And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons [are] with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
Ver. 2. And now, behold, the king walketh before you.] Graditur ante vos: gressu, sc., grallatorio, with a pace and state befitting a king: with care and charge also, to be unto you a shepherd and a shield. See Numbers 27:17. For which purpose, Samuel, as he here resigneth his power to him, so he propoundeth himself for a pattern to him in the ensuing apology.
And I am old and gray headed.] About sixty, as it is conceived, and much decayed in nature by his incessant pains in his office: Cura facit canos. What marvel that he who was so old-a-young-man should not be a young-old man? a Some Rabbis think that Samuel was but fifty and two when he died, but then he must have been gray headed at thirty-four, which is not likely, since he lived eighteen years after Saul was king, as Josephus holdeth. b
And, behold, my sons are with you.] Conditione privata, as private persons, so that you may question them, and deal by them as they deserve.
And I have walked before you.] In all integrity and good conscience, not only "harmless and blameless, as the son of God, without rebuke," Php 2:15 but useful and serviceable in my place and station; trading all my talents for the common good of you all. Samuelis sane nomen (ut de Socrate, Plinius) c non hominis, sed integritatis et sapientiae nomen.
a παιδαριογερων .
b Lib. vi., in fine.
c Lib. vii. cap. 31,34.