The King Reigns | 1 Sam. 8-12

As preached by Zach Thompson.

As the true king over his people, God reigns:

1) Even when his people reject Him for worldly thinking (8:1-22).

2) With providential care for His people (9:1-10:25).

3) Through weak vessels (11:1-17).

4) With uncompromising justice and unfailing forgiveness (12:1-25).

1 Samuel 8-12

Good morning Christ Fellowship. Today, we are going to continue our series through the book of Samuel. 

Last week, we looked at chapters 4-7 and saw the Lord fulfill his judgment against the house of Eli. God removed the symbol of his presence in Israel when he allowed the Ark of the covenant to be captured by the Philistines. Then he showed his power over the Philistine god and wreaked havoc from town to town until they sent the ark back to Israel. We saw Samuel fully step into his role of prophet when he called the people of Israel to repent of their sin. He stepped into his role as priest when he began to intercede for them after their repentance. And he stepped into his role as judge as he administered justice to the people for the rest of his days. 

Then after what felt like a summary statement for Samuel’s life in chapter 7, we come to our text today.

Our text today marks the official transition from the time of the judges to the time of the kings in Israel. 

So let’s turn to the text together. 

1 Samuel 8-12

8:1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 

Samuel’s Warning Against Kings

10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking for a king from him. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 

The LORD Grants Israel’s Request

19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.” 

Saul Chosen to Be King

[At the beginning of chapter 9, we learn of a man named Saul. His father, Kish, had lost some donkeys, and Saul was looking for them. He decides to talk to the prophet Samuel for help finding them. Look down in 9:15.] 

15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.” 18 Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Tell me where is the house of the seer?” 19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. 20 As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not set your mind on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?” 21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?” 

[Then in verses 22-27, Saul feasts with Samuel, and Samuel gives him instructions to meet him privately as he heads out of the city. Look in 10:1]

Saul Anointed King

10:1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. 2 When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’ 3 Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. 5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you. 8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.” 

9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 10 When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12 And a man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. 

14 Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To seek the donkeys. And when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 And Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 And Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything. 

Saul Proclaimed King

17 Now Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah. 18 And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your thousands.” 

20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the LORD, “Is there a man still to come?” and the LORD said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23 Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. 24 And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the LORD has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” 

25 Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. 26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace. 

Saul Defeats the Ammonites

11 Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.” 2 But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.” 3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.” 4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people, and all the people wept aloud. 

5 Now, behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh. 6 And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. 7 He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out as one man. 8 When he mustered them at Bezek, the people of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. 9 And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation.’ ” When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, they were glad. 10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.” 11 And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. 

The Kingdom Is Renewed

12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.” 14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the LORD, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. 

[And we’ll read from chapter 12 when we get to our final point today.] 

Let’s Pray

A man walks into a throne room. The man doesn’t look incredibly wealthy, but he isn’t incredibly poor. He’s dressed well enough, and he looks like he hasn’t missed any meals. The king is there on his throne. Majestic and wielding justice in his hands. That King has authority over this man, and he has access to all the wealth of the land. The man approaches the king, and as he does, this middling man puts his hand in his pocket. He pulls out some change, and tosses it over toward the king’s feet, and he says, “Be grateful I gave you that much. Don’t spend it all in one place.” 

How will the king deal with that man? Will he get a commendation for his generosity? Will he get a promotion as one of the leading men in the kingdom because of his shrewdness? 

No. The king isn’t interested in his pocket change. And that man clearly doesn’t understand the position and prestige of the room he was in. 

In a similar way, God isn’t interested in our trinkets. He wants your heart. 

Does that man love his king? No, if we talk the same story with piles of money and the same attitude, the same problem would be present. 

The king isn’t interested in what you can do for him. He isn’t interested in how many costly things you can lay at his feet. 

He is interested in your heart. 

Does he have it? What has a hold of your heart today? 

Think for a moment about yourself. Where do your allegiances lie? On that final day of judgment, when all is laid bare, what in your heart might be exposed? 

What motives drive you to action? Are you concerned with the same things that the Lord is concerned with? What things make you angry? What things stir up your affections? What causes your heart to be filled concern?

If your heart were laid bare today for everyone to see, what would we find? 

In our text today, this is what the Lord wanted from His people. He is the king who wants the hearts of his people.

We see him pursuing this through several means in our text today. 

Let’s consider a few points as we dwell on our text today. 

As the true king over his people, God reigns:

1. Even when his people reject Him for worldly thinking. (8:1-22)

We need to clearly see the stubborn delusion of the people. They genuinely believe that having a man established as king will solve all of their problems. 

They look at the nations around them, and they only see greener grass. They were somehow deluded into thinking that a human king would be less prone to injustice than the judges were because they weren’t grounded in reality as it really is. 

Chapter 8 opens with the surprising recognition that Samuel’s sons were perverting justice and taking bribes. 

And to the credit of the elders, they are not going to put up with this injustice, so they go to tell Samuel about his sons. This is already a marked change from how they operated with Eli. But look at exactly what they say in verse 5, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Their solution wasn’t just to deal with the sin. It was to upend the structure of the nation. 

And look at the motivation of those elders. It’s at the end of verse 5. “Appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 

They wanted to be like the nations. This was explicitly against God’s desire for his people. All throughout the law, we see this call from God for his people that they would be set apart–that they wouldn’t live and desire and walk like the nations around them. 

They were to be a holy nation. A royal priesthood. A people for his own possession. 

And in this demand that they place on Samuel, they reject a major part of their distinct identity as the people of God. 

And Samuel is displeased by their solution. Look in verse 6. “But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.”

Samuel sees this solution for what it is. A bad solution. 

And as an example to all of us, he doesn’t jump into fiery extended debates. He prays to the Lord, and the Lord responds in verse 7, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.” 

Then in verses 8-9, God says that these people are just doing what they have always done. Being stiff necked and short sighted. And he commands Samuel to warn them of what would come with a king. 

Then in 8:10-18, Samuel does what God told him to do. He warns them. 

He warns them that being like the nations means having a king who will take from them. He’ll take their sons and their daughters to be his servants. He will take the fruit of their fields. He will tax them. And verse 18, he gives the most dire warning, “in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

It’s like he’s telling them, “Hey! That grass isn’t actually greener.” And if you walk down that road, there is no turning back from this. 

Then in verse 19, “But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

And the Lord tells Samuel, give them what they want.

We saw last week that our sin causes us to push God away, and at a certain point, he’ll say it, “Thy will be done.” Have it your way. 

They are rejecting God because they have embraced a worldly way of thinking. 

They were acting like they had a structural problem when they really had a sin a problem. Their heart was the problem. 

They wanted to be like the nations.

Do you see this in yourself? Are you harboring worldly thinking in a way that functions as a rejection of God and what he would have for you? Are you ignoring warnings of consequences because you are looking through rose colored glasses at the greener grass of the world?

Here’s an example. The world teaches us to look inside ourselves for solutions. You’ve heard it before. Follow your heart. Find who you truly are. Manifest your reality. 

The world acts as if the greatest problems we will face are caused by things outside of us. As if we are chiefly the victims of circumstance. And to be sure there are circumstances that are horrible. There are people who genuinely are victims. 

But the bible teaches the exact opposite. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9.) All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). 

Our greatest problem isn’t something pressing onto us from the outside. It’s inside of us. Our hearts are drawn to sin. And the only solution is outside of us. No amount of inward searching will ultimately deal with our sin.

How often do you try to change your circumstance rather than actually address the sin in your heart? Sure, addressing the circumstance might help address the sin, but what about when you keep coming back to the same thing over and over? What is happening in your heart? 

And this is just one example! We could look into worldly philosophies that are contrary to scripture all day, but the point is this. 

Consider your way of thinking and look at it with scrutiny. Are your patterns of thought consistent with things of the world? Or things of the Lord? 

If you find worldly thinking in you, then reject it. Reject the thing that would cause you to reject the Lord. 

Or else, in discipline, he might hand you over to it. That’s what the Lord does when he tells Samuel in 8:22, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” 

He was letting Israel enter into its worldly way of thinking with all of its consequences. 

And that’s where we begin to see our next point. 

As the true king over his people, God reigns:

2. With providential care for His people (9:1-10:25) 

We see this in 9:1-10:25. 

In chapters 9-11, God confirms Saul as the first king of Israel. First, in chapter 9 to 10:16, God confirms Saul privately, then in chapter 10:17-27, he does it publicly, then in chapter 11, God confirms him with power and with his Spirit. 

And if we look through all of these chapters, we see God’s powerful hand moving every moment of the account. 

In chapter 9, Saul’s father just happens to lose his donkeys at about the same time that Samuel happens to receive a word from the Lord that a man of Benjamin would come to him who should be anointed king over Israel. Samuel anoints Saul, saying in 10:1, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies.” Then after this, Samuel tells him signs that will happen to confirm his anointing as king (10:1-8), and every one of them happens (10:9-13). 

Then seven days later, for a public proclamation, In 10:17, Samuel gathers all of the people together at Mizpah for a public confirmation of Saul as King. And this public selection process was done by casting lots. In the Old Testament, it was common to cast lots and trust that God would guide you by the way they fell. That’s what was happening here. It’s as if we had a coin and divided the room in half and we said, “okay, the king is over here or over here. Heads is this side and tails is this side.” Then we flip the coin again with smaller and smaller groups until we arrive at a single person. 

They do something similar to that, and the lot falls to Saul. 

Now, if they had only done this process, it might seem like random chance, but God had Samuel anoint this man 7 days before this moment. There wasn’t anything random or happenstance about this. 

God was guiding every moment. 

They had rejected God as king, but the Lord of the universe doesn’t lay down his power. He was providentially moving to respond to their request. 

And he still reigns over our lives with the same level of precision. Have you considered the providence of God recently? 

God’s providence is the wise and sovereign action of God. He is sovereign over all things, and he applies his sovereignty through his providentially wise and sovereign actions. 

When you consider God’s providence, what is your default response? If you’re happy with your circumstance, maybe you feel fine about it. But is there some good thing you crave that God is withholding? God is withholding it in his good providence as he cares for his people. 

Or maybe you just feel like you’re drowning. You feel like every lifeline is cut off and there isn’t hope. If you are there, and you are hearing this, then God has orchestrated this moment so that you would hear this. He is working in his providential wisdom. Be steadfast and immovable because there is no amount of striving or pain that is futile for those who are in Christ. 

Or maybe you aren’t in any dreaded circumstances, but you look out ahead of you and you see that it’s coming. You see that you’ll need to walk through that hard thing, and you secretly despise that God would have you do. 

This isn’t too far from where Saul was. He saw the  providential hand of God shaping his path, and it seems like he was terrified. 

In 10:9-13, Saul saw all of the signs that Samuel promised would happen to confirm his anointing as Israel’s king. Those included him openly prophesying in a way that people in the countryside started the saying, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” Speaking prophetically was apparently far out of character for him, but the Spirit of God had rushed upon him so that he did it, and when. 

When he got home, his uncle asked him where he had been, and he just left all of that out. He acted like nothing extraordinary had happened except that Samuel told him the donkeys were already found. It seems like he didn’t want his family to know that he had been anointed, and that God had confirmed him as the king. 

Then, when his name was finally called in front of the tribes of Israel as a public proclamation, they couldn’t find him. He was hiding. He was hiding so well, that they had to pray to God. That’s a really good hiding spot. And God tells them where he is. Look in verse 10:22, “So they inquired again of the LORD, “Is there a man still to come?” and the LORD said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”

Don’t play hide and seek with God. He always wins. 

Saul seems like a coward here. He’s resisting the clear working of God in his life. 

But in his providence, God isn’t done confirming Paul as king. 

At the end of chapter 10, things kind of fall flat. Saul is proclaimed as king. The people shout, “Long live the king!” Then after Samuel tells the people the duties of the king, everyone just goes home. God touches the hearts of a few valiant men to go with Saul, and there were other men who despised him and openly asked how such a cowardly man could save Israel. But everyone just leaves. 

Things feel uncertain as we go into chapter 11, and that brings us to our next point. 

As the true king over his people, God reigns:

3. Through weak vessels (11:1-17)

In chapter 11, the Lord works in Saul to confirm finally and clearly that Saul is the king of Israel. 

Chapter 11 is one Saul’s finest moments as king, and in this chapter, God transforms a coward into one who points the people of God to the ultimate king – Jesus. 

We are introduced to Nahash, the Ammonite, a wicked king who sought to shame and cripple the Israelite people in Jabesh Gilead. 

As we read this name, we are meant to make an immediate connection. The name Nahash means serpent. It’s the same word used in Genesis 3. 

And at this moment, there is an immediate messianic expectation in the text. Could this be the one who will crush the head of the serpent? The Promised Offspring from Genesis 3:15? 

Saul ultimately fails, just like every figure until Christ, but this chapter is screaming with messianic themes. 

Consider the ways that Saul foreshadows Christ here. 

Look in 11:6, “And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.” 

Saul was filled with the Spirit of God. He had a holy anger for the glory of God and for the protection of God’s people. 

He unites the people of God and marches against Nahash, the serpent, in glorious victory. A victory so sound that verse 11 says, “those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.” 

After the victory, the people are thrilled to have Saul as their king, and they are ready to execute the men who had openly questioned him at his coronation. But Saul shows forbearance against his enemies in 11:13, “But Saul said, ‘Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today, the LORD has worked salvation in Israel.” 

Filled with the spirit of God. A holy zeal for God and his people. Victorious against the serpent Slow to anger and quick to forgive his people. Giving glory to God. He’s doing exactly what the leader of Israel should be doing. 

But here’s my point. 

None of this happened because Saul wasn’t a coward anymore. None of this happened because Saul was extraordinary. It happened because God delights in using weak vessels to show his strength. 

His power is made perfect in our weakness. 

I asked that question about God’s providence earlier. Maybe you find yourself in that circumstance of complacency or drowning or dread. 

Wherever you are, the response is the same. Cry out to God as the one who ultimately works deliverance. 

God is in the business of showing his glory through our weakness and using our failures for the sake of his name. 

We could give examples of this all day. 

I think of a brother here who has been clinging to the Lord for contentment in his job. For years, fighting hour by hour just to do the simple thing of working as unto the Lord. Fighting for faithfulness rather than following the worldly wisdom of abandoning responsibility to chase a passion. Then after years of fighting for it and finding small victories along the way, I see him speak to brother or sister who seems to be starting that same journey. In that moment, he gets to speak about God’s faithfulness in the grind in a way that he couldn’t if he hadn’t shaped you by the grind of clinging to God in the midst of circumstances he would rather change. 

For every person in this room, I could name a circumstance that God is using to providentially shape you. To reveal your need of him and to shape you for his purposes. 

What have you prayed to God about and he said no? Is it health? Is it a spouse? A child? A car with air conditioning? Home ownership? Freedom from a grief that just won’t let go? 

God will use your lack of that thing to shape you to be a proclamation of his glory. Because he delights in using weak vessels to glorify his name.

Maybe he will use some other person who is weak and unsuspecting to help pull you through that circumstance. 

Maybe he is using that circumstance to make you feel your weakness, and as you feel weak, perhaps God shaping a different kind of strength so that he can use you in a new way. 

God is providentially working deliverance, and we should view every circumstance in light of that reality. 

So don’t hide among the baggage, but embrace what he has for you. 

And this brings us to our final point. 

As the true king over his people, God reigns:

4. With uncompromising justice and unfailing forgiveness (12:1-25)

I said in our last point that God raised up vessels and deliverance. That was in regard to circumstances and enemies. He uses the weak to shame the strong. 

And we see that reality finally and fully in this last point. That God reigns with uncompromising justice and unfailing love. 

This is Samuel’s point in 12:1-5 when he seeks to clear his name. Look in 12:2, “ And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.” 

He is establishing that the Lord has worked justice through him. He says that his sons are “among the people” indicating that they have been removed from leadership. 

Then the people agree in verse 5 that he has been just, “They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”

Then this gives Samuel the opportunity for one last reminder that God has delivered them constantly when they turn to him. That’s what he says in 12:6-11. 

He recounts the cycle of faithlessness, where the people embrace sin, then the Lord hands them over to their sin, then they eventually despise their circumstance and call out to the Lord, and God hears them and forgives their sin and delivers them. That’s basically the entire book of Judges.

But then in verse 12, he recounts what we already saw in our text, that in this circumstance with Nahash the Ammonite, they didn’t cry for deliverance. They cried out for a king. And God gave them a king. 

Then through the end of 12:15, Samuel essentially tells them that the same things are still going to happen. They have a king now, but they are subject to the Lord over their king. The only change is that now they have the king as a representative before God, for good or ill. 

And in verse 16-18, Samuel calls upon the Lord for a sign that will confirm his warning. He asked God to send thunder and rain during the wheat harvest. In that climate, this would have been like getting a foot of snow in July. 

And the Lord does it, and the people are terrified. 

They immediately see their sin and confess it. Look in verse 19, “And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”

And how does the Lord respond? Verse 20, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.” 

As the true king over his people, God reigns with uncompromising justice and unfailing forgiveness.

Do you see how he invites his people back into his arms? Even after they rejected him? 

Do you see that he does it again and again? Samuel recounts these examples from Exodus and the book of Judges, then it immediately happens again. They recognize their sin before the Lord, and God immediately embraces them as his people.

Did you see how quickly he comforts them? In verse 19, they confess, and immediately in verse 20, God says, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.” 

Then in 21-25, he calls them up, to live as his people. “21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 22 For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” 

Uncompromising justice. Unfailing forgiveness. 

But how could these two things truly coexist? If God overlooks sin, is he truly just? If God is truly just, will he really forgive? How is this even possible? 

This entire narrative has been pushing toward this reality. And it climaxed in the coronation of Saul. The coronation of this king represented the providence of God for his people, but it also represented the people’s rejection of God. As the crown was placed on Saul’s head, the people’s submission to God was required and their rejection of God was complete. But even in their rejection, God was working deliverance because he stood ready to forgive them. 

Perhaps this makes you think of another king who was raised up by the providence of God, but in the very act of his coronation, the people of God rejected God’s kingship. The crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus and the robes of mockery draped around him. 

Beaten and torn, he was raised up in shame on the cross, and as he took his final breath, our sin was left there nailed to the cross.

He came to his own, and his own rejected him because they hated the light and loved the darkness. 

And on the third day, as he was raised, the serpent’s head was finally crushed. The death toll of death was rung, and the great resolution was won. 

At the Cross, Jesus represented us in a way that no other king could. 

And now God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26). 

Uncompromising justice. Unfailing forgiveness.  

God isn’t interested in your trinkets. He wants your heart. And he has done everything necessary to have it. 

Whatever your circumstance this morning, reject what the world would say. Reject every effort that would push your toward self-reliance. And in your weakness, embrace the good providence of God that has been accomplished through Jesus Christ. 

Turn to him, and he will turn to you. 

Let’s pray.