“Sh’mu’el said to all Israel, ‘Here, I have done everything you asked me to do — I have made a king over you.’ There is the king, walking ahead of you; but I am old and gray-headed. There are my sons with you, and I have walked at your head from when I was a boy until today. So here I am; now is the time to witness against me before Adonai and before his anointed king. Does any of you think I have taken your ox or donkey, defrauded or oppressed you, or accepted a bribe to deprive you of justice? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.'”-1 Samuel 12:1-3
I wanna introduce a Hebrew word most Bible scholars don’t even know exists, but that carries key theological significance in the opening verses of Chapter 12 of 1st Samuel.
Take a look at the word I’ve bolded and reddened in the verses above.
That word is LAQAH or לָקַח in Hebrew.
Strong’s concordance tells us this word means “to take”, “get”, “fetch”, “lay hold of”, “seize”, “acquire”, “snatch”, and “take away”.
Now why is this term so theologically significant?
Because it highlights the key difference between Samuel and Saul’s leadership.
Samuel gave of himself unselfishly, but Israel’s new monarchy will only take but not serve.
Yesterday, I said that Samuel was delivering a covenant renewal ceremony.
But that’s not the only thing he was doing.
He was also settling his account with the people.
He was making it clear he never wronged them…
Nor did he take anything from them.
This was an official declaration of his innocence.
Samuel wanted the people to publically admit he had been just and honest in his dealings with them…
And that they were naive and blind to demand a new form of government over him.
Samuel goes on to say…
“So here I am; now is the time to witness against me before Adonai and before his anointed king”
If anyone had a claim to make, Samuel was now giving them a chance to make it.
And to make sure any claims made were legally valid, notice Samuel invoked the Scriptural formula of two witnesses.
He called upon God as His spiritual witness.
And he called upon Saul as his earthly witness.
So if no one came forth (and no one did)…
Samuel’s case would be cleared…
And he would be declared innocent in front of both God and man.
This was standard Torah protocol:
“I call heaven and earth to
record this day against you,
that I have set before
you life and death,
blessing and cursing:
therefore choose life,
that both thou and thy seed may live:”
-Deuteronomy 30:19
The takeaway for today is that the same principle applies to us when we declare our faith in Yeshua.
We have the spiritual witness of God who knows our hearts.
And we have the earthly witnesses who are present when we are baptized.
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“As soon as Yeshua was baptized,
he went up out of the water.
At that moment heaven was
opened, and he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove
and alighting on him. And
a voice from heaven said,
‘This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased.'”
-Matthew 3:16-17
“He then brought them out and asked,
‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’
They replied, “Believe in the
Lord Yeshua, and you will be saved
—you and your household.”
Then they spoke the word of the
Lord to him and to all the
others in his house. At that hour
of the night the jailer took them
and washed their wounds;
then immediately he and all
his household were baptized.
The jailer brought them into
his house and set a meal before
them; he was filled with joy
because he had come to
believe in God—he and his
whole household.”
-Acts 16:30-34
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