1 Samuel 12:15

15 Forsooth if ye hear not the voice of the Lord, but wrath his word, the hand of the Lord shall be on you, and on your fathers. (But if ye do not listen to the Lord's voice, and rebel against his commands, the hand of the Lord shall be against you, and against your fathers.)

1 Samuel 12:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 12:15

But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel
against the commandment of the Lord
They and their king, by sinning, disregarding his precepts, both affirmative and negative:

then shall the hand of the Lord be against you;
by sending some judgments upon them, as famine, sword, or pestilence, particularly captivity and subjection to their enemies:

as it was against your fathers;
who had no king; and it is suggested that their case, who had one, would be no better than theirs; their king would not be able to save them from the hand of God: the words in the original are, "and against your fathers" ^F13; which is interpreted in the Talmud ^F14 of their fathers dead, and in their graves, and of their enemies digging them up, and taking them out in contempt; but much better, by Kimchi, of their kings, who are, or should be, fathers of their subjects, as Augustus Caesar was called the father of his; and so the Septuagint version renders it, "and upon their king"; signifying that both they and their king should feel the weight of the hand of the Lord, if they rebelled against him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mkytbabw) "et contra patres vestros", Pagninus, Tigurine version.
F14 T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 63. 2.

1 Samuel 12:15 In-Context

13 Now therefore your king is ready, whom ye have chosen and asked (for); lo! the Lord hath given to you a king (lo! the Lord hath given you a king).

14 If ye dread the Lord, and serve him, and hear his voice, and wrath not the mouth of the Lord; ye and your king, that commandeth to you, shall follow your Lord God. (If ye fear the Lord/If ye revere the Lord, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and do not rebel against the Lord's commands, then ye and your king, who commandeth you, shall follow the Lord your God.)

15 Forsooth if ye hear not the voice of the Lord, but wrath his word, the hand of the Lord shall be on you, and on your fathers. (But if ye do not listen to the Lord's voice, and rebel against his commands, the hand of the Lord shall be against you, and against your fathers.)

16 But also now stand ye, and see this great thing, that the Lord shall do in your sight.

17 Whether (the) harvest of wheat is not today? I shall inwardly call (upon) the Lord, and he shall give voices, that is, thunders, and rains; and ye shall know, and see, for ye asking a king upon you, ye have done grievous evil to yourself in the sight of the Lord (and ye shall know, and see, that in asking for a king to rule over you, ye have done grievous evil to yourselves before the Lord).