1 Samuel 12:10

10 ¹And they cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD ²and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now ³deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.'

1 Samuel 12:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 12:10

And they cried unto the Lord
When in the hands of their enemies, and in bondage to them, and cruelly oppressed by them:

and said, we have sinned;
the word for "said" is in the Cetib, or written text, singular, and in the Keri, or marginal reading, plural; and may signify, that everyone of them had a sense of their sin, and made acknowledgment of it; their confession was universal, as their sin was:

because we have forsaken the Lord;
the Word of the Lord, as the Targum:

and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth; (See Gill on Judges 2:11), (See Gill on Judges 2:13).

but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve
thee;
they did not ask for a king to go before them, and fight their battles, as they did now, but applied to the Lord for deliverance, promising to serve him as their King and their God.

1 Samuel 12:10 In-Context

8 When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them,then your fathers cried out to the LORD and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

9 But they forgot the LORD their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor,and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them.

10 And they cried out to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.'

11 And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Barakand Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.

12 And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us,'when the LORD your God was your king.

Cross References

• 1. Judges 10:10; [Judges 3:9]
• 2. Judges 2:13
• 3. Judges 10:15