The Lord sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel— Houbigant, after several of the versions, reads, Jerubbaal, Deborah and Barak, Jephthah and Samson. St. Paul seems to confirm this reading; for in Hebrews 11:32 he says, the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephtha, &c.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, Before Samuel parts with the assembly, he addresses himself to them,
1. By way of appeal for his own integrity among them. He had now resigned the government; their king stood before them, and he was a subject as well as they, and ready to answer any man who would call him to account; and his sons are now private persons, and open to any accusation which might be laid against them. He reminds them of his grey hairs, which they should have regarded with greater reverence, as coming upon him in their service, in which from earliest infancy he had been employed.—He challenges them to lay the least crime to his charge, of bribery or oppression committed by him during all his administration; and therein tacitly reflects upon their own sin and folly in rejecting one who, without fee or reward, had governed them with such impartial justice. Note; (1.) To vindicate our character from the aspersions of calumny, is a debt due to a man's good name. (2.) They who are conscious of their own integrity are not afraid of inquiry into their conduct.
2. The people willingly bear testimony to his uprightness among them. He had never oppressed them in the least matter, nor received aught at their hands, as a reward for his service. The Lord, therefore, is appealed to against any future charge, as their own confessions proclaim his innocence; and they replied, He is witness, that they had fully cleared him from every suspicion of mal-administration. Note; It is a great comfort to have God for a witness to our integrity.
2nd, Samuel, having vindicated himself, proceeds to remind them of what God had done for them, as a proof of their ingratitude in rejecting him; yet with instructions how this change might operate to their good.
1. He abridges their history. God had delivered them from Egypt; but their ungrateful fathers forsook him for idols, and brought themselves thereby into bitter distress, under Sisera, the Philistines, and Moabites: yet, whenever they returned to him in penitence, he returned to them in mercy, and delivered them by the hands of judges divinely raised up, until his own time, who had been the last of them. Notwithstanding this, they were bent on a king, and God had gratified them. He reasons with them, therefore, on the obligation they were under to this gracious God, and their ingratitude in resolving to have another king; in which also his compliance with their request was a fresh token of his patience and mercy towards them. Note; (1.) The more we reflect upon God's dealings with us, the more reason we shall have to choose his government, and to condemn the folly and ingratitude of ever leaving him. (2.) Past experience should be remembered for present conduct. They who ever forsook God always suffered for it.
2. He instructs them how the alteration of the government might turn to their good. If they were faithful to God, observant of his worship, and persevering in his service, then God would keep them in his holy ways, and it would go well with them and their king: but if they apostatized from God, then they might expect to feel his heavy hand, till they were consumed together. Note; (1.) They who are faithful to the grace bestowed, as their reward, shall have that grace confirmed and strengthened. (2.) God's service brings a present reward along with it now, and ensures an eternal reward hereafter. (3.) They who will not be brought under the yoke of God's laws, must be broken by the rod of his judgments.