First King of Israel
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king walketh before you: and I am old and gray-headed; ... and I have
walked before you from my childhood unto this day. Behold, here
I am: witness against me before the Lord, and before His anointed:
whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I
defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received
any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.”
With one voice the people answered, “Thou hast not defrauded us,
nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand.”
Samuel was not seeking merely to justify his own course. He had
previously set forth the principles that should govern both the king and
the people, and he desired to add to his words the weight of his own
example. From childhood he had been connected with the work of
God, and during his long life one object had been ever before him—the
glory of God and the highest good of Israel.
Before there could be any hope of prosperity for Israel they must
be led to repentance before God. In consequence of sin they had lost
their faith in God and their discernment of His power and wisdom to
rule the nation—lost their confidence in His ability to vindicate His
cause. Before they could find true peace they must be led to see and
confess the very sin of which they had been guilty. They had declared
the object of the demand for a king to be, “That our king may judge
us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” Samuel recounted the
history of Israel, from the day when God brought them from Egypt.
Jehovah, the King of kings, had gone out before them and had fought
their battles. Often their sins had sold them into the power of their
enemies, but no sooner did they turn from their evil ways than God’s
mercy raised up a deliverer. The Lord sent Gideon and Barak, and
“Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your
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enemies on every side, and ye dwelt safe.” Yet when threatened with
danger they had declared, “A king shall reign over us,” when, said the
prophet, “Jehovah your God was your King.”
“Now therefore,” continued Samuel, “stand and see this great thing,
which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today?
I will call unto the Lord, and He shall send thunder and rain; that ye
may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have
done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called
unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day.” At the
time of wheat harvest, in May and June, no rain fell in the East. The