We closed yesterday's study with Samuel reminding the people that their demand for a king was a rejection of the Lord as sovereign king over them; nevertheless, God gave them what they asked for. This is where we pick up our study today, with Samuel saying, "Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you." (1 Samuel 12:13) He says, "This is what you asked for: a king. His outward appearance is everything you would have imagined in a king. His military prowess has, so far, been everything you would have hoped for in a king. You wanted to be 'like all the other nations' by having a king to lead the government and to ride out in front of the army to battle. Well, here he is and you must submit to the authority of your chosen sovereign."
As we've discussed before, it wasn't God's perfect will for Israel to have a human king (at least not yet at this point in history), but it's His permissive will to allow a king. The king will make all the demands on them that Samuel warned them about in 1 Samuel 8, such as conscripting their sons into the army, making many of their sons and daughters work on his estate, levying heavy taxes, annexing portions of their land for his personal use, taking a percentage of their crops and livestock, and so on. These are the things kings normally did in those days and there will be aspects of having a king over them that the citizens won't enjoy. This is to serve as a form of correction for their insistence on replacing the King of kings with a human king. But correction itself is a form of mercy, for whom the Lord loves He corrects. And not everything about having a king will be bad; we've already seen that Saul is a very competent army general. In addition, if Saul will devote his heart to the Lord, he can be a huge blessing on the nation. If he will honor and serve the Lord, he will set a godly example for the people to follow, and if the people honor and serve the Lord, they will enjoy the blessings of the Lord. Samuel says: "If you fear the Lord and serve and obey Him and do not rebel against His commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God---good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors." (1 Samuel 12:14-15)
To prove to those assembled at Gilgal that they were asking for something that went against the Lord's best plan for them when they demanded a king at this time, Samuel calls down a thunderstorm as a sign that he's relaying the words of the Lord to them. Samuel isn't merely giving his own opinion on the matter, which some may have suspected was the case since establishing a monarchy puts an end to the era of the judges. This is the Lord's opinion on the matter and He sends the storm as proof that Samuel is speaking on His behalf. "Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.' Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel." (1 Samuel 12:16-18) During the time when wheat is ready to harvest in the land, around late June or early July, the weather is typically quite dry. It would be very unusual to have a heavy, soaking rain to occur at the time Samuel calls upon the Lord for the thunderstorm.
This is unusual enough that the assembly accepts it as a sign from the Lord, which strikes fear in their hearts. "The people all said to Samuel, 'Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.'" (1 Samuel 12:19) The sign causes them to search their hearts and conclude, "We are sinners. We have broken the Lord's laws and commandments in many ways before this day and now we have added the sin of asking for a king. May God have mercy on us! Pray for us, Samuel, that He will have mercy on us. He will listen to you!" God can work with repentant hearts! These words are exactly what He wants to hear, not only from the Israelites in Chapter 12 but from every human being. He wants us to acknowledge that we are sinners, for only then do we recognize our need for forgiveness. This causes us to recognize our need for a Savior and to confess our sins to Him and ask Him for His mercy. The laws we have broken are His; therefore He alone can grant us pardon for breaking His laws.
As the Apostle John said, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9) The people are confessing their sins after the thunderstorm breaks out in Chapter 12 and Samuel reassures them that the Lord has heard their sincere prayer for forgiveness. The Lord sees into their hearts and knows that they are sorry for having demanded a king. The Lord is not going to destroy them, as they fear, but wants to bless them. If they want the Lord's best for their lives they must take care to walk in His ways. He will not reject them when they make the wrong choices but, like any good father, will have to take corrective action when waywardness occurs. "'Do not be afraid,' Samuel replied. 'You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of His great name the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own.'" (1 Samuel 12:20-22)
The Lord still loves them and always will and Samuel still loves them and always will. "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil; both you and your king will perish." (1 Samuel 12:23-25) Israel has a king now in place of a judge but that doesn't mean Samuel is going to retire and go off to live in a cabin in the woods somewhere. He is still going to be a very visible figure in the land, setting a godly example for the people and their king and providing godly wisdom to the people and their king. Not only that but he will continue interceding in prayer for the whole nation, just as he has always done, for the rest of his life. He was hurt when the elders of Israel came to him and asked him to step aside and place a king over them but he's not going to hold that against them. He forgives them. He loves them. He wants the Lord's best for them. He wholeheartedly and unselfishly intends to keep praying for them just as fervently as he ever did.
Samuel sets a beautiful example for us by being unwilling to hold a grudge. It's easy to harbor bitterness toward those who have hurt us. It's especially hurtful when it's a brother or sister in the Lord who says or does something bad to us. We find it easier to excuse bad behavior from unbelievers because we can say to ourselves, "Well, what can you expect from someone living in that much sin? You can't expect someone who despises the Lord to be good to his fellow man." But when someone who professes to know and love the Lord does us wrong, we know they knew better than to do what they did. It's far more shocking when a fellow believer is the one who did us wrong and it stirs up a lot more emotions in us than when a heathen sinner does us wrong. Samuel displays the attitude we should have when he says it would be a sin against the Lord to stop praying for the Lord's people. He shows us how to handle hurt feelings by continuing to want the best for his brothers and sisters in the Lord. Of course it hurts more when a believer wrongs us than if an unbeliever wrongs us but that doesn't justify maintaining a bitter spirit toward them. Our duty is to pray for them. We should pray for them to get back on the right track in life and we should continue setting a godly example for them, just as Samuel intends to do for the people of Israel.
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