way.
God allows this, therefore, not merely as a concession to Israel's folly, but so that they might learn by painful experience the results of that folly. Later God tells Israel, "I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath" (Hosea 13:11). Though Saul's beginning as king seemed rather favourable, his end was terribly sad.
Samuel had every reason to resent this handover. The people had set him aside, and the crown went to a lesser man.
Samuel had not been two-faced in his ways; in listening to the people, he had simply followed the Lord's commandment. That is why he could say a little later: "The LORD has set a king over you." In this we also see the lovely impartiality of a man who is in communion with God. He had forgotten the wrongs and the injustice the people and the elders had done to him. He gave up his official duties without a murmur. He handed them over to a king who was certainly of less worth morally than he was.
Having a king settled nothing on its own. Samuel adds a condition, and it turns their demand into something they must now prove.
Yet they did not think they were displacing God: they thought they could have their king and serve God too. So Samuel tells them what to do now that they have their king: obey the Lord, serve Him, and do not rebel against any of His commandments. As long as they did this, they and their king would go on following the Lord. If they think it is a real advantage to have a king, let them prove it by their obedience to God.
Saul's reign still had its use in God's plan.
It shows us the kingdom in man's hand, and so sets off the kingdom in God's hand. Trouble and corruption and disaster mark the one; honour and blessing and rest mark the other. The kingdom their own desire brought in would show them how unable they were to provide for their own happiness.
- Sight — They asked because an enemy king was visible and their own King was not; unbelief always prefers a protector it can look at.
- Suited — What they chose matched what they were: a wilful people received a wilful king, the one on whom all their desire rested.
- Surrendered — God gave what they asked, but in anger, so they would learn by experience what their own choice was worth.
- Submitted — Samuel, the man they had set aside, handed over his office without a murmur and still called Saul the LORD's appointment.
- Set off — The kingdom in man's hand exists to display, by contrast, the kingdom in God's hand; the natural comes first, then the spiritual.
If ye fear Jehovah, and serve him, and hearken to his voice, and rebel not against the commandment of Jehovah, then both ye and the king also that reigns over you shall continue following Jehovah your God.
Israel demanded a king, and Samuel has just given them one. Before he steps back from public life, he sets one condition over the nation and the throne together. Does a change of government change anything? Does getting what you wanted put you outside God's terms?
Israel had not intended to abandon God when they asked for a king. Samuel puts that assumption to the test. Obedience would be the proof.
Yet they did not think they were displacing God: they thought they could have their king and serve God too. So Samuel tells them what this means now that they have their king. If they will obey the Lord and serve Him, and not rebel against any of His commandments, then they and their king will keep following the Lord. This holds only so long as they do it. If they think it is an actual advantage to have a king, let them prove it by their obedience to God.
God gave them the king they asked for. That did not end their responsibility.
Despite all this, God stoops to give them what they ask. So their history under responsibility carries on in a new form of government: "the LORD has set a king over you" (v. 13).
Samuel has finished with the past. He turns to the future, and to who must obey in it.
He has now unburdened himself, and therefore next speaks of the future. They have slighted the Lord. Still, let the past be enough of that. Let them and their king now go on in obedience to His will. After all, the king, just as much as the people, must be subject to God. If so, they will find that His path is still open for them, and blessing will follow them.
A note on wording: the older translation these writers use ends the verse with "continue following the LORD your God." The ESV has "it will be well."
Everything in the sentence hangs on its opening condition — and the same condition runs through Israel's whole story.
"If" is a small word, but enormous issues hang upon it. Every blessing Israel had depended on the faithfulness of both king and people. Their evil ways threw it all away, in spite of the earnest warnings and protests of their God.
Samuel is not offering something new. He sets out the two roads Israel already knew. History records which one they took.
Samuel was their guide and protector, and he stood for the living God. While they had him, "the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines." Now he tells them the other side. If they rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, His hand would be against them. It is the old choice of Gerizim and Ebal: the blessing, or the curse. Blessing for obedience, and the curse if they rebelled (Deut. 27). We know the sad outcome — it was disobedience and rebellion all the days of Saul.
The people had just cleared Samuel of wrongdoing and admitted their sin. Their safety hung on what came next.
They cleared the prophet of any abuse of power among them. They confessed that they had sinned in asking for a king. Then they learned this: being kept safe from God's judgment depended on their obedience, and on their king's obedience too. (1 Sam. 12:14, 25.)
Israel failed to keep the condition. That failure points past one nation to every person.
What was true of Israel here is true of everyone. A man in the flesh — a man not "born again," a man not renewed by grace — can only sin. He brings down the judgment of God on his guilty soul. Only in Christ, Son of David and Son of God, is his eternal blessing secured. Christ alone secures all the promises of God. In Him is the Yes and the Amen of every blessing God has ever pledged to man.
Israel could not undo the choice they had made. That was not the end of the road.
When people have put themselves wrong, and come to see they have done so, it is not always possible to reverse it. But God is always there to turn to, and He will not fail those who truly humble themselves. It becomes a question of doing His will where we are. The results of a wrong step may continue even after a person judges it. God may hold someone to its humbling effects even after they confess and give up the evil itself.
- If — one small word carries the whole verse. Israel's blessing rested on the faithfulness of king and people alike, and they could lose it all.
- Both — the condition binds throne and nation together; the king, as much as the people, must be subject to God.
- Prove — Israel thought they could keep their king and serve God too; obedience was the test of that claim.
- Roads — the old choice of blessing or curse stood before them again; Saul's reign answered it with rebellion from start to finish.
- Christ — what obedience could not secure, He secures; in Him alone God makes every promise to man certain.
But if ye will not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, and if ye rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, then will the hand of Jehovah be against you, as against your fathers.
Samuel has just given Israel the king they demanded. Before he steps back, he lays out the two roads open to them. The warning is blunt. The hand that shielded them from their enemies could turn against them, and their king could not stop it.
Israel had known God's hand working for them. Now they hear what it means for that hand to turn the other way.
While they had Samuel as their guide and protector — the representative of the living God — "the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines." Now he tells them that if they rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, His hand would be against them. It is the old alternative of Gerizim and Ebal — the blessing, or the curse. The blessing for obedience, and the curse if they rebelled (Deuteronomy 27). We know the sad outcome: it was disobedience and rebellion all through Saul's reign. Not until David's reign was the nation blessed and the Philistines subdued at last. And David pictures the King who is to come.
Israel assumed they could have a king and still serve God. Samuel gives them a way to test that.
Yet they did not think they were displacing God: they thought they could have their king and serve God too. So Samuel tells them this. Now that they have their king, let them obey the Lord and serve Him, not rebelling against any of His commandments. As long as they did this, they and their king would continue following the Lord. If they think it is a real advantage to have a king, let them prove it by their obedience to God. On the other hand, he gives them a solemn warning. If they will not obey the Lord, then the hand of the Lord would be against them in serious discipline. The same happened with their fathers when they were guilty of rebelling against the commandments of God.
The clause points backwards, and Samuel had just walked them through that history. It showed a fixed pattern: the enemy only ever got in when Israel had left God first.
Their own departure from God produced all these trials. He had never delivered them into the hands of enemies except when they had forsaken Him. Sometimes, in faithfulness, He had to hand them over to enemies: Sisera in the north, the Philistines in the west, the Moabites on the east. Even then it was only so they might learn the difference between serving God and serving evil. It would only press deeper into their souls that they must hold fast to the Lord in true-hearted obedience.
Samuel is not closing the door. He is telling them what waits at the end of each path, and the outcome of the wrong one is certain.
Even though they have slighted the Lord, let the past be enough. Let them, with their king, now go on in obedience to His will. After all, the king, like the people, must be subject to God. If so, they will find that His path is still open to them, and blessing will follow them. But if they turn away from Him, refuse the voice of the Lord, and depart from Him, His hand will be against them. They will go on to the bitter end. There they will learn that God is as true as His word, and that departure from Him can only bring one result.
One writer draws the lesson out for readers today.
May we remember that the knowledge of the grace of God in no way weakens the responsibility of His people. "But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king."
Knapp takes the lesson wider than Israel.
And as with Israel here, so with mankind at large — man in the flesh, man not "born again," man unchanged by grace. He can only sin and bring down the judgment of God upon his guilty soul. Only in Christ, Son of David and Son of God, is his eternal blessing secured. "The flesh is no help at all." "It is the Spirit who gives life" (John 6:63). In Christ alone are all the promises of God secured.
- Two mountains. This is the old choice of Gerizim and Ebal again. Obedience brings blessing; rebellion brings the curse.
- Two directions. The hand that struck the Philistines in Samuel's days could turn against Israel.
- One test. Was a king the advantage they claimed? Obedience would prove it. The crown did not lift them out of responsibility to God.
- One pattern. God handed their fathers over to enemies only after they had forsaken Him. The past told them what the future held.
- One refuge. Grace does not soften the warning. A king could not secure lasting blessing; Christ alone does.
Now therefore stand and see this great thing which Jehovah will do before your eyes.
Samuel has just laid down his office, telling Israel that asking for a king was a rejection of God. Now he stops arguing and points them to the sky — what can a storm say that words cannot?
The timing was what made the sign impossible to argue with.
Wheat harvest came at Pentecost, about the beginning of our June. Rain then was most unusual — extraordinary, really. This would make the coming of thunder and rain at the call of Samuel all the more convincing to the assembled crowds. Unbelief could not say it was only a coincidence, or that Samuel could see a thunderstorm coming, or that he had merely made a clever guess. No; God gave them proof of His approval of Samuel that no one could contradict. If they did not take his words to heart, they had no excuse left at all.
The "great thing" was not just loud weather. It broke the order God Himself kept over that land.
This thunder in harvest is mentioned here as something remarkable; and so it was. The Lord was the farmer of the land of Israel. If Israel had stayed loyal to Him, everything would have shown the care and skill of that divine farmer. Everything would have shown the blessing of a people who had the Lord for their God. There would have been nothing out of season: the early and the latter rain would have fallen only in their appointed months. Thunder in harvest would not have been known, or known only in judgment, as it is here.
Samuel is not inviting Israel to hand the king back. The sign strikes the conscience; the choice they made still runs its course.
However, God had to confirm Samuel's words with a clear public sign. That would press these facts on their consciences with full weight. He calls on them to stand and see the great thing that God would do... Samuel told them that he would pray, and the Lord would send such a storm, so that they might realize how great their wickedness was in asking for a king. There was no suggestion that they change their minds now. They have received their king, so they may not get rid of him again. They must learn the consequences of their own folly.
Israel had heard thunder like this once before, at the mountain where they took up the covenant.
Here Samuel sets them in place under their king, but convicts them again as with the thunder and storm of Mount Sinai. The thunder and rain came on them here as the fearful pledge and forewarning of the end of their own kingdom. In the same way, the shaking of the earth at Sinai pledged the end of their own covenant. And under it they cry out in terror here, as they had done there.
The storm shook them. Fear, though, is not the same as a changed heart.
It is the time of their wheat harvest, a season when all nature seems at rest. But in answer to his cry, God will send storm and thunder. They are signs of His displeasure at His people's course — a witness of His unstoppable majesty and power. As at Sinai, the people tremble. Sadly, the flesh can only tremble in the presence of God. It cannot profit from the solemn lessons of His majesty. Its one desire is to get out of that Presence, so that it may do its own will.
The thunder changed how God would deal with them. It did not cancel what He had decided about them.
With great solemnity Samuel told them that the Lord will never change His purposes. But He certainly would change His way of dealing with them. God backed the warning with thunder and rain, although it was wheat harvest... As to the divine purpose he said, "The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake; because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people." This is absolute. It is the sovereign purpose of love, and nothing can change it.
- Stand — Samuel stops the argument and calls for stillness. The case is no longer his to prove. God answers with a sign no one could call coincidence.
- See — the "great thing" is rain in the dry harvest season. God overturns the order He kept over Israel's fields, so the disorder in their hearts shows up in the sky.
- Convicted — the storm was not an offer to undo the king. They keep him, and learn from the consequences what asking for him really was.
- Trembling — like Israel at Sinai, they shake and confess. But fear alone leaves the will unchanged, still eager to escape God's presence.
- Kept — His way of dealing with them changed that day. His purpose did not. He had chosen to make them His people for His own great name's sake.
Is it not wheat-harvest to-day? I will call unto Jehovah, and he will send thunder and rain; and ye shall perceive and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of Jehovah in asking for yourselves a king.
Samuel ends his farewell speech with a sign, not an argument. He points at the dry harvest sky and asks God to break it. Why would God back a prophet's words with a storm, and what was Israel meant to see?
The power of this sign lies in the calendar.
Wheat harvest was at Pentecost, about the beginning of our June, when rain was most unusual — in fact extraordinary (Prov. 26:1). So thunder and rain at the call of Samuel would be all the more convincing to the crowds gathered there. Unbelief could not call it a coincidence. It could not say that Samuel saw the storm coming, or that he had made a clever guess. No; God gave them a demonstration of His approval of Samuel that no one could contradict. If they did not take his words to heart, they were left with no excuse at all.
Notice what Samuel does not say. He never tells them to get rid of Saul.
However, God had to confirm Samuel's words with a clear public sign. This would press these facts home on their consciences. He calls on them to stand and see the great thing that God would do... There was no suggestion that they change their minds now. They had received their king, and they could not get rid of him again. They had to learn the consequences of their own folly.
The same storm carried two messages at once. One looked back at an old victory. The other pointed at the danger they were now in.
With great seriousness Samuel told them that the Lord will never change His purposes. But He certainly would change His way of dealing with them. God sent thunder and rain along with the warning, even though it was wheat harvest. The sign reminded them of the defeat of the Philistines at Mizpah. It also bore witness to their own danger of provoking the anger of the Lord as they had done.
Samuel does not command the weather. He calls on the Lord, and God answers in public.
If at Samuel's call the Lord sent at once what was completely out of season, that would prove God's clear answer among them. His ears are open to the righteous. "So Samuel called upon the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain." But what was all this meant to prove? "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."
The sign convicted them, yet Samuel kept praying for them:
Samuel gives them signs of their wickedness in thunder and rain falling from heaven out of season. At the same time he cries out and intercedes for them. Throughout his whole career this man of prayer never let up in his prayers.
The storm shook them. But fear by itself does not change a heart.
It is the time of their wheat harvest, a season when all nature seems at rest. But in answer to his cry, God will send storm and thunder. They are signs of His displeasure at the course His people have taken, and a witness of His unstoppable majesty and power. As at Sinai, the people tremble. Sadly, the flesh can only tremble in the presence of God. It cannot profit from the solemn lessons of His majesty. Its one desire is to get out of that Presence, so that it may do its own will.
Still, who they turned to next says a lot:
They never asked their king to pray for them; no, for when conscience is at work, it is the godly whose prayers are sought.
One writer sees the harvest season itself pointing forward.
It was the time of the wheat harvest. Samuel prayed for a witness from heaven on his words. Then it thundered and rained... This reminds us of that coming harvest, the end of the age (Matt. 13:39). Then the Lord will thunder in judgment and the repentance of the people of Israel will follow. However, true repentance did not take place here when Samuel prayed.
- Harvest — God chose the one season when rain was unthinkable, so no one could call it luck or a clever guess.
- Witness — The storm confirmed the prophet's word in public, and proved that asking for a king was real wickedness.
- Reversal — The sign that recalled their victory over the Philistines at Mizpah now warned Israel itself. God's purpose had not changed, but His way of dealing with them had.
- Prayer — The miracle came through a man calling on God, and that same man kept interceding for the people he had just convicted.
- Response — They trembled and asked for prayer. But trembling is not repentance. They turned to the prophet, never to the king they had chosen.
And Samuel called to Jehovah; and Jehovah sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared Jehovah and Samuel.
Samuel has just stepped down as judge, and Israel has the king it asked for. He tells the people that asking for a king was wickedness against God. To settle the matter, he calls on heaven for a sign, and a storm breaks over the wheat fields in the driest season of the year.
The force of the sign lay in its timing. Rain at that season was almost unknown, and that ruled out every natural explanation:
Wheat harvest came at Pentecost, around the beginning of our June. Rain then was most unusual — extraordinary, really (Proverbs 26:1). Unbelief could not say it was only a coincidence, or that Samuel could see a thunderstorm coming, or that he had simply made a clever guess. No; God gave them proof of His approval of Samuel that no one could contradict. If they did not take his words to heart, they had no excuse at all.
The seasons of that land were themselves a testimony to God's care of His people:
This thunder in harvest is noticed here as something remarkable; and so it was. The Lord was the farmer of the land of Israel (Deuteronomy 11). Had Israel stayed in simple allegiance to Him, everything would have shown the care and skill of the divine farmer. It would have shown the blessing of a people who had the Lord for their God. Nothing would have come out of season. The early and the late rains would have fallen only in their proper months. Thunder in harvest would not have been known, or known only in judgment, as it is here.
The sign did not come to reverse the decision. Israel had its king, and would keep him:
But God had to confirm Samuel's words with a clear public sign, to press these facts home on their consciences. Samuel told them that he would pray, and the Lord would send such a storm. Then they would see that their wickedness was great in asking for a king. There was no suggestion that they change their minds now. They had received their king, and they could not get rid of him again. They had to learn the consequences of their own folly.
Behind the storm stood one man's answered prayer:
This hardly needs explaining. If at Samuel's call the Lord sent at once what was entirely out of season, that would be clear proof of God's answer among them. His ears are open to the righteous.
The scene echoes an older one. At Mount Sinai, Israel received its covenant with thunder and the shaking of the earth:
Here Samuel formally plants them under their king, but convicts them again as with the thunder and tempest of Mount Sinai. The thunder and rain came on them here as the fearful pledge and first sign of the end of their own kingdom. In the same way, the shaking of the earth at Sinai pledged the end of their own covenant. And under it they cry out in terror here, as they had done there.
Their dread was real, but it did not last:
In answer to his cry, God will send storm and thunder as tokens of His displeasure at His people's course — a witness of His unstoppable majesty and power. As at Sinai, the people tremble. Sadly, the flesh can only tremble in the presence of God. It cannot profit by the solemn lessons of His majesty. Its one desire is to get out of that Presence, so that it may do its own will.
Samuel's reply turns their fear in a better direction:
These signs come to pass the same day, and produce a passing effect on the people. In a spasm of fear they own their guilt, and beg to escape the death they expect. Samuel reassures them, telling them only to fear the Lord with a fruitful fear that produces obedience, and He would be with them.
The frightened people turned to the man of prayer, not to the king they had demanded:
They never asked their king to pray for them; no, for when conscience is at work, it is the godly whose prayers are sought. Saul could do anything but pray.
The man who called down the storm also prayed for the people under it:
Samuel gives them signs of this in thunder and rain falling from heaven out of season; but at the same time he cries out and intercedes for them. Never throughout his whole career did this man of prayer slacken in his supplications.
- Prayer opens it. The storm began when one man called on God. The miracle here is an answered prayer: His ears are open to the righteous.
- Prayer proves it. Rain in the dry harvest season ruled out luck or a clever guess. Israel had no excuse for ignoring Samuel's words.
- Prayer convicts. The sign did not cancel the king already given. It pressed on their consciences how great their wickedness had been in asking for him.
- Prayer exposes. Trembling is not repentance. The fear soon passed, and Samuel called them to a fruitful fear that obeys.
- Prayer shelters. The frightened people ran to the man of prayer, not to the king. Saul could do anything but pray, while Samuel never stopped praying for them.