1 Samuel 12:4

4 And they say, `Thou hast not oppressed us, nor hast thou crushed us, nor hast thou taken from the hand of any one anything.'

1 Samuel 12:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 12:4

And they said
One in the name of the rest, or they all cried out as one man:

thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us;
had done them no wrong, neither privately nor publicly, by fraud or by force:

neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand;
as a gift, present, or bribe, to fit your his cause. Some would infer hence that be took nothing of them for his support and maintenance, and that he lived upon his own substance; but that is not likely or reasonable; it was but just that they should support him and his family suitably to his character as a judge, whose whole life was spent in their service.

1 Samuel 12:4 In-Context

2 and now, lo, the king is walking habitually before you, and I have become aged and gray-headed, and my sons, lo, they [are] with you, and I have walked habitually before you from my youth till this day.

3 `Lo, here [am] I; testify against me, over-against Jehovah, and over-against His anointed; whose ox have I taken, and whose ass have I taken, and whom have I oppressed; whom have I bruised, and of whose hand have I taken a ransom, and hide mine eyes with it? -- and I restore to you.'

4 And they say, `Thou hast not oppressed us, nor hast thou crushed us, nor hast thou taken from the hand of any one anything.'

5 And he saith unto them, `A witness [is] Jehovah against you: and a witness [is] His anointed this day, that ye have not found anything in my hand;' and they say, `A witness.'

6 And Samuel saith unto the people, `Jehovah -- He who made Moses and Aaron, and who brought up your fathers out of the land of Egypt!