Sermon Tone Analysis

*‘Here Comes the Judge!’ (1 Samuel 12)*

 

/a rousing speech/

There have been lots of famous speeches that have altered the course of history.

Moving speeches by Australian politicians tend to be rather short: ‘This the recession we had to have’ (Paul Keating); L-A-W, law (Paul Keating); ‘God save the queen, but nothing will save the Governor-General’ (Gough Whitlam); ‘Anyone who sacks you today is a bum’ (Bob Hawke after the America’s Cup win in 1983).

Other speeches are a little more thought out.

This one by John F. Kennedy on January 20th 1961.

‘And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you’.

Speeches such as this one changed the direction of the Cold War between America and the USSR.

Rousing speeches on big occasions can change human behaviour.

Samuel’s speech in 1 Samuel 12 is a speech in response to Israel’s sin which climaxes with their request for a king.

Samuel’s speech is not underwritten by the clever rhetoric, it’s a speech underwritten by the Lord himself who is responding to a rebellious people.

Before we look at chapter 12 a couple of introductory points.

/            from judge to prophet/

In my Bible 1 Samuel 12 has the heading ‘Samuel’s farewell speech’ and yet Samuel sticks around for a few more chapters to come.

I assume the uninspired author of this heading had in mind this speech as Samuel’s last speech as judge over Israel.

Soon judges will be no more – Israel’s new leader is king Saul and his son will be the next king.

And his son will be the next king.

And God will rise up prophets, starting with Samuel, who will frequently appear demanding that the king submit to their divinely-inspired word.

The prophet’s role will be to remind the human king who the King really is.

And so the prophet stands to be an unpopular person.

/            the intrusion we had to have/

There is one other introductory point. 1 Samuel 12 seems like intrusion  into the story of Saul’s rise to kingship.

Reading from 1 Samuel 11:14 we can see why this is the case.

‘Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there reaffirm the kingship.”

So all the people went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the Lord.

There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration’.

Saul is confirmed as king and 13:1 seems like a nice next verse, ‘Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty- two years’.

But smack in the middle is chapter 12 which is ‘the intrusion we had to have’ (based on an important speech by Paul Keating).

What does the narrator want us to know before Saul starts his forty-two year reign as king?

What does God want us to know about this transition into kingship?

As Christians living this side of the cross, we want to know how this part of God’s word speaks to us.

/the case against Israel/

/            a godly prosecutor (12:2-4)/

Before Samuel hits Israel with the news they need to hear, he reminds the people about the sort of leader he has been to them.

This is a good, pastoral move.

A common response to leaders who find themselves needing to correct and rebuke is to have their character undermined as leaders.

Samuel will have none of this.

So in verse 2 he says, ‘I have been your leader from my youth until this day.

Here I stand.

Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed.

Whose ox have I taken?

Whose donkey have I taken?

Whom have I cheated?

Whom have I oppressed?

From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes?

If I have done any of these, I will make it right”’.

There are few Christian leaders whose character is not questioned when the heats on.

It’s happened to me in the past and I’m sure it will happen again.

Samuel lays down his hand – he has been a godly leader because he is a servant leader who loves the Lord.

He never used his privileged position to his own advantage.

He has never compromised justice to make his life a little easier.

And right now Samuel’s not boasting – he’s cutting a clear path to serving his people once again.

And such is Samuel’s character that the people respond, ‘You have not cheated or oppressed us.

You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand’.

Samuel is a faithful leader – a godly prosecutor who mounts his case against Israel and the evidence is convincing.

/            overwhelming evidence (12:5-13)/

Samuel the prosecutor takes his people back into the past for there are lessons to learn.

Congregations must remember and learn from the past in order to understand the present and look to the future.

Samuel takes the Israel back into the past – to the time when Jacob went into Egypt on account of the famine - then came a new Pharaoh and the people felt the pain of slavery – then the exodus - that defining moment in Israel’s history when God rescued his people from bondage.

Samuel utters few words, but enough words to bring the memories flooding back.

This isn’t history for history’s sake.

Samuel says in verse 7, ‘I am going to confront you with the evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers’.

Israel’s history is a history of rebellion matched by God’s grace.

When Israel arrived in the land they forgot the Lord their God.

And the Philistines rose up against them and things got so desperate that the people cried out to the Lord - verse 10, ‘We have sinned, we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths.

But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you’.

And God heard the pleas of his people and he raised up ‘judges’ who put things right between Israel and God.

Leaders who brought security to the land.

But these judges were not enough.

Samuel says to the people in verse 12, ‘“But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king.

Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you’.

God gives the people what they ask for – a king like the other nations have.

A history of rebellion matched by ever increasing grace.

But the trouble is that Israel forget the past and make the mistakes of the past which stand to be repeated in the future.

Remembering the past.

There are moments in the history of this church when we have sinned.

Samuel doesn’t avoid Israel’s negative history because its politically incorrect and for the sake of unity these things are best not talked about.

For the sake of unity Samuel raises the people’s rebellion - he ‘looks them in the eye’ with their failings.

Despite their rebellion God remains faithful.

Is that not a good thing for us?

To look back over our past – to look at our failings – to acknowledge our sin and notice the ongoing faithfulness of God? Samuel doesn’t raise the ugliness of the past in order to revisit unsolved issues.

The elders don’t hold a Session meeting to discuss Samuel’s attack on them.

Samuel  raises the past in order to expose the grace of God in their lives.

And the failings of the past are worth raising if in such discussion we can say, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’.

Throughout Israel’s history there is a tangible trail of memories behind them – like the curious practice of piling up stones at places like Gilgal where God parted the Jordan river and Israel entered into the Promised Land.

The Springwood parish has tangible memories of God’s goodness to us.

Three church plants at Blaxland, Woodford and Winmalee.

A plaque at Winmalee church unveiled at the opening reads, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’ (1 Sam 7:12).

The sending of men into full-time ministry.

Missions to Vanuatu.

Christ-centred pastors.

At one time a big Sunday school – Boys Brigade – Pathfinders.

The ‘Magnet Club’ for young mums.

A strong mission focus.

Events such as are reasons to celebrate the goodness of God amongst us.

The history of this church is part of the history of the worldwide church from now until Christ.

Its too easy to look at the history of our small pond and go stagnant as eventually happens to small ponds.

But the history of this church is more like the Darling River than the local fishing hole.