Ch. 12 is billed as Samuel's farewell address. But the weird thing is he doesn't go anywhere. He continues business as usual as Yahweh's representative, even going so far eventually as to depose a king. So this seems to belong several chapters later.
A couple of points. He goes to some length to deny being corrupt. Obviously if this is true, the people already know it, and they affirm it. So if this has a point it is to assert a norm that leaders should not enrich themselves at the people's expense. As we know, in all of history, this has been violated more often than not.
Samuel continues to say that the people's desire for a king was a moral error, which God evidently granted reluctantly. This is puzzling, since in this telling monarchy will remain the form of government for the Israelites henceforth, this document was produced under a monarchy, and by most scholars' opinion was actually commissioned by a king. The reestablished nation of Israel has the form of a parliamentary democracy, something that had not been imagined when this was written. But there is an ultra-nationalist element that seems to aspire to something different -- as there is in the U.S. right now. We'll see where that goes.
12 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. 2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.”
4 “You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
5 Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”
“He is witness,” they said.
6 Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. 7 Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.
8 “After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
9 “But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. 10 They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ 11 Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal,[a] Barak,[b] Jephthah and Samuel,[c] and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.
12 “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king. 13 Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. 14 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! 15 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.
16 “Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! 17 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.”
18 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.
19 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.”
20 “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. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22 For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. 23 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. 24 But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 25 Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 12:11 Also called Gideon
- 1 Samuel 12:11 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew Bedan
- 1 Samuel 12:11 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac Samson
2 comments:
Nothing really to add. But your catchy title for today’s post does remind me of the title of one of Cynthia Heimel’s very funny books: “If you can’t live without me, why aren’t you dead yet?”
Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks. I have that CD. Lots of fun tunes.
Thank you again for the health news and bible study.
I recently found my grandmother's report card from 1918. Her father died that spring. She was 13 years old. The report card showed the school (at the local Catholic church) was closed for 2 months, October and December, due to FLU.
The current priest at that same church is a Trump supporter and anti-mask, anti-vax proponent. The bishop has so far not reigned him in. My grandmother would have been appalled.
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