Isn’t it wheat harvest today? I will call to the LORD, that he may send thunder and rain; and you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the LORD’s sight, in asking for a king.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 17. Wheat-harvest. At which time of the year it never thunders or rains in those countries. Challoner.—The wheat-harvest is towards the end of June. The usual seasons for rain are only spring and autumn. S. Jerom in Amos iv. 7, and so forth—Thunder. Lit. “voices.” Psalms 17:14. Calmet.—See. Being fully convinced by the miracle, which declares the will of God in the clearest manner. Though God was pleased thus to manifest his displeasure, at the people’s assuming to themselves the right of changing the established form of government, by insisting so much upon having a king at this time, we cannot hence infer, as Paine and some late seditious writers have done, that the regal power is in itself an evil. It might be contrary to a theocracy, and still might suit the manners of some nations better than any other form. To determine precisely what sort of government is best, would be an arduous task. We admire our own constitution; yet our ally, the prince of the Brazils, has lately forbidden any panegyric of it to be printed in his dominions. All innovations are, generally, attended with the most serious inconveniences. Bible.