38 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 12 In this chapter Samuel, resigning the government to Saul, asserts the integrity with which he had performed his office, and calls upon the people of Israel to attest it, who did, 1 Samuel 12:1, he then reminds them of the great and good things the Lord had done for them in times past, 1 Samuel 12:6 and whereas they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samuel said unto all Israel,.... When assembled at Gilgal, after they had recognized Saul as their king, and he was established in the kingdom, and while in the midst of their mirth and joy: behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye have said unto me; respecting the affair of a king, to which it must be limited, as appears by...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We left the general assembly of the states together, in the close of the foregoing chapter; in this chapter we have Samuel's speech to them, when he resigned the government into the hands of Saul, in which, I. He clears himself from all suspicion or imputation of mismanagement, while the administration was in his hands, ver. 1-5. II. He reminds...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you. “I have not stood in your way. I have not sought mine own honour. I have at once frankly resigned my office among you.”
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And now, behold, the king walketh before you,.... He invested with his office, and in the exercise of it, and goes in and out as the captain, commander, and leader of the people; it is expressive of his being in the full possession of regal power and authority, and therefore Samuel might speak the more freely, as he could not be thought to have...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and behold, my sons are with you and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day. “My sons come here today, not as my successors, but as fellow-subjects with you of your newly-chosen king; they are not in opposition to him any more than I am.” Like an old...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, here I am,.... No longer the supreme governor, but a subject, and accountable for any misdemeanour charged upon me, and to which I am ready to give answer, being now at your bar to be tried and judged before you: witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed; signifying, that if they had anything to lay to his charge, that...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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. It is so usual a thing, among Oriental judges and rulers, to expect...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they said,.... One in the name of the rest, or they all cried out as one man: thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us; had done them no wrong, neither privately nor publicly, by fraud or by force: neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand; as a gift, present, or bribe, to fit your his cause. Some would infer hence that be took...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand. And he said unto them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness. In the most solemn way, they cleared him; when he rendered to them the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto them, the Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day,.... Should they hereafter reproach and vilify him, and charge him with any acts of corruption, injustice, and violence: that ye have not found ought in my hand; that they had nothing to accuse him of and charge him with throughout his whole...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samuel said unto the people,.... Having cleared and established his own character, he proceeds to lay before the people some of the great things God had done for them formerly, and quite down to the present time, the more to aggravate their ingratitude in rejecting God as their King: [it is] the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron; raised them...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And Samuel said unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your Fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers. When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now therefore stand still,.... Keep your place, and do not as yet break up the assembly, but wait a little longer patiently, and with reverence and attention hearken to what I have further to say: that I may reason with you before the Lord; as in his presence; and which he observes to command the greater awe upon their mind, and the greater regard...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When Jacob was come into Egypt,.... With his family to see his son Joseph, and dwelt there; or rather the posterity of Jacob are meant, who settled in Egypt, and continued there many years, and at length were oppressed by the Egyptians, and brought into hard bondage: and your fathers cried unto the Lord; by reason of their bondage, for help and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when they forgat the Lord their God,.... The worship of the Lord their God, as the Targum; that is, they fell into idolatry, which is a plain instance and proof of forgetfulness of God; for such that neglect his worship, and serve idols, may be truly said to forget him: he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor; who...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And when they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. And they cried unto the Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they cried unto the Lord,.... When in the hands of their enemies, and in bondage to them, and cruelly oppressed by them: and said, we have sinned; the word for "said" is in the Cetib, or written text, singular, and in the Keri, or marginal reading, plural; and may signify, that everyone of them had a sense of their sin, and made acknowledgment...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord sent Jerubbaal,.... Or Gideon, as the Targum, for Jerubbaal was the name given to Gideon, when he first became a judge, Judges 6:32 and Bedan; if this was one of the judges, he must have two names, or is one that is not mentioned in the book of Judges; the Targum interprets it of Samson; so Jerom (h), for the word may be rendered "in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you,.... Or "but yet" (k); however, notwithstanding though the Lord had been so kind and gracious to them, as to raise up judges one after another to deliver them, when they cried unto him, yet when they perceived that Nahash the Ammonite was preparing to make war with...