1 Samuel 12:18

18 And Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord gave thunders and rains in that day. And all the people dreaded greatly the Lord and Samuel; (And Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord gave thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel;)

1 Samuel 12:18 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 12:18

So Samuel called unto the Lord
Not in an authoritative way, or by way of command, but by prayer; so the Targum renders the clause in the preceding verse,

``I will pray before the Lord:''

and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day;
immediately, though there was no appearance of it; it was harvest time, and a fine harvest day. Josephus says ^F16 he sent thunder, lightning, and hail, a terrible storm and tempest it was:

and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel;
the Lord that sent this tempest, and Samuel who had such power with God in prayer. Clement of Alexandria ^F17 thinks that from hence the Greeks borrowed their fable concerning Aeacus invoking God, when there was a drought in Greece; and as soon as he prayed, immediately there was thunder, and the whole air was covered with clouds; but perhaps they rather framed it from the instance of Elijah praying for rain ^F18, at whose request it came, ( 1 Kings 18:42-45 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 6.
F17 Stromat. l. 6. p. 630.
F18 Vid. Schmid. in Pindar. Nemea, Ode 5. p. 110.

1 Samuel 12:18 In-Context

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).

18 And Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord gave thunders and rains in that day. And all the people dreaded greatly the Lord and Samuel; (And Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord gave thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel;)

19 and all the people said to Samuel, Pray thou for thy servants to thy Lord God, that we die not; for we [have] added evil to all our sins, that we ask a king to us. (and all the people said to Samuel, Pray thou for thy servants to the Lord thy God, so that we shall not die; for we have added this evil to all our sins, that we asked for a king over us.)

20 And Samuel said to the people, Dread ye not; ye have done all this evil; nevertheless go ye not away from (following) the back of the Lord, but serve ye the Lord in all your heart (but serve ye the Lord with all your heart);