1 Samuel 12:13 Commentary and Bible Study

Says God through Samuel, ‘Here are the terms. All right, I will let you have a king, but the terms are still the same. You have got to fear the Lord, reverence and respect him, serve him, and obey his voice. Three great words – reverence, serve, obey – and not rebel against the commandments of the Lord. Then both ye and also the king will be blessed, but if you will not obey, then the Lord will be against you, as he was against your fathers.Then Samuel gives them a sign: that the Lord would send, despite the wheat harvest, a great miraculous thunder and rain. The people are being superficial even now. It has not really got home to them what they have done in asking for a king, and their extreme ingratitude and lack of faith. ‘That your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.’ And so Samuel calls unto the Lord, and in response to his cry the Lord sends thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly fear the Lord and Samuel. Some people call this event a revival. ‘And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.’ Now they think they see it, but again, sadly it wasn't real revival. It was all emotional, and it was soon over, and they completely forgot it, as we see in the next chapter.