But 1 Samuel 12 may prepare us for something very different.
First come Samuel's words to Israel. “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. And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and gray-headed; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.” He challenges them as to his own integrity, and the people confess it without hesitation. And he said unto them, Jehovah 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 And Samuel said unto the people, It is Jehovah 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.”
Thus having stood completely and formally acquitted of everything that could trouble the conscience of a single upright soul in Israel, he appeals to them in the name of Jehovah. He reminds them how deliverers had been raised up; but he adds, “Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, Jehovah hath set a king over you. If ye will fear Jehovah, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following Jehovah your God: but if ye will not obey the voice of Jehovah, but rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, then shall the hand of Jehovah be against you, as it was against your fathers. Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which Jehovah will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest to-day? I will call unto Jehovah, and he shall send thunder and rain.”
It need scarcely be explained, that if at Samuel's call Jehovah sent at once what was entirely out of season, proof would thereby be given of the manifest answer of God in their midst. His ears are open to the righteous. “So Samuel called unto Jehovah, and Jehovah sent thunder and rain.” But what was all this to attest? “That ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of Jehovah, in asking you a king.” The prophet's judgment (and this formed according to God) was the same as ever. He nevertheless might have seemed to help on, and in a certain sense had really helped on, the appointment of the king as no man in Israel beside himself had done. For who among those who listened to his words in general could have gathered from Samuel's conduct, and from his spirit, that his heart did not go thoroughly along with it? If some would misjudge the man of God in this, my conviction is that his conduct was lowly, and guided by God so that he should not slip where it was hard to avoid it. For one may have to act in a state of things which sin has brought about; and in such a complication one may easily mistake the mind of God if not content with simply doing one's own duty. The judgment may be clear as to what belongs to God, which others have compromised. On the other hand suppose a duty to be incumbent on ourselves of another kind. In such a case we should have it so settled in our own souls as to be able to go forward calm and unmoved, discharging our duty whatever it be even in spite of the strongest conviction of what the actual state of things will all come to. This was the case with Samuel.
There was in Israel a total want of the confidence which a good conscience enjoys; for at this point we find that all the people now cry to Samuel, and say, “Pray for thy servants.” But though they may be in a measure convinced of their folly, the choice had been made, and the trial must proceed. “Pray for thy servants unto Jehovah thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following Jehovah, but serve Jehovah with all your heart; and turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. For Jehovah will not forsake His people for His great name's sake.” The same principle holds good under all circumstances. When people have put themselves wrong, and come to see they have done so, it is not always possible to reverse it. But God is an invariable resource, and will not fail those who truly humble themselves. It becomes a question of doing His will where we are. The consequences of what was evil to have done may continue even when the person is brought to judge the evil tiling; and God may hold one to its humiliating effects when one has confessed and renounced the evil itself. It is not only possible, but absolutely needful, to have done with the evil, though there may abide as a fresh trial certain outward results that flow from it. And then the true resource is not the seeking to get back to the position in which we were before the evil was done, but acknowledging the evil thoroughly, humbling ourselves in the sight of God, and looking to Him to see what His will is now concerning us. Evidently this supposes faith, which was precisely the want, and this not merely of Saul but also of the children of Israel. So says the prophet: “Only fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king” How true these words proved in the result is known to every reader of the Bible.