1 Samuel 12

1 Samuel 12

In Samuel’s farewell address to the Israelites, Samuel began by seeking to set everything right with the Israelites. Samuel recognized our ability to forget and inadvertently hurt someone else. Have you ever borrowed something from someone and forgotten to return it? Have you ever promised to do something for someone and forgotten to fulfill your promise? To that other person, your actions seem cruel and mean. They might conclude that you do not care for them or that you were just seeking to hurt them in some way. However, it may be that you just forgot to do what you had intended to do all along. You might not have had any malicious thoughts against them, but they do not know that. Samuel wanted to leave Israel with none of that baggage weighing over his head. He wanted to clear the air, making sure that he had not accidentally forgotten to fix a situation. So he asked the Israelites up front, before he actually got into his address for them, if there was anything that he needed to clear up or return before he continued. They assured him that he had done nothing wrong to them and Samuel knew that he was in good standing with Israel. This would be a great practice to get into. We never know who we might have hurt along the way inadvertently. If they never confront us about the situation, we never will. Sometimes it is good just to clear the air, even with your best friends and your family, just to make sure that there is nothing prohibiting further growth in those relationships. This is especially true with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We should never let anything come between us, especially if we could prevent it.


Samuel’s farewell address was very similar to that of Moses and Joshua, previous leaders in Israel. He revisited their history, reminding of them what God had done for them in the past, proving that He would continue to look out for them. However, Samuel also reminded them of the importance of obeying God’s commands and not straying from what was written in the Law. He told Israel once more that they had already made a mistake in choosing a king for themselves because God promised them that it would not work out for them in the end. But Samuel also told them that if they would obey God and if their king would obey God, He would continue to bless them. God was not going to punish Israel because of their obedience, and as long as Saul followed God in all his decision making and as long as Israel stayed committed to God, God intended to remain faithful to them. But God knew that Israel would not remain faithful, for they had already proven that when they rejected His leadership in their lives by asking for a king.

Samuel closed by reminding them once more of their wickedness. He showed them where they had messed up in choosing a king, but he also gave them a word of encouragement. Samuel explained that God is a forgiving God. Although Israel had messed up and sinned against their God, they could still be restored, as long as they followed His commands. If, however, they returned to their sinful ways, God would remove His hand of protection again and allow them to be punished. This truth about God’s forgiveness from 1 Samuel 12 is still true today. God has not changed. We serve the same God that Israel was serving in the time of Samuel. He was willing to forgive Israel then, and He is willing to forgive us now. It does not matter what we have done, we all can find forgiveness in Christ. But we must remember that to receive forgiveness from God, we must first repent of our sins, and repentance is not just saying that you are sorry. God was willing to forgive Israel, but He also expected them to turn away from their sins and follow Him. In the same way, if we ask for forgiveness for our sins, we too must turn away from those sins and choose to follow God. Yes, we will still mess up, but no child of God should feel that they are getting a free ride to heaven as they keep on sinning unashamedly.

Matt