Useful Bible Studies > 1 Samuel Commentary > chapter 12
When God chose Israel’s people to be his special people, he made serious promises to them. We call those promises ‘the covenant’. They established a permanent relationship between God and his people.
The relationship and the covenant are permanent because of the perfect character of God; in other words, his name. The name of God expresses his perfect character (Exodus 34:6-7). God always carries out his promises. The character of God makes his promises certain - it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:13-18).
Of course, that did not mean that everyone in Israel had a right relationship with God. Clearly, many of them did not. They acted in an evil manner and they refused to obey him. God’s judgement was against them; it is a terrible thing to refuse the kindness of God. However, God’s relationship with their nation continued.
In 1 Samuel 12:22, Samuel was speaking to people who were afraid because of their evil deeds. They thought that God might destroy their entire nation because of his anger against them. God could act against them in such a severe manner that Israel would not still exist. That was what they thought.
Samuel told them that God would never do such a thing. God could not do it because of the promises that he had made to Israel. Of course God would punish them if they chose to behave in a wicked manner. He would remove them from their land and the royal authority from their king (12:25). However, even in that terrible situation, God’s love for Israel would still continue. He would still carry out his promises to them (Nehemiah 1:8-9).
Next part: A leader’s duties to pray and to teach (1 Samuel 12:23)
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© 2014, Keith Simons.