Harvest Time
(No. 2896)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1904.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, AUGUST 11, 1854.
"Is today not the wheat harvest?" 1 Samuel 12:17.
[A peculiar and even unique interest attaches to the present Sermon, as
it was the first of Mr. Spurgeon's discourses that was ever printed.
Although it has appeared in another form, the publishers thought that
it ought to be included in the regular weekly series, so it is now
reprinted exactly 50 years after it was delivered. When cholera was
desolating London and the wicked war in the Crimea was still being
waged, the young pastor sounded a cheerful note to comfort the
Christians of that day while he also warned others of the consequences
of continuance in evil-doing. The message spoken half a century ago is
by no means out of date even now.–Pub.]
I SHALL not notice the connection, but I shall simply take these words
as a slogan and my sermon will be founded upon a harvest field. I shall
rather use the harvest for my text than any passage that I find here.
"Is today not the wheat harvest?" I suppose the dwellers in cities
think less of times and seasons than dwellers in the country. Men who
were born, trained up, nourished and nurtured among cornfields,
harvests, sowing and reaping, are more likely to notice such things
than you who are always engaged in mercantile pursuits and think less
of these things than rustics do. But I suppose if it is almost
necessary that you should regard the harvest less than others, it ought
not to be carried to too great an extreme. Let us not be forgetful of
times and seasons. There is much to be learned from them and I would
refresh your memories by a harvest field.
What a wondrous temple this world is, for in truth it is a temple of
God's building wherein men ought to worship Him. What a wondrous temple
it is to a mind spiritually enlightened which can bring to bear upon it
the resources of intellect and the illuminations of God's Holy Spirit!
There is not a single flower in it that does not teach us a lesson.
There is not a single wave, or blast of thunder that has not some
lesson to teach us, the sons of men. This world is a great temple and
as if you walk in an Egyptian temple, you know that every mark and
every figure in the temple has a meaning–so when you walk this world,
everything about you has a meaning! It is no fanciful idea that there
are "sermons in stones," for there really are sermons in stones and
this world is intended to teach us by everything that we see. Happy is
the man who not only has the mind, but has the spirit to get these
lessons from Nature! Flowers, what are they? They are but the thoughts
of God solidified–God's beautiful thoughts put into shape. Storms,
what are they? They are God's terrible thoughts written out that we may
read them. Thunders, what are they? They are God's powerful emotions
just opened that men may hear them. The world is the materializing of
God's thoughts, for the world is a thought in God's eyes. He made it
first from a thought that came from His own mighty mind and everything
in the majestic temple that He has made has a meaning!
In this temple there are four evangelists. As we have four great
evangelists in the Bible, so there are four evangelists in Nature–and
these are the four evangelists of the seasons–spring, summer, autumn,
winter.
First comes spring and what does it say? We look and we behold that by
the magic touch of spring, insects which seemed to be dead begin to
awaken and seeds that were buried in the dust begin to lift up their
radiant forms. What does spring say? It utters its voice, it says to
man, "Though you sleep, you shall rise again. There is a world in
which, in a
more glorious state, you shall exist. You are but a seed, now, and you
shall be buried in the dust and in a little while you shall arise."
Spring utters that part of its evangel. Then comes summer. Summer says
to man, "Behold the goodness of a merciful Creator–'He makes His sun
to shine on the evil and on the good'–He sprinkles the earth with
flowers, He adorns it with those gems of creation, He makes it blossom
like Eden and bring forth like the Garden of the Lord." Summer utters
that. Then comes autumn. We shall hear its message. It passes and
winter comes forth crowned with a coronal of ice and it tells us that
there are times of trouble for man. It points to the fruits that we
have stored up in autumn, and it says to us, "Man, take heed that you
store up something for yourself–something against the day of wrath.
Lay up for yourself the fruits of autumn, that you may be able to feed
on them in winter." And when the old year expires, its death knell
tells us that man must die. And when the year has finished its
evangelistic mission, there comes another to preach the same lesson
again.
We are about to let autumn preach. One of these four evangelists comes
forth and it says, "Is today not the wheat harvest?" We are about to
take the harvest into consideration in order to learn something from
it. May God's most blessed Spirit help His feeble dust and ashes to
preach the unsearchable riches of God to your souls' profit!
We shall talk of three joyful harvests and of three sorrowful harvests.
I. First, we shall speak of THREE JOYFUL HARVESTS that there will be.
The first joyful harvest that I will mention is the harvest of the
field which Samuel alluded to when he said, "Is today not the wheat
harvest?" We cannot forget the harvest of the field. It is not right
that these things should be forgotten. We ought not to let the fields
be covered with corn, have their treasures stored away in the barns and
all the while to remain forgetful of God's mercy. Ingratitude, that
worst of evils, is one of the vipers which make their nest in the heart
of man–and the creature cannot be slain until Divine Grace comes and
sprinkles the blood of the Cross upon man's heart. Such vipers die when
the blood of Christ is upon them. Let me just lead you for a moment to
a harvest field. You shall see there a most luxuriant harvest, the
heavy ears bending down almost to touch the ground, as much as to say,
"From the ground I came. I owe myself to the ground–to that I bow my
head"–just as the good Christian does when he is full of years. He
holds his head down the more fruit he has upon him. You see the stalks
with their heads hanging down because they are ripe. And it is goodly
and precious to see these things!
Now just suppose the opposite. If this year the ears had been blighted
and withered. If they had been like the second ears that Pharaoh
saw–very lean and very scanty–what would have become of us? In peace,
we might have depended on large supplies from Russia to make up the
deficiency. Now, in times of war, referring to the war in the Crimea,
when nothing can come, what would become of us? We may conjecture, we
may imagine, but I do not know that we are able to come to the truth.
We can only say, "Blessed be God, we have not yet to reckon on what
wouldhave been. But He, seeing one door closed, has opened another."
Seeing that we might not get supplies from those rich fields in the
South of Russia, He has opened another door in our own land. "You are
My own favored island," He says, "I have loved you, England, with a
special love. You are My favored one and the enemy shall not crush you.
And lest you should starve because provisions are cut off, I will give
you full barns at home and your fields shall be covered, that you may
laugh your enemy to scorn and say to him, 'You thought you could starve
us and make us perish, but He who feeds the ravens has fed His people
and has not deserted His favored land.'"
There is not one person who is uninterested in this matter! Some say
the poor ought to be thankful that there is abundance of bread. So
ought the rich! There is nothing which happens to one member of society
which does not affect all. The ranks lean upon one another–if there is
scarcity in the lower ranks, it falls upon the next and the next–and
even the Queen upon her throne feels in some degree the scarcity when
God is pleased to send it. It affects all men. Let none say, "Whatever
the price of corn may be, I can live," but rather bless God who has
given you more than enough! Your prayer ought to be, "Give us this day
our daily bread," and remember that whatever wealth you have, you must
attribute your daily mercies as much to God as if you lived from hand
to mouth. And sometimes that is a blessed way of living– when God
gives His children the hand-basket portion instead of sending it in a
mass. Bless God that He has sent an abundant harvest! O fearful ones,
lift up your heads! And you discontented ones, be you abashed and let
your discontent no more be known! The Jews used to observe the feast of
tabernacles when the harvest time came. In the country they always have
a "harvest home" and why should not we? I want you all to have one.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! For the harvest is
come–"Is today not the wheat harvest?"Poor desponding Soul, let all
your doubts and fears be gone. "Your bread shall be given you and your
waters shall be sure." That is one joyful harvest!
Now, the second joyful harvest is the harvest of every Christian. In
one sense, the Christian is a seed. In another, he is a sower. In one
sense, he is a seed sown by God which is to grow, ripen and germinate
till the great harvest time. In another sense every Christian is a
sower sent into the world to sow good seed and to sow good seed only. I
do not say that Christian men never sow any other seed than good seed.
Sometimes, in unguarded moments, they take garlic into their hands
instead of wheat–and we may sow tares instead of corn. Christians
sometimes make mistakes and God sometimes allows His people to fall so
that they sow sins–but the Christian never reaps his sins–Christ
reaps them for him. He often has to have a concoction made of the
bitter leaves of sin, but he never reaps the fruit of it. Christ has
borne the punishment! Yet bear in mind, if you and I sin against God,
God will take our sin and He will get an essence from it that will be
bitter to our taste! Though He does not make us eat the fruits, yet He
will still make us grieve and sorrow over our sins. But the Christian,
as I have said, should be employed in sowing good seed and, doing so,
he shall have a glorious harvest!
In some sense or other, the Christian must be sowing seed. If God calls
him to the ministry, he is a seed sower. If God calls him to the
Sabbath school, he is a seed sower. Whatever his office, he is a sower
of seed. I sow seed broadcast all over this immense field–I cannot
tell where my seed goes. Some are like barren ground and they refuse to
receive the seed that I sow. I cannot help it if any man should do so.
I am only responsible to God, whose servant I am. There are others and
my seed falls upon them and brings forth a little fruit, but,
by-and-by, when the sun is up, because of persecution, they wither away
and they die. But I hope there are many who are like the good ground
that God has prepared–and when I scatter the seed abroad, it falls on
good ground and brings forth fruit to an abundant harvest! Ah, the
minister has a joyful harvest, even in this world, when he sees souls
converted! I have had a harvest time when I have led the sheep down to
the washing of Baptism, when I have seen God's people coming out from
the mass of the world and telling what the Lord has done for their
souls! When God's children are edified and built up, it is worth living
for and worth dying ten thousand deaths for to be the means of saving
one soul! What a joyful harvest it is when God gives us converted ones
by tens and hundreds–and adds to His Church abundantly such as shall
be saved!
Now I am like a farmer just at this season of the year. I have got a
good deal of wheat down and I want to get it into the barn for fear the
rain comes and spoils it. I believe I have got a great many, but they
will persist in standing out in the field. I want to get them into the
barns. They are good people, but they do not like to make a profession
and join the Church. I want to get them into my Master's granary and to
see Christians added to the Church. I see some holding down their heads
and saying, "He means us." So I do. You ought to have joined Christ's
Church before this and unless you are fit to be gathered into Christ's
little garner here on earth, you have no right to anticipate being
gathered into that great garner which is in Heaven!
Every Christian has his harvest. The Sabbath school teacher has his
harvest. He goes and toils and often he plows very stony ground, but he
shall have his harvest. Oh, poor laboring Sabbath school teacher, have
you seen no fruit yet? Do you say, "Who has believed our report, and to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Cheer up, you do labor in a good
cause–there must be some to do your work. Have you seen no children
converted? Fear not–
"Though seed lies buried long in dust,
It shan't deceive your hope.
The precious grain can never be lost,
For God insures the crop."
Go on sowing and you shall have a harvest when you shall see children
converted! I have known some Sabbath school teachers who could count a
dozen, or twenty, or thirty children who have, one after another, come
to know the Lord Jesus Christ and to join the Church. But if you should
not live to see it on earth, remember, you are only accountable for
your labor–not for your success! Sow still, toil on! "Cast your bread
upon the waters: for you shall find it after many days." God will not
allow His Word to be wasted–it shall not return to Him void, but shall
accomplish that which He pleases. There may be a poor mother who has
often been sad. She has a son and a daughter and she has been praying
that God might convert their souls. Mother, your son is still an
ungainly boy. He grieves your heart. The hot tears still scald your
cheeks on account of him. And you, Father, you have reproved him often.
He is a wayward son and he is still running the downward road. Cease
not to pray! O my Brothers and Sisters who are parents, you shall have
a harvest!
There was a boy once, a very sinful child who listened not to the
counsel of his parents. But his mother prayed for him and now he stands
to preach to this congregation every Sabbath. And when his mother
thinks of her first-born preaching the Gospel, she reaps a glorious
harvest that makes her a glad woman! Now, Fathers and Mothers, such may
be your case. However bad your children are at present, still press
toward the Throne of Grace and you shall have a harvest. What do you
think, Mother, would you not rejoice to see your son a minister of the
Gospel, your daughter teaching and assisting in the cause of God? God
will not allow you to pray and your prayers be unheeded!
Young man, your mother has been wrestling for you a long time and she
has not won your soul yet. What do you think? You cheat your mother of
her harvest! If she had a little patch of ground, hard by her cottage,
where she had sown some wheat, would you go and burn it? If she had a
choice flower in her garden would you go and trample it under foot? But
by going on in the ways of the reprobate, you are cheating your father
and your mother of their harvest! Perhaps there are some parents who
are weeping over their sons and daughters who are hardened and
unconverted. O God, turn their hearts! Bitter is the doom of that man
who goes to Hell over the road that is washed by his mother's tears,
stumbles over his father's reproofs and tramples on those things which
God has put in his way–his mother's prayers and his father's sighs!
God help that man who dares to do such a thing as that! And it is
wondrous Grace if He does help him.
You shall have a harvest, whatever you are doing. I trust you are all
doing something. If I cannot mention what your peculiar engagement is,
I trust you are all serving God in some way–and you shall assuredly
have a harvest wherever you are scattering your seed. But suppose the
worst–if you should never live to see the harvest in this world, you
shall have a harvest when you get to Heaven! If you live and die a
disappointed man in this world, you shall not be disappointed in the
next! I think how surprised some of God's people will be when they get
to Heaven. They will see their Master and He will give them a crown,
"Lord, what is that crown for?" "That crown is because you gave a cup
of cold water to one of My disciples." "What? A crown for a cup of cold
water?" "Yes," says the Master, "that is how I pay My servants. First I
give them Grace to give the cup of water and then, having given them
Grace, I give them a crown." "Wonders of Grace belong to God!" He that
sows liberally shall reap liberally and he that sows grudgingly shall
reap sparingly.
Ah, if there could be grief in Heaven, I think it would be the grief of
some Christians who had sown so very little. After all, how little the
most of us ever sow! I know I sow but very little compared with what I
might. How little any of you sow! Just add up how much you give to God
in the year. I am afraid it would not come to a farthing per cent.
Remember, you reap according to what you sow. O my Friends, what
surprise some of you will feel when God pays you for sowing one single
grain! The soil of Heaven is rich in the extreme. If a farmer had such
ground as there is in Heaven, he would say, "I must sow a great many
acres of land." And so let us strive, for the more we sow, the more
shall we reap in Heaven. Yet remember it is all of Grace and not of
debt!
Now, Beloved, I must very hastily mention the third joyful harvest. We
have had the harvest of the field and the harvest of the Christian. We
are now to have another–and that is the harvest of Christ
Christ had His sowing times. What bitter sowing times they were! Christ
was One who went out bearing precious seed. Oh, I picture Christ sowing
the world! He sowed it with tears. He sowed it with drops of blood. He
sowed it with sighs. He sowed it with agony of heart and, at last He
sowed Himselfin the ground, to be the seed of a glorious crop! What a
sowing time His was! He sowed in tears, in poverty, in sympathy, in
grief, in agony, in woes, in suffering and in death. He shall have a
harvest, too. Blessings on His name, Jehovah swears it! The everlasting
predestination of the Almighty has settled that Christ shall have a
harvest! He has sown and He shall reap! He has scattered and He shall
gather in. "He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days; and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands." My Friends, Christ
has begun to reap His harvest! Yes, every soul that is converted is
part of His reward! Everyone who comes to the Lord is a part of it.
Every soul that is brought out of the miry clay and set on the King's
Highway is a part of Christ's crop. But He is going to reap more! There
is another harvest coming, in the latter day, when He shall reap
armfuls at a time and gather the sheaves into His garner. Now men come
to Christ in ones and twos and threes–but then they shall come in
flocks, so that the Church shall say, "Who are these that come in as
doves to their windows?"
There shall be a greater harvest when time shall be no more. Turn to
the 14th Chapter of Revelation, and the 13th verse–"And I heard a
voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth: yes, says the Spirit that they may rest
from their labors; and their works do follow them." They do not go
before
them and winthem Heaven. "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and
upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a
golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came
out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the
cloud, Thrust in Your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for You to
reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the
cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."
That was Christ's harvest. Observe but one particular. When Christ
comes to reap His field, He comes with a crown on His head. There are
the nations gathered together before that crowned Reaper!–
"They come, they come–the exiled bands!
Wherever they rest or roam
They heard His voice in distant lands,
And hastened to their home."
There they stand, one great army before God. Then comes the crowned
Reaper from His Throne. He takes His sharp sickle–see Him reap sheaf
after sheaf–and He carries them up to the heavenly garner. Let us ask
the question of ourselves, whether we shall be among the reaped
ones–the wheat of the Lord?
Notice again, that there was first a harvest, and then a vintage. The
harvest is the righteous–the vintage is the wicked. When the wicked
are gathered, an angel gathers them. But Christ will not trust an angel
to reap the righteous. "He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle."
O my Soul, when you come to die, Christ will, Himself, come for you–
when you are to be cut down, He that sits upon the Throne will cut you
down with a very sharp sickle in order that He may do it as easily as
possible. He will be the Reaper, Himself–no reaper will be allowed to
gather Christ's saints in, but Christ, the King of saints! Oh, will it
not be a joyful harvest when all the chosen race, every one of them,
shall be gathered in? There is a little shriveled grain of wheat that
has been growing somewhere on the headland and that will be there.
There are a great many who have been hanging down their heads, heavy
with grain, and they will be there, too. They will all be gathered in–
"His honor is engaged to save The meanest of His sheep! All that His
heavenly Father gave, His hands securely keep!
II. But now we are obliged to turn to THE THREE SAD HARVESTS. Alas!
Alas! The world was once like an Eo-lian harp–every wind that blew
upon it gave forth melody. Now the strings are all unstrung and they
are full of discord so that when we have a strain of joy, we must have
the deep bass of grief to come after it.
The first sad harvest is the harvest of death. We are all living, and
what for? For the grave. I have sometimes sat down and had a reverie
like this. I have thought–Man, what is he? He grows and grows till he
comes to his prime. And when he is forty-five, if God spares him,
perhaps he has then gained the prime of life. What does he do then? He
continues where he is a little while and then he goes down the hill.
And if he keeps on living, what is it for? To die. But there are many
chances to one, as the world has it, that he will not live to be
seventy. He may die very early. Do we not all live to die? But none
shall die till they are ripe. Death never reaps his corn green, he
never cuts his corn till it is ripe. The wicked die, but they are
always ripe for Hell when they die. The righteous die, but they are
always ripe for Heaven when they die. That poor thief there, who had
not believed in Jesus–perhaps an hour before he died he was as ripe as
a 70 years saint. The saint is always ready for glory whenever Death,
the reaper, comes, and the wicked are always ripe for Hell whenever God
pleases to send for them.
Oh, that great reaper! He sweeps through the earth and mows his
hundreds and thousands down! It is all still– Death makes no noise
about his movements and he treads with velvet footsteps over the earth.
That ceaseless mower, none can resist him! He is irresistible and he
mows, and mows, and cuts them down! Sometimes he stops and whets his
scythe–he dips his scythe in blood and then he mows us down with war.
Then he takes his whetstone of cholera and mows down more than ever.
Still he cries, "More! More! More!" Ceaselessly that work keeps on!
Wondrous mower! Wondrous reaper! Oh, when you come to reap me, I cannot
resist you, for I must fall like others–when you come, I shall have
nothing to say to you. Like a blade of corn I must stand motionless and
you must cut me down! But, oh, may I be prepared for your scythe! May
the Lord stand by me and comfort me and cheer me–and may I find that
Death is an angel of life–that death is the portal of Heaven, the
vestibule of Glory!
There is a second sad harvest and that is the harvest that the wicked
man has to reap. Thus says the voice of Inspiration, "Whatever a man
sows, that shall he also reap." Now there is a harvest that every
wicked man has to reap in this world. No man ever sins against his body
without reaping a harvest for it. The young man says, "I have sinned
with impunity." Stop, young man! Go to that hospital and see sufferers
writhing in their agony. See that staggering, bloated wretch and I tell
you, stop your sinning lest you become like he! Wisdom bids you stop,
for your steps lead down to Hell. If you enter into the house of the
strange woman, you shall reap a harvest. There is a harvest that every
man reaps if he sins against his fellows. The man who sins against his
fellow creature shall reap a harvest. Some men walk through the world
like knights with spurs on their heels and think they may tread on whom
they please–but they shall find their mistake. He who sins against
others, sins against himself–that is Nature. It is a law in Nature
that a man cannot hurt his fellows without hurting himself.
Now, you who cause grief to others minds, do not think the grief will
end there. You will have to reap a harvest even here. Again, a man
cannot sin against his estate without reaping the effects of it. The
miserly wretch who hoards up his gold, sins against his gold. It
becomes cankered and from those golden sovereigns he will have to reap
a harvest. Yes, that miserly wretch, sitting up at night and straining
his weary eyes to count his gold–that man reaps his harvest. And so
does the young spendthrift. He will reap his harvest when all his
treasure is exhausted. It is said of the prodigal, that "no man gave to
him"–none of those that he used to entertain–and so the prodigal
shall find it. No man shall give anything to him. Ah, but the worst
harvest will be that of those who sin against the Church of Christ I
would not that a man should sin against his body. I would not that a
man should sin against his estate.I would not that a man should sin
against his fellows, but, most of all, I would not have him touch
Christ's Church! He that touches one of God's people, touches the apple
of His eye.
When I have read of some people finding fault with the servants of the
Lord, I have thought within myself, "I would not do so." It is the
greatest insult to a man to speak ill of his children. You speak ill of
God'schildren and you will be rewarded for it in everlasting
punishment! There is not a single one of God's family whom God does not
love–and if you touch one of them, He will have vengeance on you.
Nothing puts a man on his mettle like touching his children and if you
touch God's Church, you will have the direst vengeance of all! The
hottest flames of Hell are for those who touch God's children! Go on,
Sinner, laugh at religion if you please, but know that it is the
blackest sin in the whole catalog of crime. God will forgive anything
sooner than that–and though that is not unpardonable, yet, if not
repented of, it will meet the greatest punishment. God cannot bear that
His elect should be touched. And if you do so, it is the greatest crime
you can commit.
The third sad harvest is the harvest of almighty wrath, when the wicked
at last are gathered in. In the 14th Chapter of Revelation, you will
see that the vine of the earth was cast into the winepress of the wrath
of God and, after that, the winepress was trodden outside the city and
blood came out up to the horses' bridles–an amazing figure to express
the wrath of God! Suppose, then, some great winepress in which our
bodies are put like grapes. And suppose some mighty giant comes and
treads us all under foot? That is the idea–that the wicked shall be
cast together and be trodden underfoot until the blood runs out up to
the horses' bridles! May God grant, of His Sovereign Mercy, that you
and I may never be reaped in that fearful harvest–but that rather we
may be written among the saints of the Lord!
You shall have a harvest in due season if you faint not. Sow on,
Brother! Sow on, Sister! And in due time you shall reap an abundant
harvest. Let me tell you one thing if the seed you have sown a long
while, has never come up. I was told once, "When you sow seeds in your
garden, put them in a little water overnight–they will grow all the
better for it." So, if you have been sowing your seed, put it into
tears and it will make your seed germinate better. "They that sow in
tears shall reap in joy." Steep your seed in tears and then put it into
the ground–and you shall reap in joy. No bird can devour that seed! No
bird can hold it in its mouth! No worm can eat it, for worms never eat
seeds that are sown in tears.
Go your way and when you weep most, then it is that you sow best. When
most cast down, you are doing best. If you come to the Prayer Meeting
and have not a word to say, keep on praying! Do not give it up, for you
often pray best when you think you pray worst. Go on, and in due
season, by God's mighty Grace, you shall reap if you faint not.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 SAMUEL 12.
In Samuel's old age the people desired to have a king. And though it
went much against the grain, yet, by the Lord's advice, Samuel
consented to it. Here he makes his last protest.
Verse 1. And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto
your voice in all that you said unto me, and have made a king over you.
"I have not stood in your way. I have not sought my own honor. I have
at once frankly resigned my office among you."
2. And now, behold, the king walks before you: and I am old and
gray-headed; and behold, my sons are with you and I have walked before
you from my childhood unto this day. ' 'My sons come here today, not as
my successors, but as fellow subjects with you of your newly-chosen
king; they are not in opposition to him anymore than I am." Like an old
servant who is about to be dismissed, Samuel asks them to bear witness
to his character–and this he does partly as a lesson to the king who
had taken his place and partly as a clearance of himself in rendering
up his charge.
3. Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before
His anointed–whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or whom
have I defrauded? Or whom I have oppressed? Or of whose hand have I
received any bribe to blind my eyes? And I will restore it to you. It
is so usual a thing, among Oriental judges and rulers, to expect bribes
that you cannot, in those countries, take a single step in a court of
law without bribery. It was therefore a very unusual circumstance that
Samuel should be able to challenge anybody to say that he had ever
wrongfully taken so much as a single farthing. And the great rulers in
those countries are accustomed to enrich themselves by levying heavy
taxes upon the people. But Samuel affirmed that his services had been
perfectly gratuitous, so that all he had done for the people had cost
them nothing. If they had any fault to find with his government, it
could only be because it had been so just and also so cheap–his yoke
had indeed been easy to their necks! What a fine sight it is to see an
old man thus able to challenge all who had known him throughout a long
life to testify that he had not led a selfish life, or profited from
his own interests even in the least degree!
4. 5. And they said, You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us,
neither have you taken anything of any man's hand. And he said unto
them, The LORD is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this
day, that you have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, He
is witness. In the most solemn way, they cleared him. When he rendered
to them the account of his stewardship, they all bore witness that
everything had been done, not merely according to strict rectitude, but
in the most generous spirit of self-consecration. May all of us be
enabled to live as that, so when our sun goes down, it shall be as
cloudless a sunset as was that of Samuel!
6-8. And Samuel said unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced
Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of
Egypt Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the
Lord of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which He did to you and to
your fathers. When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried
unto the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth
your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place. A
remembrance of past mercies is very profitable to us. National mercies
ought not to be forgotten and personal favors should always be fresh in
our memory. Alas, the old proverb is only too true, "Bread that is
eaten is soon forgotten." So is it even with the bread which God gives
us–we eat it, yet soon forget the hand that fed us. Let it not be so
with us.
9-11. And when they forgot the LORD their God, He sold them into the
hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Ha-zor, and into the hand of the
Philistines, and into the hand of the King of Moab, and they fought
against them. And they cried unto the Lord, and said, we have sinned,
because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and
Ashta-roth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we
will serve You. And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Be-dan, and Jephthah,
andSamuel, and deliveredyou out ofthe hand ofyour enemies on every
side, andyou dwelled safely. They often transgressed and were as often
afflicted. But whenever they returned to the Lord with their confession
of sin and again sought His mercy, He was always quick to deliver them.
Let us profit by their experience. Have we brought ourselves into
trouble through sin? Have we wandered and backslidden and are our
hearts, therefore, heavy? Let us return unto the Lord and confess our
sin, for He has not cast us away, He will turn again at the voice of
our cry! He will forgive us and graciously receive us unto Himself
again.
12, 13. And when you saw that Nahash the king ofthe children of Ammon
came against you, you said unto me, No, but a king shall reign over us:
when the LORD your God was your king. Now therefore behold the king
whom you have
chosen, and whom you have desired! And, behold, the LORD has set a king
over you. ' 'He has consented to your request, though it was a foolish
one." Remember, Brothers and Sisters, it is not every answer to prayer
that is a token of God's favor. If our prayers are very foolish and
even if there is sin in them, God may sometimes give us what we ask in
order to show us our folly and make us smart for having offered such a
prayer. Though, under God's government, they had been most highly
privileged, they felt they must have a king like the nations which were
not so favored. "So now," says Samuel, "God has given you this king, so
do your best with him." Samuel had a hopeful spirit and he hoped that
though the circumstances were not as he would have wished them to be,
yet that the people might do well, after all.
14-17. If you will fear the LORD andserve Him, and obey His voice, and
not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both you and
also the king that reigns over you continue following the LORD your
God. But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against
the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against
you, as it was against your fathers. Now therefore stand and see this
great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes. Is today not the
wheat harvest? I will call unto the LORD, and He shall send thunder and
rain; that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great,
which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking for a king.
This was to be a token to them that Samuel was God's Prophet. On a
previous occasion, in answer to his prayer, God had thundered against
the Philistines. But this time His thunder was His voice against
Israel! In reading the Bible we must always remember that it was not
written in England but in Palestine. Wheat harvest there takes place
about the month of May–when the weather is usually settled and such
things as thunder and rain are almost unknown. It was extraordinary,
therefore, as when we speak of "a bolt out of the blue."
18, 19. So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and
rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for your servants unto the
LORD your God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins
this evil, to ask for a king. That thunderstorm was a powerful preacher
to them and the rain drops that fell so copiously brought the teardrops
in their eyes. The phenomena of Nature frequently impress men with a
sense of God's power and prostrates them before Him.
20-22. And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: you have done all
this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve
the LORD with all your heart, and turn you not aside: for then should
you go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are
vain. For the LORD will not forsake His people for His great name's
sake: because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people. How
gently the old Prophet speaks! What a change from the pealing thunder
to this gracious voice! It seems like the clear shining after rain.
23-25. Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the
LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the
right way: Only fear the LORD, andserve Him in truth with all your
heart: for consider how great things He has done for you. But if you
shall still do wickedly, you shall be consumed–both you and your king.