How do you manage transitions? There is a lot of change in our world and in our personal lives, but what can be said about us in these times of transition. Join Dr. Marty Baker as we take a walk through 1 Samuel 12 and Samuels transition from leadership.
From the freedom from Egyptian bondage in 1446 B.C., to the oversight of the nation during the period of the Judges, Israel enjoyed a theocratic form of government. God ruled over them through leaders like Moses, Joshua, Othniel, Samson, and Samuel. When they sinned, He disciplined them. When they cried out for help as they confessed their sinful ways, He moved with compassion to deliver them. When they needed a word from God, He supplied it through prophets like Moses and Samuel, or through the High Priest who used the Urim and the Thummin to obtain “yes” or “no” answers from God (Ex. 28:30; Lev. 8:8; Num. 27:21; Deut. 33:8; 1 Sam. 28:6). This type of leadership endured for 395 years (1446-1051 B.C.).
Eventually, the average Israelite grew tired of this model, so they demanded a change to have a king like any surrounding nation. They wanted to kick faithful Samuel to the curb because of his age (1 Sam. 8:5) and replace him with someone much younger, stronger, and better looking. The Lord gave them their wish with this one caveat. He would pick the king and this man would be directly responsible to Him, His Word, and His prophet(s). In a sense, everything would change in a new monarchical arrangement, but then nothing would change because the new king would still report and be accountable directly to God.
As we dig into the fertile spiritual soil of 1 Samuel 12, we are introduced to what occurred when the old, proven leader, Samuel, turned authority to rule over the people to the new, primarily unproven leader, Saul. Unlike the nice letter former President Biden left in the Oval Office desk for President Trump, a letter that wished him well and God’s blessings,[1] Samuel leveled with the people at this time of national change. He did this to challenge them to move beyond their sinful track record, and to start running with and for their Lord who had only ever been there for them.
We also experienced a radical transition from one type of leader to another. The majority of the nation clamored for a new leader to lead us back to fiscal responsibility, logical sexual sanity, border security, and a return to military prowess. Our new President is radically leading us to fulfill his campaign promises. Most are pleased with him, but a number chafe at his blitzkrieg decisions.
What matters in a situation like this for Christians? What matters is that we understand and act upon the central motif of this powerful, thought-provoking historical episode in the life of Israel as a nation:
Radical Transitions Call For Honesty About Your Spirituality, Followed By Honor Of God (1 Sam. 12:1-25)
Radical transitions come in all shapes and sizes:
- The military moved you from Hawaii to the Pentagon.
- Your government job was just phased out to cut government waste.
- Your company just downsized by eliminating your advertising department.
- The man you were engaged to suddenly just broke up with you.
- A person you trusted as a business partner just ripped you off, sending your company into a financial death spiral.
- A conservative Republican just became the President instead of a liberal Democrat.
Whatever the transition is, its occurrence in your life, by definition, calls you to do some soul-searching to see how you might spiritually grow from this. So, instead of grumbling and complaining about the chaos, embrace and permit it to educate you so you can flourish instead of floundering in your walk with the Lord, who is faithful to you regardless. So, what are you going to do: freak out or faith up?
The various rhetorical panels from this historical narrative drive home this central theological idea we all need to embrace and then evidence.
The Review (1 Sam. 12:1-5)
First, we will read this particular pericope and then offer some brief analysis.
1 Then Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and I have appointed a king over you. 2 “And now, here is the king walking before you, but I am old and gray, and behold my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my youth even to this day. 3 “Here I am; bear witness against me before the LORD and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you.” 4 And they said, “You have not defrauded us, or oppressed us, or taken anything from any man’s hand.” (1 Sam. 12)
The people had seen Samuel in action as a leader for many years. The public watched his life closely since he was reared in the Temple. Through all the nation’s ups and downs, victories and losses against their enemies, spiritual advancements, and apostasies, one thing was true: Samuel was a leader’s leader, and the evidence from his very public life backed this up. In a word, he possessed and illustrated a life of absolute integrity.
Samuel wasted no time reminding the people of the kind of leader he was.
- Was he ever guilty of stealing in any way, shape, or form? No. He had no offshore accounts where he placed money he skimmed from the national treasury. He upheld the law and stole from no one (Ex. 20:15). DODGE wouldn’t find anything on this man and his political leadership.
- Did he ever defraud anyone by setting up a sneaky plan to scam them out of their money? No. Ponzi schemes were out. Honesty was in. No backroom deals. No under-the-table money-making schemes.
- Did he ever use his political/prophetic position to oppress anyone? No. Evil leaders use their power to silence people they don’t like. Evil leaders use the levers of governmental power to persecute those who oppose their platform. Evil leaders use lawfare to harass and hobble those they don’t like. Samuel never lived like this. He oppressed no one, and everyone knew it.
- Did he ever take a bribe? No. As a man of integrity, he was not for sale . . . at any price. He never succumbed to the temptation to take money from someone so they would be positioned to profit from some form of illegal activity. Cartels offered my father much money to let trucks laden with pot drive through his truck gate as a young Custom’s officer, but he never gave in because he, like Samuel, was a man of integrity.
Think about it. At the end of his political career, which involved being a key leader during the period of the Judges, it was impossible to dig up any dirt on him. Why? Because he was a godly man who feared God, he lived accordingly. Are you made of the same stuff?
Imagine if our politicians could finish their careers with a statement like this:
5 And he said to them, “The LORD is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.” (1 Sam. 12)
Boom. He just stated definitively, “I lived a spiritually, financially, and ethically squeaky-clean life, personally and publicly.”
Why did he make this opening statement? One, he wanted to underscore how good the nation had it under the theocratic model. Two, he desired to challenge the newly anointed king to be a man of absolute integrity. Samuel’s life showed that living the spotless life he just mentioned is possible. Three, Samuel sought to underscore how important it is at times of personal and public upheaval, be what it may be, to take stock of your life. How have you lived? How have you served? How have you led?
Turning from a brief and bold appraisal of his leadership, Samuel turned next to address . . .
The Road (1 Sam. 12:6-8)
What is this? This is a quick historical perusal of how great the theocracy was the people now hastily wanted to throw into the dustbin of history:
6 Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. 7 “So now, take your stand, that I may plead with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous acts of the LORD which He did for you and your fathers. 8 “When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. (1 Sam. 12)
Who picked their leaders? God did. Moses was a work in progress. After he murdered the Egyptian for abusing an Israelite slave (Ex. 2:11-12), he fled to the desert region of Midian (Ex. 2:15ff). For the next forty years, the Lord used the desert to sandblast his soul and prepare him, as a shepherd, to shepherd God’s people. He was eighty when God deemed him ready to use his stuttering and a large stick to take on the mighty Egyptian empire. Through a series of ten miraculous plagues, God used this old, faithful saint to do the impossible: free His chosen people to become His chosen nation with a national land.
Who could forget how God used Moses in his old age to accomplish new things for Israel? Talk about good old times under the theocracy. Who would want to throw off theocratic leadership that worked wonders through select leaders? Who would want to embrace a new political model that relied on an earthly king with limited powers instead of a heavenly king with unlimited powers to divide water, send bread from heaven every morning, and bring gushing, fresh water out of a rock in the dry, hostile desert of Sinai? Israel did, but at least they needed to remember what and who they were giving up, as it were.
This is similar, to a limited degree, to those in our nation who chafe against the Judeo-Christian construction of our Constitutional Republic. They argue that if it were just fluid instead of fixed, we’d be so much better off. We would be blessed with skilled workers at all levels if we could eliminate meritocracy. Right. If we could just permit the oppressed to dominate the oppressors, we’d have peace and prosperity. Right. No, we’d have an endless cycle of oppression. Such is the nature of man. He is never content with his given form of government, even if the Lord oversees it and guides it miraculously through intermediaries.
What typically happens when people grow disgruntled and disillusioned with a governmental structure that is God-fearing and God-honoring, one that loves law and order, and one that believes there is a difference between sinful and holy behavior? They push back in a quest to get their selfish, sinful way. I call this . . .
The Rebellion (1 Sam. 12:9-12)
Watch how Samuel, in classic prophetic form, pulled back the thin veneer of the righteousness of the people to show them how they historically lived under God’s leadership.
9 “But they forgot the LORD their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 10 “And they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve Thee.’ 11 “Then the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security. 12 “When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although the LORD your God was your king. (1 Sam. 12)
Israel’s history is hard to forget. They continually and wilfully walked away from God’s leadership, thinking they knew better by choosing to worship worthless, lifeless gods of their own making. Their sinful choices led to oppression and bondage, which, in turn, eventually moved them to cry out for divine deliverance.
How did God respond? He, who was and is faithful, sent leaders during the period of the Judges, as He had done many times before, to free them from their enemies. Yet none of this changed their sinful disposition. Their latest implosion over the militaristic activity of Nahash was a case in point. Instead of turning to God immediately, they sent men nationwide to cry about their predicament. Once again, they rebelled against God, choosing to rely on their power, not His. What were they thinking? Fortunately, God empowered Saul to rise to the occasion and bring deliverance (1 Sam. 11).
Samuel brought up Israel’s rebellious ways to move them to some much-needed soul-searching at this time of national transition. They should have asked themselves some very pointed questions: Why do we historically walk away from God and His chosen leaders? Why do we love darkness and not light? Why would we ever think a new belief system is better than the one we have demonstrably seen is far superior? Why do we seem never to learn that the joy of sin is but for a moment, and then comes bondage and chaos?
Likewise, in our time of national transition, we must ask similar questions. Lord, where is there open rebellion in my life? Where am I walking away from your Word? Where am I challenging your Law? What am I doing to stop the rebellion in those around me? When people state they have no intention of following the Law of the land, what do I say? Introspection should lead to information that gives you a real picture of your spiritual condition. This, in turn, should lead to confession and restoration. What will it be in your life?
In order to put the new king and the people on a path of prosperity, Samuel minced no words. His statement in verses 13 through 15 reveals the simple conditions for personal and national success. I label Samuel’s words here as . . .
The Rule (1 Sam. 12:13-15)
The rule for great living in this new governmental form was the same as in the theocratic form. I’m sure Samuel’s words sounded very familiar here, for they reflect the essence of the Torah:
13 “Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the LORD has set a king over you. 14 “If you will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God. 15 “And if you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers. (1 Sam. 12)
Who could miss the path of blessing listed here? If the king and people would obey God and His commands, they would know peace, prosperity, and blessing. If they choose rebellion, which has been the nation’s sordid story, they will know divine discipline, judgment, and hardship. So, choose life by choosing to live for God and not yourself.
Good counsel for us, too, in our time of transition. Stop running from God and start running toward Him. Stop effacing His Word, and start embracing it. Stop calling darkness light and light darkness. Stop being speechless when people rebel and start calling them to be repentant. To choose God is to choose life, peace, and prosperity. To push back against Him is to sow seeds of your destruction. What will it be in your life that is facing transition? Will you follow God’s rules, or will you fight against them? Wise people do the former.
All of this is why Samuel was such a great, gifted leader. He didn’t candy-coat or soften his words but said what needed sayin’. Why did he do this? He loved them. Love speaks truth so the object of your love knows the wise way they should walk to discover a life of blessing and peace. Will you speak truth, especially in our time of national transition?
Moving from the importance of the people to follow God instead of themselves, Samuel stopped and did something amazing. I label it . . .
The Revelation (1 Sam. 12:16-19)
What occurred next will probably take you off-guard, as it did the Israelites, but that was the point.
16 “Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes. 17 “Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the LORD, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the LORD by asking for yourselves a king.” 18 So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. (1 Sam. 12)
Samuel’s usage of the words for the people to “stand and see what the LORD would do” is the only other time in the OT that these two verbs are juxtaposed as they are in Exodus 14:13. In this passage, God called the people to sit back and watch Him do the marvelous, miraculous work of parting the Red Sea.
Samuel says, watch the God you want to cast off as your King work. During May and June, Israel doesn’t typically see any rain. Samuel changed all of that. Right after he challenged the people to stop their disobedient ways and to start faithfully following God, the prophet called for a massive thunderstorm at a time of year when this didn’t occur. He called to God, and God answered forthrightly. Suddenly, dark clouds started assembling overhead, and then a crack of thunder rolled over the heads of the people, followed by jagged lightning and more thunder, and then a massive amount of driving, pelting rain.
How did the people respond to this display of prophetic power wedded to God? Their bones rattled in their tunics. They froze up in absolute fear.
What did the people learn from this? They learned that they wanted to put their trust in an earthly king when, in reality, the heavenly King still had all the power they needed to succeed as a nation. They also learned that their king would still be subservient to the prophet, who, in turn, was subservient to the living God. It was a lesson God did not want them to forget as they moved from the theocracy to the monarchy form of government. I wonder what young Saul thought as he saw this display of raw, miraculous prophetic power. Probably not much. Sadly, their history from Saul forward showed they frequently rejected the prophet’s voice to their degradation. It is wiser to embrace God’s Word than to efface it.
Seeing God’s hand in Samuel’s prayer for a powerful rain storm at a time of the year when rain didn’t fall arrested the people’s attention, as it should have. The following section captures what occurred next:
The Restatement (1 Sam. 12:20-21)
First, the people asked their spiritual leader to pray for them. Why? They realized that their request for an earthly king was, well, stupid.
19 Then all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.” (1 Sam. 12)
Finally, they came to terms with the ridiculous nature of their former request. Have you ever been here? You ask God for something you shouldn’t seek, and then when He gives it to you, you realize you should have stayed content with what you had.
Samuel’s response as they worked through the tumultuous nature of the transition is classy:
20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 “And you must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which cannot profit or deliver, because they are futile. (1 Sam. 12)
His counsel to the rebels can’t be missed: Follow hard after God, while rejecting any forms of false worship. They are, in a word, “futile.” The Hebrew, tohu, is used in Genesis 1 to denote the formless and void nature of the initial creative process. Until everything was correctly assembled, the components that make the earth what it is seemed worthless. Worthless and futile are good words to describe those people, things, or ideologies you turn to that, by default, reject God or are totally incapable of helping you because they are powerless.
Think of a fortune cookie. The messages on the small slips within the cookie are always positive. Whoever reads one that says, “You will experience financial ruin in three days”? You never read that, right? Why? The cookie cannot tell you any truth about the immediate future. It’s a futile venture to think otherwise. It’s about as futile as believing you must read your Horoscope daily to function. It is powerless because it is not of God.
Again, this is good advice for our transitional time. Instead of pulling away from Him, we need to pull up closer to Him, seeking His wisdom, counsel, protection, and blessing. What will you do? What will our nation do? What will our leaders do?
After this brief challenge, Samuel closed out the great hand-off of leadership by addressing what I deem . . .
The Reality (1 Sam. 12:22-25)
Compassion flows from the prophet’s words like a medicinal balm:
22 “For the LORD will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the LORD has been pleased to make you a people for Himself. (1 Sam. 12)
Saints who don’t live with yieldedness to the Spirit (Gal. 5) are prone to rebel, however, God is always gracious to rebels because His name is intrinsically tied to them as His people. Jaw-dropping. Take note: Our flawed service will never trump His gracious, forgiving heart.
In the meantime, what did the wise, godly leader do for his wayward, selfish people? Read on and see:
23 “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way. 24 “Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. 25 “But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king shall be swept away.” (1 Sam. 12)
As he passed the leadership torch to Saul, Samuel told the people he would never stop praying for them. That, my friend, is the sign of a great leader. He prays for the people under his care. Samuel also told them one more time to follow after holiness and not wickedness, because he knew them well and wanted the best for them. In our time of transition, I stand with Samuel. I pray for you and call you to turn from disobedience to obedience, for this is the path of lasting blessing and prosperity.
I also remind you that God is a God who can take our sinful rebellion, be what it may, and turn it into something magnificent. Professor Bill Arnold’s words drive this wonderful point home to people living in tough, trying transitional moments that might have been brought on by sin:
Here the sin of Israel, the very act of rejecting God’s authority and demanding a new and worldly form of human leadership, is not only forgiven by God but is actually transformed by God into a new instrument of his grace. The very existence of a human king in a national Israel– a result of Israel’s sinful demands– is reconfigured into a Savior. The institution of kingship paves the way for David, and his greater Son, Jesus. In the hands of God, even our failures and tragically sinful choices can be completely remade into something new and redemptive.[2]
[1] “As I take leave of this sacred office I wish you and your family all the best in the next four years. The American people — and people around the world — look to this house for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history, and my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace, and grace for our nation.
“May God bless you and guide you as He has blessed and guided our beloved country since our founding.”
[2] Bill T. Arnold, The New NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 194.
