Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 12:22
For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
22. for his great name’s sake ] Lest He should seem in the eyes of the heathen not to be such as He declares Himself to be, Almighty, True, Faithful. Compare the use of this plea by Moses (Exo 32:12; Num 14:13 ff.), and Joshua (Jos 7:9). See also Rom 11:1-2.
it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people ] God’s free choice of Israel to be his people is dwelt upon at length in Deu 7:6-11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1Sa 12:22
For the Lord will not forsake His people.
God never forsakes His people
I. Let us consider how God has made our nation His peculiar people.
1. It hath pleased the Lord to separate us in a peculiar manner from other nations.
2. It hath pleased the Lord to make us the objects of His peculiar care and protection. Thus He distinguished His ancient chosen people.
3. The Lord has been pleased to form us for His peculiar service, by making us, from the beginning, a religious people.
II. To show what ground we have to hope that God will not forsake us. It appears from the preceding observations, that He has done a good deal to form us for Himself. Can we suppose that He would spend so much time and employ so many means to make us His peculiar people, without some wise and weighty reasons.
1. God will not forsake us because He loved and respected our fathers. As the effectual, fervent prayers of such righteous men must have been pleasing to God, so they give us ground to hope that He will long remember our land, and not forsake the children of those whom He delighted to love.
2. We are encouraged to hope that God will not forsake us, because He loves the pious posterity of our pious ancestors. God often spared the whole Jewish nation for the sake of those pious individuals who remained heartily attached to His cause and His interest. And as long as a succession of these godly men shall remain, we have reason to hope that the Lord will spare us from national ruin.
3. We may confidently hope not to be forsaken by God, because He may still answer very important purposes, by preserving and treating us as His peculiar people. One end may be, to make it appear to the world that He is able to protect a nation whom He has set apart for Himself, against their most, powerful and subtile enemies.
III. Let me now apply this leading sentiment agreeably to the design of the day, and the present state of our religion and government.
1. If God will continue to own us as His peculiar people, then we may confide in His wisdom and goodness, to defeat the designs of those, who attempt to destroy our national peace and prosperity.
2. If God will not forsake us, then He will enlarge us, and make us an exceedingly great and flourishing nation.
3. If God will not forsake us, but own us as His peculiar people, then it is to be expected that He will take effectual care to maintain the cause of religion among us. This will be necessary to promote our prosperity, and to prepare us to answer His chief design in making us His peculiar people. The cause of religion is now in a languishing state. Notwithstanding, therefore, the present triumph of vice and infidelity, we may confidently hope that our churches will live, increase, and flourish, till the end of time. This God will do for us, for His great names sake.
4. If God intends to own and build us up as His favourite people, then He has much for us to do, in carrying into execution His gracious designs. This is probably the last peculiar people which He means to form, and the last great empire which He means to erect, before the kingdoms of this world are absorbed in the kingdom of Christ. God is now loudly proclaiming that we have much to do to maintain His cause, and promote His designs, in opposition to His and our enemies.
5. This subject teaches us how we ought to feel and to act in our present situation. Our feelings and conduct ought to be in conformity with the past and present dispensations of Divine providence towards us. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Gods protective presence
We can be sure of this, that God will be with us in all the days that He before us. What may be round the next headland we know not; but this we know, that the same sunshine will make a broadening path across the waters right to where we rock on the unknown sea, and the same unmoving mighty star will burn for our guidance. So we may let the waves and currents roll as they list; or rather, as He lists, and be little concerned about the incidents or the companions of our voyage since He is with us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 22. The Lord will not forsake his people] He will not as yet cast you off, though you have deserved it. His purpose in preserving them in their land and religion was not yet accomplished. It was not however for their sake that he would not cast them off, but for his own great name’s sake. He drew his reasons from himself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For his great names sake, i.e. for his own honour, which would seem to suffer much among men, if he should not preserve and deliver people in eminent dangers; as if he were grown feeble, or forgetful, or inconstant, or unfaithful, or regardless of human affairs, or unkind to those who own and worship him, when all the rest of the world forsake him. Hence this argument hath been oft pleaded with God, not without good success, as Exo 32:12; Num 14:13, &c. And this reason God here allegeth to take them off from all conceit of their own merit; and to assure them, that if they did truly repent of all their sins, and served God with all their heart, which is here supposed, yet even in that case their salvation would not be due to their merits, but only the effect of Gods free mercy.
It hath pleased the Lord, to wit, out of his own free grace, without any desert of yours, as he saith, Deu 7:7; 9:5; and therefore he will not easily forsake you, except you thrust him away.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake. For the sake of himself, his honour and glory; should he forsake his people, and suffer them to come to ruin, his name would be blasphemed among the Heathens; he would be charged either with want of power to help them, or with want of faithfulness to his promise to them, and with inconstancy to himself, or want of kindness and affection for them; all which would reflect upon his honour and glory:
because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people; it was not owing to any worth or worthiness in them that they became his people, but to his own sovereign good will and pleasure; and therefore, as it was nothing in them that was the cause of their being taken by him for his people, so nothing in them could be the cause of their being rejected by him as such; it was of free grace and favour that they were taken into covenant with him, and by the same would be retained: the Vulgate Latin version is,
“the Lord hath sworn to make you a people for himself;”
so Jarchi interprets it, he swore, and takes it to have the same sense as in 1Sa 14:24.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ For ( gives the reason for the main thought of the previous verse, ‘Fear not, but serve the Lord,’ etc.) the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake; for it hath pleased the Lord (for , see at Deu 1:5) to make you His people.” The emphasis lies upon His. This the Israelites could only be, when they proved themselves to be the people of God, by serving Jehovah with all their heart. “ For His great name’s sake,” i.e., for the great name which He had acquired in the sight of all the nations, by the marvellous guidance of Israel thus far, to preserve it against misapprehension and blasphemy (see at Jos 7:9).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(22) It hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.The simple doctrine of electionas far as we can see, based alone on the arbitrary will of God (though, no doubt, unseen by us, deep reasons exist for every seemingly arbitrary choice)is here enunciated. The analogy of every-day life teaches the same truth. He maketh one vessel to honour and another to dishonour. These things are to us inscrutable.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. For his great name’s sake Jehovah is jealous of his glory; and all its sublime manifestations in defence of his people he could not well forget.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 12:22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
Ver. 22. For the Lord will not forsake his people. ] Whatever the devil and your own misgiving hearts may suggest to the contrary: as it is ordinary with men to measure God according to their own models, and to think that he should deal by them, as they have done by him. But he is God and not man, yea, there is no God like him for pardoning of sins of all sorts and sizes. Mic 7:17
For his great name’s sake,] i.e., For his honour’s sake, which he mainly respecteth in all his actions: there being none higher than himself to whom to have respect.
Because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
will not forsake. Compare Gen 28:15. Jos 1:5. Quoted in Rom 11:1, Rom 11:2.
His People = a People for Himself.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Lord: Deu 31:17, 1Ki 6:13, 2Ki 21:14, 1Ch 28:9, 2Ch 15:2, Psa 94:14, Isa 41:17, Isa 42:16, Jer 33:24-26, Lam 3:31, Lam 3:32, Lam 5:20, Heb 13:5
for his great: Exo 32:12, Num 14:13-19, Deu 32:26, Deu 32:27, Jos 7:9, Psa 106:8, Isa 37:35, Isa 43:25, Isa 48:11, Jer 14:7, Jer 14:21, Eze 20:9, Eze 20:14, Eph 1:6, Eph 1:12
it hath: Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Deu 7:7, Deu 7:8, Deu 9:5, Deu 14:2, Mal 1:2, Mat 11:26, Joh 15:16, Rom 9:13-18, Rom 11:29, 1Co 4:7, Phi 1:6
Reciprocal: 1Ki 3:8 – thy people 1Ch 17:22 – thy people Neh 9:19 – in thy Est 4:14 – then shall Psa 22:1 – why hast Psa 37:25 – yet Psa 44:3 – because Psa 50:7 – O my Psa 135:4 – the Lord Psa 149:2 – rejoice Isa 40:27 – sayest Isa 41:9 – I have chosen Isa 48:9 – my name’s Jer 14:9 – leave Jer 51:5 – Israel Eze 16:8 – thy time Rom 11:1 – Hath God Gal 1:15 – it
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 12:22. His names sake That is, for his own honour, which would suffer much among men, if he should not preserve and deliver his people in imminent dangers. And this reason God allegeth, to take them off from all conceit of their own merit; and to assure them, that if they did truly repent of all their sins, and serve God with all their hearts, yet even in that case their salvation would not be due to their merits, but the effect of Gods free mercy. To make you his people Out of his own free grace, without any desert of yours, and therefore he will not forsake you, except you thrust him away.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you {n} his people.
(n) Of his free mercy, and not of your merits, and therefore he will not forsake you.