No Stopping Diving Wrath - 1 Samuel 12:25

22 For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” (1 Samuel 12:22–25)

    It hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. This shows the election of Israel as God’s special people. The word used here (Heb ˓am) corresponds to the New Testament word (Gr λαος) which is used so often to show the sustained relationship of the church to God as His people. The Septuagint has, “The Lord has graciously taken you to himself as his people.” It is in this light that Samuel pledges to pray for the people of the Lord and promises the continued prophetic function of teaching them the good and right way.

    But this great blessing carries with great responsibility. That responsibility had been brought home time and again to Israel, from the time of Abraham (and before) forward. God chastened and judged again and again in His people's lives. This would be no different. In fact, with the increasing knowledge that was growing in the life of the nation, came an increase in their responsibility and, hence an increase in the judgment that followed when they fell into sin.
    The final sentence Samuel spoke to an all-Israelite assembly is perhaps the most ominous of his career. In eight words (Hebrew) it summarizes the judgments of the Torah and foresees the ultimate futility of Israel’s experiment with kingship.

“If you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away” (v. 25).

    The verbal phrase translated in the NIV as “persist in doing evil” (lit., “if bringing about evil you should do evil”) is an emphatic one, meant to heighten the emotional intensity of the prophet’s warning. The message is a pointed one, and strikes at the heart of Israel’s problem. The nation’s real threat was not external, that is, one that could be faced and defeated by a king who would go out and lead Israel in battle (cf. 8:20). Rather it was internal and spiritual. The malignant faith condition that caused Israel to demand a king in preference to restoring a relationship with God was what would ultimately cause the nation to “be swept away” (v. 25; a form of sāpâ). No king, however mighty, could stop the tide of divine judgment that would roll against Israel in the day of the Lord’s wrath.