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SAMUEL’S FAREWELL MESSAGE
1 Samuel 12:1-25
Key Verses: 14-15
“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.”
God formed the nation Israel after Jacob and his 12 sons entered Egypt. In his right time, God brought the people of Israel out of Egypt through his servant Moses and settled them in the Promised Land through Joshua. In the ancient Israel’s history, there are a few turning points that include the beginning and the end of the conquest of the Promised Land, of the era of the judges and of the monarchy. 1 Samuel 12 marks the end of the era of the judges and the beginning of the monarchy. Samuel is the last judge of Israel, and today’s passage is his farewell message as he steps down as Israel’s leader and judge. The central theme of Samuel’s farewell message is to serve and obey God. Although God granted the Israelites Saul as the first king, spiritually God is still Israel’s sovereign Lord and King. Samuel urges them to serve and obey God. As we study it, may God renew our heart and spirit so that we would serve and obey God.
First, Samuel himself had served and obeyed God throughout his life time. Samuel had been dedicated to God right from his childhood. He became Israel’s leader and judge after Eli the priest and his two sons died on the same day. Then he had served and obeyed God and ministered his people as a judge and the leader of Israel for many years until he became old. But for all those years he had been a man of transparency and integrity.Look at verses 3-5. These verses are his rhetoricaland powerful life testimony. He asked the nation a series of questions: “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?”There is a saying, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”We remember “sponsorship scandal” in 2004 that toppled the Liberal government, “in and out scandal” in 2007, “Robocall scandal” in 2012 and ongoing the ETS scandal” in the recent Canadian politics. We also often hear the corruption of world leaders. These corrupt leaders oppress dissent and gain enormous wealth through their control of government. But Samuel had had integrity and authenticity as a leader and servant of God. The people of Israel answered Samuel, “You have not cheated or oppressed us. You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”Then 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.” So they answered, “He is witness.” They all acknowledged Samuel’s humble and transparent life. How could he live such an authentic life? He said in verse 3, “Testify against me in the presence of the Lord,” and in verse 5, “The Lord is witness against you…” In other verses in today’s passage, Samuel also said to them similar phrases such as, “before the Lord” in verse 7“In the eyes of the Lord” in verse 17, and “pray to the Lord” in verse 19. These verses reveal clearly that Samuel lived before God. God is invisible. But Samuel knew that God sees everything. Samuel didn’t abuse his authority as Israel’s leader, because he knew that God is the Lord and king of Israel and he was just God’s servant. He had the fear of God in his heart and lived his life before God. When he lived in the sight of God no matter what, he could do what was right before God.
Samuel saw what had happened to the priest Eli and his two wicked sons. He must have learned the consequence of not living before God. So he had struggled hard to live before God. No matter how others thought of him, he lived before God to the end of his life. Joseph in the Old Testament also lived before God. When Potiphar’s wife seduced Joseph to come to bed with her, he rejected her saying, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”When she dragged him to her bed, then he just ran out of the house. He lived before God faithfully even in prison where he was put with a false accusation. Living before God does not mean that we live a passive life, trying hard not to commit sinswith the fear of God. It means we humbly repent before God when we commit sins and turn to God and live for God’s glory positively in the sight of God.Those who don’t live before God live according to their sinful feelings and desires. Our God is Spirit and he is invisible. That is why many people live as if there is no God. Even many Christians live as practical atheists and hypocrites. But our God is living and he sees everything we do. He will judge everyone according to whatthey have done (Ro 2:6). Let us live in the sight of God and become men and women of integrity and truthfulness.
Second, Samuel called an attention to Israel’s sin in history that theyhad forgotten God who loved them, saved them and blessed them.Look at verses 6-11. In these verses, Samuel briefly reviewed Israel’s history from the time of slavery in Egypt to the time of the last judge Samuel. Here Samuel showed what God had done for them and what Israel had done. In verses 6 and 8, Samuel emphasized that God appointed and sent Moses and Aaron and brought the Israelites out of Egypt. It was not Moses and Aaron who brought them out of Egypt. It was God who heard Israel’s cry to him and sent Moses and Aaron to them and rescued them. In other words, it was the mighty work of God who had mercy on the Israelites. It was God who raised Joshua to cross the Jordan. It was God who helped them to conquer the Promised Land. It was God who settled them in the land of milk and honey.
Look at verse 9. After being settled down in the Promised Land, however, they forgot their God. They became self-sufficient and proud. They sought after ease, comfort and human freedom. They thought that the law of God restricted their human freedom. They saw that the gentiles were living well without God. So they forsook God and served idols just like the gentiles. They followed after only material prosperity and pleasure seeking just like the gentiles. In this way they were assimilated with the godless gentile culture and lifestyle. So God sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Moabites. They became slaves of their enemies just as they had been in Egypt. The truth is that to live as God’s children was not easy. To serve God and obey his words requires tremendous self-denial, sacrifice and life-giving devotion. To serve God and obey his words is equal to enter through the narrow gate (Mt 7:13). It is to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus (Mt 16:24). But we all have our deprived human nature. In our deprived human nature, we may put ourselves at the top of our own priority list and put God at the bottom. But this kind of lifestyle bears very sour and sinful fruit. We all had experienced before meeting Jesus and Jesus rescued us from such kind of cursed life. Going back to that kind of lifestyle is the same as a dog returns its own vomit.
In view of the Bible, when people begin to forget and forsake God, it is the beginning of their downfall and misery. By forgetting and forsaking God, they cut themselves away from the very source of life. When the Israelites forgot their God, they forgot their faith. They forgot where they came from. They forgot why they should live there. Again in his mercy God disciplined the Israelites by giving them into the hands of the Philistines and the Moabites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord again, recognizing their sin of forsaking God and serving idols. In his mercy God delivered them from their enemies through Jerub-Baal (Gideon), Barak, Jephthah and Samuel and gave them security in him. It is truly amazing to see God’s suffering patience toward his people. In history, the people of Israel forgot God and fell into slavery again and again. After falling into slavery, they recognized their sin and repented of their sins and turned to God. Then God rescued them again. But soon they forgot God again and fell into sin again. This is not only Israel’s history. It is the history of our own personal spiritual life. But we must really know that it was God who created us and sent us to this world. It was God who blessed our marriage, our children, our health and our life all together. It was God who forgave our wretched sins and rescued us from eternal destruction. It is God who faithfully loves us who are unlovable and unbearable. We must not forget and forsake God, but love him and serve him and obey his words. That was Samuel’s plea to Israel.
Third, Samuel urged Israel to serve and obey God with all their hearts.Look at verses 14-15. “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.”The Israelites now had a king as they wished. But that does not mean that they could now live like godless gentiles. Rather, both the king and the people should serve and obey God. They could disobey God and rebel against his commands.But then God’s hand would be against them.According to Samuel, they could have a choice: they could serve God and obey him; or they could forsake God and follow their own desires and ways. That’s all up to their choice. But he also told them the consequences of their choice. Here let us think again why we should serve God and obey him. Do we serve God and obey him because otherwise he punishes us? Or do we do so because that’s our duty? Or because we try to earn his blessings?Yes, God punishes us if we don’t serve and obey him. Yes, obeying God is our duty. Yes, we receive God’s blessings if we obey him. But our service to God and our obedience to him have far deeper reasons than these reasons. God is ourCreator who created us. He is the beginning and the end. He is holy and righteous. He is compassionate and merciful. He is truly worthy of our service and obedience. This God loves us and wants to have a personal relationship with us. Our God knows what is best for us. Most of all, he saved us from sin and made us as his children out of his amazing love. He gives us life with abundance. There are many others reasons to serve God and obey him. We live in the age of rebellion. Many young people don’t care much about God but seek their own pleasure. Living in this age, even many Christians don’t care much about serving and obeying God. They are glad to be saved and going to heaven but not interested in obeying God’s word in their practical life. But we must know that those who truly believe God will obey his words. The word “believe” in Greek is “pisteuo” which also means “obey.” It is true that if we truly believe God we truly obey him.One who doesn’t believe will not obey. Obedience comes from a person’s inner belief system. If we don’t obey God’s words, it reveals that we don’t actually believe him and his words. When Noah believed God, he obeyed God.But when Lot’s sons-in-law didn’t believe God they could not obey God’s words and were destroyed with other people in Sodom. Let us serve and obey God because he is our Creator who really wants to have a right relationship with us and who wants to bless us. Let us serve and obey God, not because we ought, but because we want to serve and obey him.
Look at verses 16-19. God approved Samuel’s teaching by sending thunder and rain, and in awe, the Israelites asked Samuel to pray to God on their behalf. How did Samuel help them who were full of fear? In verses 20-25, Samuel assured them that the merciful God would not reject his people. Samuelinstructed them again that they should serve God with all their hearts, considering what great things he had done to them. God has been doing his beautiful work in and among us. We must consider them and commit ourselves to serving God and obeying his words.
Today we learned of Samuel’s beautiful farewell address. Samuel was a good shepherd, because he himself had lived before God and obeyed his words. The point of his address was that the Israelites should serve and obey God with all their hearts so that they could have a right relationship with God and live in God’s blessing and protection. May we serve God and obey him with all our hearts. May we grow like Samuel who had served his people with God’s good and rightway.