1 Samuel 12:19

Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God.

Intercessory prayer

1. This Lesson contains Samuel’s official farewell to the people--that is, as Judge. There is something touching in all farewells. Retirement from long and distinguished service has ever a shade of melancholy; it reminds us of the transitoriness of human life and human greatness.

2. There was one link with the old Judge which they were anxious to retain. The king might rule them in times of peace, and go forth with them as leader in times of war; he might be the representative of national unity and the keystone of national greatness; but it was to Samuel they turned when they wanted to be remembered before God. With one voice they besought him, “Pray for thy servants,” etc.

I. The request. “Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not.”

1. It is the language of fear. The people were terrified with the thunder and rain. God had shown His displeasure by this sign

2. It is the language of faith. Samuel’s power as an intercessor with God was a recognised fact. It was not the discovery of a passing emotion.

3. It may not be presumptuous to inquire wherein his great strength in this respect lieth. First, his vocation as a prophet brought him very near to God. Secondly, the office without the life is not of much avail. Samuel lived for God, and it appears that, according to the degree of sanctity to which individuals attain, so is the efficacy of their intercessions.

II. The reasons for this request. Their sense of sin in having asked for a king. They feared death, lest a glittering flash of lightning--a symbol of Divine wrath--should at once consume them.

1. What was their fault? Viewed in reference to Samuel, it was ingratitude.

2. But, regarded in reference to God, the asking for a king was a rejection of His direct rule. (1 Samuel 8:7).

3. Yet, what, looked at on the side of the spontaneous action of God’s people, was a grave fault--“wickedness;” when viewed in relation to the course of events, was a result of a variety of causes.

4. But God can bring good out of evil. The formation of a kingdom was in His providence overruled to the ultimate fulfilment of His designs. Through it looms the kingdom of Christ and Christ the King, and, with the realised unity of the nation under a king, the carrying out of the Levitical Law as to one sanctuary; and in the temple, which was a result of this change, and its service and its Psalter, we have an image of the Catholic Church and her solemn ritual to the end of time.

III. Lessons.

1. To quicken our belief in the efficacy of intercessory prayer.

2. To remember that Christ is our invisible King and the Head of His Church; and that obedience to an outward rule must be accompanied by inward obedience, for though the kingdom of God, that is, the Church, is visible, yet it is also an inward kingdom of “righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost.” (The Thinker.)