1 Samuel 12:6

6 And Samuel said to the people, The Lord, that made Moses and Aaron, and that led your fathers out of the land of Egypt, is present; (And Samuel said to the people, The Lord, who made Moses and Aaron, and who led your fathers out of the land of Egypt, is present here;)

1 Samuel 12:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 12:6

And Samuel said unto the people
Having cleared and established his own character, he proceeds to lay before the people some of the great things God had done for them formerly, and quite down to the present time, the more to aggravate their ingratitude in rejecting God as their King:

[it is] the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron;
raised them from a low estate, the one in a foreign country in Midian, the other in bondage in Egypt, to be deliverers, guides, and governors of his people Israel. Kimchi thinks this refers to what goes before, and that the sense is, that God, that raised Moses and Aaron to great honour and dignity, was a witness between him and the people; in which he is followed by some Christian interpreters. Ben Gersom makes mention of the same, but rather approves of the connection of the words with what follows, as does Abarbinel, and is doubtless most correct; the Targum is,

``who hath done mighty things by the hands of Moses and Aaron:''

and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt;
when they were in bondage there, and that by the means of Moses and Aaron, by whose hands he wrought signs and wonders and inflicted plagues on the Egyptians, which made them willing at last to let Israel go.

1 Samuel 12:6 In-Context

4 And they said, Thou hast not falsely challenged us, neither thou hast oppressed us, neither thou hast taken any thing of any man's hand.

5 And he said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and his christ, or king, is witness in this day (and his anointed king is a witness this day); for ye have not found anything in mine hand. And they said, He is witness.

6 And Samuel said to the people, The Lord, that made Moses and Aaron, and that led your fathers out of the land of Egypt, is present; (And Samuel said to the people, The Lord, who made Moses and Aaron, and who led your fathers out of the land of Egypt, is present here;)

7 now therefore stand ye, that I strive by doom against you before the Lord, of all the mercies of the Lord, which he did with you, and with your fathers. (and so now stand ye up, so that I can strive in judgement against you before the Lord, and remind you of all the Lord's mercies, which he did for you, and for your fathers.)

8 How that Jacob entered into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord; and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and led your fathers out of Egypt, and hath set them in this place.