1 Samuel 12:1-25
“Here I am…” (1 Samuel 12:3)
For those familiar with the story of the prophet Samuel – who read his own nativity story in the opening chapters of 1 Samuel – you will know that this refrain – “Here I am” – is significant. It is the refrain that Samuel’s mentor, Eli, teaches him to say when the Lord is calling to him. It is his own ordination vows, so to speak. The hymn based on his life – “Here I Am, Lord” – is a popular one with many Christians for just this reason. Samuel is selected by God and all he has to do to accept God’s will for his life is say, “Here I am” (and then, you know, hold on for one heckuva ride!).
Now, though, we’ve come to the end of Samuel’s life. And here, again, we find that same old refrain of “Here I am,” though this time it is delivered as a challenge to all of Israel. Israel, at this point, had fallen away from God. They had demanded a king so they could be “like other nations.” This is, of course, an affront to the God who wants to make them precisely the opposite. Israel was supposed to be unlike other nations. They were supposed to be a model for God’s rule and reign, which did not involve kings and warfare and burdensome taxation/exploitation. Samuel, for his part, had done what he could to interfere with these sinful plans, but had failed. As a sort of sign of his failure, even his own sons had fallen away from the faith and are counted as scoundrels in the community. I think that’s a poetic device that reminds us that personal piety stands no chance against corporate sin. (Side note: We really must discuss corporate sin more in the church because it remains the largest stumbling block to anyone’s personal piety).
No, now Samuel is standing before an obstinate people and again saying, “Here I am,” but this time as a challenge to those who are clearly sinful to find the same sin in him. They cannot, of course, do this. Samuel had beaten the odds and maintained a pure life, even amongst impure people who wanted a king and war and all the security of the sword and none of the security of a savior; all the safety of “guns” and not of God. Samuel presents himself as a counter-option to Israel’s own behavior (in a manner that is comparable to the way that Israel was supposed to be a counter-option to the world’s ways of doing things). While the people had failed mightily, Samuel had persisted faithfully.
What is interesting, though, is that Samuel doesn’t necessarily throw Israel’s sins back in their faces – not directly, at any rate. No, he instead recounts all the merciful and gracious deeds of God in the Exodus and it only then that Israel cries out, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants, so that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of demanding a king for ourselves” (verse 19).
It is admirable, what Samuel does. He reminds the people who God is and what God has done. And this begs the question: How do we answer that question? And then, further, what are the implications of that answer? Should we be morally opposed to “stand your ground” laws on the premise that God protects us? (Or, alternatively, if we need “stand your ground” laws, does that imply God doesn’t protect us?). Should we question “the invisible hand of the market” in providing the goods we need to live if, indeed, God provides? Basically, how do our lives square up against the work of God in the world? Do we nestle in close or are we all full of rough edges and the need for grace?
I suspect it is the latter and it is the latter that Samuel provides when he proclaims: “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart” (verse 20). So let it be, Lord. Amen.
