God's Covenant Lawsuit and the Folly of a Human King Text: 1 Samuel 12:6-18
Introduction: A People on Trial
We come now to one of the great hinge points in the history of Israel. Samuel, the last of the judges, is delivering his farewell address. But this is no sentimental retirement speech with a gold watch and a cake. This is a formal, covenantal lawsuit. God, through His prophet, is putting Israel on the witness stand. The charge is high treason. They have rejected their divine King in order to get a human one, just like all the pagan nations around them. They wanted to trade the invisible, all-powerful hand of God for the visible, tarnished fist of a man.
This desire is at the root of all human rebellion. We want a king we can see, a god we can manage, an authority that looks like us and thinks like us. We want to be normal. We want to fit in with the nations. But God called Israel to be peculiar, to be set apart, to be a theocracy where He alone was enthroned as king. Their demand for a human king was not a political reshuffling; it was a profound theological apostasy. It was saying to God, "You are not enough. Your rule is insufficient. We would rather be governed by a man who will tax us, conscript our sons, and lead us into folly, than by the God who brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand."
Samuel's address is a masterful indictment. He begins by establishing his own integrity, not out of pride, but to remove any excuse the people might have. They cannot say they needed a king because Samuel was corrupt. He was not. His sons were, but that is another lesson. The people's motive was not a desire for justice, but a desire for conformity to the world. And so, Samuel lays out the case. He rehearses God's history of faithfulness and their history of faithlessness. It is a pattern we see repeated throughout Scripture, and if we are honest, a pattern we see repeated in our own hearts. God delivers, the people forget. God is gracious, the people rebel. They cry out in distress, and God, in His astonishing mercy, delivers them again. This is the cycle of sin and grace.
But now, they have added a new sin to the pile. They have formalized their rebellion by demanding a king. And God, in His sovereignty, has given them what they asked for. Be careful what you ask for, because God sometimes answers foolish prayers to teach us the folly of them. He gives them a king, but He does not abdicate His throne. He simply adds another layer of accountability. Now, not only are the people accountable to God, but their king is as well. And Samuel is about to conclude his prosecution with a dramatic, terrifying sign from heaven to prove that his words are God's words, and that their sin is very great indeed.
The Text
Then Samuel said to the people, “It is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. So now, take your stand, that I may judge you before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh which He did for you and your fathers. When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to Yahweh, then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot Yahweh their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander 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. And they cried out to Yahweh and said, ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ Then Yahweh sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security. But you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, and you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although Yahweh your God was your king. So now, behold, the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, Yahweh has set a king over you. If you will fear Yahweh and serve Him and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of Yahweh, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow Yahweh your God. But if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the command of Yahweh, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you, as it was against your fathers. Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which Yahweh will do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to Yahweh, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the eyes of Yahweh by asking for yourselves a king.” So Samuel called to Yahweh, and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.
(1 Samuel 12:6-18 LSB)
The Covenant Prosecutor (vv. 6-8)
Samuel begins his case by establishing the court's jurisdiction. This is not Samuel versus Israel; this is Yahweh versus Israel.
"Then Samuel said to the people, 'It is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. So now, take your stand, that I may judge you before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh which He did for you and your fathers. When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to Yahweh, then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.'" (1 Samuel 12:6-8 LSB)
Samuel immediately grounds his authority in God's authority. He says, "It is Yahweh." This is the same God who established the leadership of Moses and Aaron, the God of the Exodus. The foundation of their nationhood was a supernatural act of deliverance. They exist as a people because God acted. Samuel is saying, "The God who made you is the God who is now judging you."
He summons them to "take your stand." This is courtroom language. Israel is the defendant. Samuel is the prosecutor. And the trial is taking place "before Yahweh." God is both the judge and the central fact of the case. The basis of the lawsuit is "all the righteous acts of Yahweh." This is a crucial phrase. In our modern therapeutic culture, we think of righteousness as a quiet, personal piety. But in the Bible, God's righteousness is His covenant faithfulness in action. His righteous acts are His mighty deeds of salvation and judgment. The plagues on Egypt were righteous acts. The parting of the Red Sea was a righteous act. Giving them the law was a righteous act. These are not just historical tidbits; they are the evidence for the prosecution. God has a perfect track record of faithfulness.
He reminds them of their origin story. They cried out from slavery in Egypt, and God heard them. He sent deliverers and brought them into the land He had promised. This is Grace 101. God's relationship with them did not begin with their obedience, but with His deliverance in response to their desperation. He saved them before He gave them the law. Grace always precedes law. This is the foundation of the entire covenant.
The Cycle of Apostasy (vv. 9-11)
Having established God's faithfulness, Samuel now turns to Israel's faithlessness. He outlines the grim, predictable cycle that defined the era of the judges.
"But they forgot Yahweh their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander 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. And they cried out to Yahweh and said, ‘We have sinned because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’ Then Yahweh sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security." (1 Samuel 12:9-11 LSB)
The cycle is brutally simple. First, sin: "they forgot Yahweh their God." All sin begins with this kind of spiritual amnesia. We forget who God is and what He has done. We get comfortable, prosperous, and secure, and we begin to think we achieved it ourselves. This forgetting is not a passive slip of the mind; it is an active, willful rebellion that quickly leads to idolatry, serving the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the cheap, sensual gods of the Canaanites.
Second, servitude: "He sold them." God is sovereign even over their punishment. He doesn't lose them to Sisera or the Philistines; He sells them. This is covenantal language. They broke the contract, so the penalty clause is enacted. The God who delivered them from slavery in Egypt now delivers them into slavery to their enemies. This is the terrible logic of sin. When you reject the lordship of Christ, you do not become your own lord. You simply get a new, far more brutal master.
Third, supplication: "they cried out to Yahweh." Pain has a wonderful way of clarifying our theology. In their distress, they remember the God they forgot in their prosperity. Their prayer is a model of repentance. They confess their specific sin: "we have forsaken Yahweh." They name their idols. And they promise obedience: "we will serve You."
Fourth, salvation: "Then Yahweh sent..." In response to their cry, God sends a deliverer. Samuel lists several: Jerubbaal (another name for Gideon), Bedan (who is not mentioned elsewhere, perhaps a scribal error for Barak), Jephthah, and himself. The point is clear. Every time they cried out, God answered. He delivered them, and they "lived in security." God proved, time and time again, that He was a sufficient King, a sufficient protector.
The Ultimate Rejection (v. 12)
Samuel now brings the lawsuit to its climax. He shows how, despite this long history of God's proven kingship, they have committed their greatest act of rebellion yet.
"But you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, and you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ although Yahweh your God was your king." (1 Samuel 12:12 LSB)
Here is the presenting sin. The threat of Nahash the Ammonite should have triggered the cycle again. They should have cried out to Yahweh for a deliverer. But this time, they short-circuited the process. Instead of crying out for God's help, they demanded a human solution. They saw a human king, Nahash, and concluded they needed their own human king to fight him. They wanted to fight fire with fire, which is always a fool's game. You cannot fight the world by becoming the world.
Their demand, "No, but a king shall reign over us," was a direct rejection of God's rule. Samuel's parenthetical comment is devastating in its simplicity: "although Yahweh your God was your king." They had a king. They had the King of the universe, the Lord of Hosts, as their commander-in-chief. And they traded Him for Saul, a man who was a head taller than everyone else. They traded divine power for human stature. This is the essence of idolatry: exchanging the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal man.
The King and the Conditions (vv. 13-15)
God has granted their sinful request, but He has not abandoned His throne. Samuel now lays out the terms of this new arrangement.
"So now, behold, the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, Yahweh has set a king over you. If you will fear Yahweh and serve Him and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of Yahweh, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow Yahweh your God. But if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the command of Yahweh, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you, as it was against your fathers." (1 Samuel 12:13-15 LSB)
Notice the dual description of the king. He is the one "whom you have chosen," but also the one whom "Yahweh has set over you." This is the biblical doctrine of concurrence. Man is responsible for his sinful choices, but God is sovereign over them, weaving even our rebellion into His ultimate plan. They chose a king in sin, but God appointed that king in sovereignty. This means the king is not an escape from God's rule, but rather a new instrument of it.
The conditions are laid out with stark clarity. It's a simple if/then proposition. "If you will fear Yahweh..." This is the foundation. The fear of the Lord is not a cowering dread, but a reverential awe that leads to obedience. If they fear, serve, listen, and not rebel, then they and their king will be blessed. The monarchy can be a success, but only if the king himself is a subject of the true King.
But the alternative is just as clear. "But if you will not listen..." If they rebel, then the very hand of God that delivered them will be turned against them. The king will not be a shield from God's wrath; he will be a lightning rod for it. A wicked king does not just bring judgment on himself; he brings it down upon the entire nation. They wanted a king to be like the nations, and God warns them that if they and their king sin like the nations, they will be judged like the nations.
The Sign of Judgment (vv. 16-18)
To drive the point home, to make sure they understand the gravity of their sin, Samuel calls for a sign. He is about to put God's exclamation point on his sermon.
"Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which Yahweh will do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to Yahweh, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the eyes of Yahweh by asking for yourselves a king.” So Samuel called to Yahweh, and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel." (1 Samuel 12:16-18 LSB)
Rain during the wheat harvest in that part of the world was not just unusual; it was a miraculous and destructive event. It was the dry season. A sudden thunderstorm would ruin the harvested grain and flatten the standing crops. It was a sign of judgment, a covenant curse. God was demonstrating that He, not Baal and not a human king, controlled the weather, the harvest, and the prosperity of the nation.
The purpose of the sign was explicit: "Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great." God wanted to give them a visceral, unforgettable experience of His displeasure. This was not a petty tantrum. It was a severe mercy, designed to shock them out of their spiritual complacency. It was meant to produce fear, and it worked.
"And all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel." This is the proper response to a confrontation with the holy God. They feared God as the source of the power, and they feared Samuel as the man who had access to that power. Their sin was exposed, not just by the prophet's words, but by God's audible, visible confirmation of those words. The thunder was God's own voice seconding the motion. They had asked for a king, and God answered with a storm, showing them that the King they had rejected was infinitely more powerful and terrifying than the king they had chosen.