1 Samuel 12:10

10 And they cried unto the LORD and said, `We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baalim and Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve Thee.'

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 had 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.

9 And when they forgot the LORD their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host 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 unto the LORD and said, `We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baalim and Ashtaroth; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve Thee.'

11 And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelt safe.

12 And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, `Nay, but a king shall reign over us,' when the LORD your God was your king.