Whose Ox Have I Taken?
Introduction: The Sadness of Settling
We come now to one of the great transition points in the history of God's people. It is a constitutional crisis, a covenantal turning point, and it is saturated with a deep and profound sadness. Israel has grown tired of being peculiar. They have grown weary of being governed directly by God through His appointed judges, and they have looked over the fence at the surrounding pagan nations with their shiny kings, their standing armies, and their centralized pomp. And they have said, in effect, "We want that." They have demanded a king, not because God’s way had failed, but because their hearts had failed. They wanted to be like everybody else.
And God, in His permissive judgment, granted their request. He told Samuel to give them the king they were clamoring for. This is a fearful principle we must not miss. One of the ways God judges a rebellious people is by giving them exactly what they want. When a people insists on a foolish course, He will sometimes remove the restraints and let them have it, good and hard. They wanted a king to lead them into battle, and they would soon get a king who would lead them into disaster. They wanted a king who would tax them and conscript their sons, and they would get that in spades.
So Samuel, the last of the judges, stands before the people to formalize this transition. This is his farewell address. But it is not a sentimental retirement speech. It is a solemn assembly, a courtroom scene. Samuel is placing the people, their new king, and his own long ministry under oath, before God. He is drawing a sharp, clear line between the kind of leadership he provided under God, and the kind of leadership they have now chosen for themselves. He is making them acknowledge what they are giving up, and in so doing, he is establishing the standard of righteousness by which their new king, and all who follow, will be judged.
The Text
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. So 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. Here I am; bear witness against me before Yahweh 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.” And they said, “You have not extorted us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” So he said to them, “Yahweh 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 Samuel 12:1-5 LSB)
A Painful Concession (v. 1)
Samuel begins with a statement that is heavy with divine irony.
"Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and I have appointed a king over you." (1 Samuel 12:1)
The tragedy is in the pronouns. "I have listened to your voice." As God's prophet, Samuel's entire ministry was about getting the people to listen to God's voice. But here, at the end of his tenure, the situation is reversed. The people have refused to listen to God, and so God, through Samuel, has listened to them. This is not an affirmation; it is an indictment. God has granted their sinful request. Their desire for a king was not a neutral political preference; it was an explicit rejection of Yahweh as their king (1 Samuel 8:7). They wanted a visible, human authority, and God is giving them one. But they will soon learn that a visible human authority, when not submitted to the invisible divine authority, becomes a visible human tyranny.
This is a foundational lesson in political theology. When a nation rejects the rule of God, they do not enter a realm of enlightened freedom. They simply create a power vacuum that will be filled by a new god, a new ultimate authority. And that new god will be the state, or a king, or a dictator. By demanding a king to be like the other nations, Israel was not upgrading their political system; they were spiritually downgrading. They were trading the glorious liberty of serving Yahweh for the slavish conformity of pagan statism.
The Contrast of a Lifetime (v. 2)
Samuel now establishes a powerful contrast between his long, finished career and the new regime that is just beginning.
"So 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." (1 Samuel 12:2)
He points to the new king, Saul, who is walking before them. All eyes are on him. But then Samuel immediately draws their attention back to himself. "But I am old and gray." This is the voice of long experience, of a lifetime of faithfulness. He is not just an old man; he is a patriarch, a living monument to a form of leadership that is now passing away.
And with brutal honesty, he says, "and behold, my sons are with you." He does not hide from the failure of his own sons, whose corruption was the catalyst for the people's demand (1 Samuel 8:1-5). He puts it right out on the table. He is not claiming perfection for his household. But in doing so, he subtly reminds them that their excuse was just that, an excuse. The problem of corrupt leadership in his sons did not justify a wholesale rejection of God's system of governance. Their sin was an occasion for Israel's sin, but not its cause. The cause was in their own hearts. They used the sins of Samuel's sons as a pretext to get the king they had wanted all along.
Against the backdrop of the new, untested king and his own flawed sons, Samuel lays down his life's testimony: "I have walked before you from my youth even to this day." For decades, his life has been an open book. And now, he is about to ask them to read a page from it.
The Public Challenge (v. 3)
Here we come to the heart of the matter. Samuel puts himself on trial before God and the nation.
"Here I am; bear witness against me before Yahweh 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." (1 Samuel 12:3)
This is a formal, legal challenge, issued in the most solemn setting imaginable. The two witnesses he calls are Yahweh Himself, the ultimate judge, and "His anointed," Saul, the new king. Saul is forced to witness the standard of integrity he is now called to uphold. Samuel is, in effect, handing Saul the job description, and it is a terrifying one.
The charges he invites are specific and comprehensive. They cover the primary ways that those in power abuse their position. First, direct theft and confiscation of property: "Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken?" This was the basic measure of wealth. He is asking if he used his office for personal enrichment. This is a direct shot across the bow of the new monarchy, for Samuel had explicitly warned them that their new king would take their property (1 Samuel 8:14-17).
Second, financial oppression: "Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed?" This refers to using the levers of power to cheat people or crush them underfoot. Third, judicial corruption: "from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it?" This is the cancer of any legal system. A bribe makes a judge blind to justice and deaf to truth. Samuel declares his hands are clean. Justice, under his leadership, was not for sale.
And he concludes with the promise of restitution: "I will restore it to you." This is the mark of true repentance and true integrity. It is not enough to say "my apologies." A godly leader is willing to make things right, to pay back what was taken. He is fully accountable.
The Unanimous Verdict (v. 4-5)
The people, who had been so eager to get rid of the old system, are now forced to testify to its righteousness.
"And they said, “You have not extorted us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.” So he said to them, “Yahweh 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 Samuel 12:4-5)
They give him a complete and public acquittal. Their own testimony vindicates Samuel and, by extension, the God he served. They cannot point to a single instance of corruption or injustice in his long career. And in acquitting Samuel, they condemn themselves. Their verdict proves that their demand for a king was not a righteous quest for better government. It was a faithless rebellion against a perfectly good one. They were rejecting a leader whose integrity they could not impeach.
But Samuel does not let them off the hook. He presses the point home. He makes them call God to witness their own testimony. "Yahweh is witness against you... that you have found nothing in my hand." He turns their acquittal of him into a piece of evidence to be used against them in the court of heaven. They are now on record. They have admitted that the leadership God provided was just. Therefore, their rejection of it was unjust.
When they reply, "He is witness," the trap is sprung. They have sealed their own testimony. They can never say they were justified in demanding a king because the old system was corrupt. They have confessed, before God and their new king, that they have traded a righteous servant of God for a king like the pagans, and they have done so with their eyes wide open.
Conclusion: The Unimpeachable King
Samuel's integrity serves as an enduring template for all godly leadership. For pastors, for elders, for fathers, for civil magistrates, this is the standard. A leader must live in such a way that he can stand before his people and ask, "Whose ox have I taken?" Leadership is not a platform for self-enrichment or self-aggrandizement. It is a stewardship, a trust, to be carried out with clean hands and a pure heart before God.
Saul, the new anointed one, stood there and heard it all. He was given the blueprint for righteous rule. And we know from the rest of the story that he failed to follow it, miserably. He became the very kind of oppressive, self-serving king that Samuel warned about.
But Samuel, for all his integrity, was just a man. He was a signpost pointing to a greater reality. There is only one King who can stand before all of creation and challenge anyone to find fault in Him. Jesus Christ, the truly Anointed One, lived a life of perfect integrity. He never took what was not His. He never oppressed the weak or defrauded the poor. He never took a bribe. Instead of taking from us, He gave Himself for us. He is the king that Israel should have been waiting for, the king that we all need.
The sin of Israel is our sin. We too grow tired of the unseen King. We want leaders and systems that look like the world's systems. We trust in princes and politicians, in methods and programs, rather than in the simple, faithful rule of King Jesus. Samuel's challenge comes down to us today. We must examine our own hearts. Have we, in our desire for comfort or relevance or respectability, rejected the King who governs in perfect righteousness? Let us confess our foolish desire to be like the nations, and let us joyfully submit to the one King whose hands are clean, and whose blood makes us clean.